Haiti Journal #3 July 2013
“Check-in Time With Children’s Hope”
Check-in time: best time of the day.
I’m not talking about airport check-in lines, security line
check-points or customs check-in lines, though we had those.
I’m talking about those times during our week in Haiti when
we took time to check-in with each other.
What brought you to Haiti? What did you learn?
What one thing would you do to alleviate extreme poverty now that you have a close up perspective?
What about those mosquitoes?
What about air so thick you can taste it, so full of black diesel and charcoal that it gets stuck in your teeth?
Next time can we stay longer?
What about those mosquitoes? What about air so thick you can taste it,
so full of black diesel and charcoal that it gets stuck in your teeth?
Professor Faulkner, UOP (left) and
Professor Burke, Sac State (above) lead the 2013 Children’s Hope team to
Haiti on July 23rd. An energetic group of seven students from four
universities, including the University of the Pacific, San Francisco State
University, California State University at Stanislaus and Sacramento State
University spent a week living, serving, playing and learning in the poorest
country in the western hemisphere.
They lived in a home for street
boys, painted an orphanage, danced to Kompa, carted, inventoried and delivered 18
duffle bags of supplies then helped to administer them in a tent city in Port
au Prince, Haiti and to two other clinics. They watched and played soccer, they
watched and played Haitian dominoes, they raised enough money to feed an
orphanage for a month – then went into the Haitian street markets and lugged
the supplies in - they experienced praxis. They had two professors bent on
immersing students in the global political economy first hand, liberation
sociology style. They swam in the Caribbean, kissed Haitian children, visited
Paul Farmer’s Hospital in rural Cange; they learned about tele-medicine and
helped a field doctor first hand.
Did it change the world system’s
economy?
Well, not just yet.
Did it change the personal economy of one little girl?
Well,
maybe a little.
Did it change the global system of inequality?
Well, not
just yet.
Did it change seven hardworking student team members who worked most of a year earning their own travel
expenses, collecting donations and raising their own awareness? They say it did.
Next summer, maybe you can join the team, earn college
credit and get launched into a lifetime commitment to service.
Thanks for your continued support, that make these service trips possible.
Peace,
all ways and always.
Prof. Leisa Faulkner, University of the Pacific
Executive Director, Children's Hope
3025 Cambridge Road #A
Cameron Park, CA 95682 USA
