We Are Family

One of my favorite things about working at Be Like Brit is the fact that no two days are ever the same.  This week, we were visited by a group of three from Monahan Brothers Inc. Roofing in Plattsburgh, NY who also happen to be family.  While by day they worked hard on installing the thick, white, elastomeric covering on the massive roof at BLB, and I worked on my tasks, by night it felt just like home; friends and family gathered ‘round the table for a good meal, lots of laughs, and sharing of new moments that none of us will soon forget.

Brian Monahan and Adam Donohue of Monahan Brothers, Inc., Plattsburgh, NY 

The arrival of Brian and Lanai Monahan (my cousins; father and daughter to each other) and one of their good friends and employees Adam donated their time and money to come to Be Like Brit to finish the roof off with an industrial strength product to keep the building and the children as dry as possible during Haiti’s heavy rains season.  In record time, the crew, along with some help from our regular crew was able to install the product on the 11,000 square feet of roof!  The “B” for Brit now glows even more brightly with a nice white finish! 

After a long day of work, we set out to tour the community to hand out donations that our group brought with them for some local families.  The response is always the same, dozens of children – if not more – run out from their homes, be they tents, tarps, tin huts – whatever, and chase after yelling “You! You!”  Excited and eager, their bright faces and smiles take just a tiny bit away from the reality of their circumstance.  For a fleeting moment you can forget about the fact that they are living in squalor, sleeping on a floor in filth, hungry, dirty, sick, and sometimes even naked.  Indeed, it is all one needs to do to get a bit of perspective on things. 

Lanai Monahan of Plattsburgh, NY hands out donated items to children in the Icondo area of Grand Goâve, Haiti

One place in particular we happened upon was especially tough.  After climbing a small hill and making our way up the worn dirt path etched into the hillside, we found a small boy on the ground, naked, writhing in pain, legs buckled up underneath him, grinding his teeth so loudly I thought he was struggling to breathe.  As we discovered this boy and realized he was alone, we left the house to get our friend Srihari, an emergency medicine doctor volunteering at Be Like Brit for 3 months to see what, if anything, we could do to help.

With our interpreter, we learned that this child is mentally retarded, deaf, and mute.  It also appears that he’s suffered from Polio at some point in his life, and we are told he has never walked in his ten years.  Ten years on this earth in utter isolation.  He is alone, outside, on the ground.  He is severely malnourished as he is not regularly fed.  We’re told this is because when the boy seizes, it is believed he is possessed, and nobody will approach him.  With nothing to do, we left, knowing that while the boy may not be dying, in all likelihood the remainder of his life on this earth will be spent in the way that we found him.

Choking back the tears and ultimately losing it altogether, I announced my desire to go back to Be Like Brit.  I had seen enough.  There has only been one other time in my life where what I saw before me moved me to tears and nausea in the same instance.   That was when I toured one of Rwanda’s Genocide Memorial Museums.  I thought of the thousands of human skulls and bones in that museum on display as a reminder of the atrocities that human beings are capable of.  Yet even in this visceral moment, I was reminded of the great capacity for love and compassion and good in the world.

So, like family does, we circled the wagons.  We joined the ladies in our kitchen here at Be Like Brit and worked together to clean up after the massive meal we are so fortunate to have.  We tried to teach some of our Haitian staff the words to some crazy American songs; we did some embarrassing dance moves and made fools of ourselves.  We escaped from what we had just witnessed. 

Brian and Lanai with our kitchen staff here at Be Like Brit!

Haiti is a dichotomy.  It is a beautiful country – quite possibly the most magnificent green mountains I have ever seen, towering over the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.  The Haitian people are genuine and sincere; they are humble.  At the same time, this same natural wonder is full of the most severe poverty the Western Hemisphere knows.  Sometimes that can be found in our very own backyard, behind the secure walls of yellow and white – indeed, laying on the ground, naked, hungry, alone.

As I think about the boy I saw lying on the ground, I realize my tears were born out of frustration.  Call me a hippie, call me a liberal – call me what you will.  There is no reason for anyone in the world to live that existence.  Brit saw that.  Be Like Brit is the result.

What will you do?

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan

See a few more pics from the week below!

Roof from behind the wall