Staying Focused

We've all been shocked by the images coming out of Haiti over the course of the last two weeks, since Hurricane Matthew ripped through the southern end of the country bringing total devastation and despair. Many people, myself included, have felt compelled to act as we've sat by feeling helpless for those who are enduring the worst of the suffering in towns like Les Cayes, Jeremie, Port Salut, Coteaux, Les Anglais, and undoubtedly hundreds more small communities with rural populations far away from any of the first responders with thousands of people stranded; cutoff from the rest of the world.

Yesterday, Madame Love traveled to the south with our good friend Alan Roseberry to bring clean water to an area south of Les Cayes called Coteaux. A quick Google search reports that Coteaux is a coastal community with a population of around 20,000 - but really, who could know? Formal census data hasn't been collected I suspect in more than a decade. Alan purchased a 200 gallon water tank, and we filled it here at Be Like Brit with our nanotechnology filtered water. We packed it into the back of the F350 and together with a priest friend from Port-au-Prince, two security personnel, and our driver Boss Harold, they made a four hour journey along Haiti's southern coast. When I messaged Alan by SMS to ask him how things were going, his response was quite simply:

"we gave out 300 gallons of water in 10 minutes. So many people in need here. Port Salut. Coteaux. Gone. There's nothing left."

Alan reported that they were the only people there with aid. No military. No UN. No World Food Programme. No Dominican convoys. Nobody. One road in, one road out, and they never saw another vehicle. 

As sad as this is and as frustrating as it is knowing there is so much need just a bit farther to our south, several colleagues in Haiti have had to convince me that this just is not within our scope. In a disaster, there are two responses. There is, of course, the emergency relief and response - delivery of life-saving aid like food, water, medicines, shelter. It is (supposed to be) a quick response. It is supposed to be temporary. 

Then, there comes the rebuilding - the development side of things. For Be Like Brit, because of our Mission as an organization and our commitment to our community here in Grand Goâve, we're focusing on the latter. We simply don't have the capability to respond to the emergency crisis in the hardest hit areas of the south. Yesterday, for example, required 10 hours of time on the ground, of which only 30 minutes was spent in the actual delivery of water. While 300 gallons of water sounds like a lot, it is a drop in comparison to what people really need there. At one point, Alan described a situation where our security agents had to put themselves in between he and the crowd, as desperation causes people to act in desperate ways. It simply isn't safe, and we're simply not equipped. Even still, I feel like I'm watching the Titanic sink from the comfort of an empty lifeboat...

What we can do, and what we are good at, is building homes. Entirely because of Len's background as a builder, we're operating within the scope of our own capacity, and in that scope, we're building homes for people who either lost their own in the storm, or quite frankly, never had one to begin with. By doing this, we serve two immediate functions: We get people into safe housing and we better prepare our neighbors to weather the next storm as best possible. We're proud that none of our 60 homes were destroyed during Hurricane Matthew. 

We're even more proud of our incredible community of Be Like Brit back in Worcester - of all the hard work Team BLB has undertaken under Cherylann's great leadership.

I think it is important to explain something to you all about the houses we build here in Haiti. We understand that many of you have never been to Haiti, and many of you don't have insights into the daily lives of people living here in our rural, mountainous community. We understand that some of you may see a photo of one of the homes we build and think, "That's it? One room?" To be honest, I used to think the same way, too. The truth is, however, that for our neighbors and friends, the house is just that - a house. A physical structure in which to protect against the elements. The elements here being primarily the sun and rain. 

We've asked our neighbors if they want bigger homes, and they say no. The fact is, Haitians in our community prefer to spend their time outside. People here do everything outdoors - everything! They cook outside, they bathe outside, they work outside. They even sleep outside under whatever shade they can find. The fact that our homes include a small, shaded area on the front is a design that was added only after people expressed that as something they wanted. The house is for sleeping - almost exclusively. We're not talking about families sitting around watching TV all afternoon. There is nothing for a family to do inside their house. 

Their lives are in the community, working in gardens and on farms. Their social events are focused around things like church and community events. Kids play soccer barefoot - even when you give them cleats - on a piece of flat terrain in the mountains. Life is simple. Women hum church hymns or sing loudly together while sitting outside washing clothes in a big metal cuvette. Men sit outside under the shade of a mango tree and play dominos for hours, talking loudly and telling jokes. Indeed, our neighbors have everything that we think of when we think of "home" - but they have it all outside of the actual structure. It is just one of the examples of why I believe that our neighbors are far richer than any amount of possessions could reflect...

It's important to know, too, that in our post-Hurricane development and in our response, we're being strategic in our planning, too. Len is drawing on a lifetime and career of experience in development, and so when it comes to areas here that flooded, roads that washed out, etc., we're addressing those problems in our work. Heavy equipment is on site, and we're building houses up on higher terrain, designing drainage systems to carry water away from homes where water now flows through them. This all matters. This is all life-saving work in a proactive sense.

So, while it continues to be a challenge for me to feel like I am just sitting idly by while thousands of people are in need just a few hours to our south, I know that I am doing what I can do to be most effective in the here and now. I feel good in the fact that we as an organization have built great relationships with organizations operating elsewhere in the country, and so we can connect people with those types of organizations when asked. We can share our resources with others who are working in those areas, and we can have a bigger impact in working together with those who are well equipped, experienced, and prepared to do so. 

Early on in the days after the earthquake in 2010, while Len and Cherylann were planning to build in Haiti, someone gave them a great piece of advice. 

Do your part, and do your part well. Do not try to take on all of Haiti. It will consume you.

This is our part, and we are indeed doing it well, thanks to the thousands of people who have responded to the needs of our friends, our neighbors, and our community.

There is still time to give, and any amount helps! Please visit the link below to donate now.

http://bit.ly/1cDtfPH