Seeing Real Change in Haiti

Every trip I have taken to Haiti has been a distinct experience: seasons, weather, and politics all vary. My last trip, in late June, was a sharp study in contrasts.

My interest in St. Boniface revolves around the nurses at the hospital—I have helped several with their training, and I have greatly enjoyed getting to know them. Two work at the hospital now, Leanie and Ketlande, both of whom I first met on an earlier trip.

This trip to Fond des Blancs, I was accompanied by my 26-year-old son, Owen, a mechanical engineer who works in Bismarck, North Dakota. Owen is about the same age as Leanie and Ketlande, but of course, his life is radically different. That didn’t stop them from embracing him as their brother, wanting their photo taken with him and asking him about his life in the U.S. I sat back as they enjoyed juice, joked, and as Owen showed them his iPhone—and they eagerly helped him find their Facebook pages so he could friend them.

I don’t know with certainty details about Leanie and Ketlande’s daily life, but I know that they live with their families in the very modest homes typical of the area—in one case, with a leaky roof. However, in significant ways, they were as connected and worldly as my son, who has never known a leaky roof in his life. They have ambitions and goals as lofty as his, and have worked hard to get where they are today.

In contrast with a village family we visited, where nine children seemed barely fed and who are not in school, Ketlande and Leanie have had the advantage of both enough food and education to allow their significant potential to be unleashed. St. Boniface has reached out to the village family, and I hope to see plumper children, hopefully in school, next time I travel to Fond des Blancs. I am proud to be associated with St. Boniface and to know these nurses and the village leaders, whose goal it is to help the people of Haiti to have the means to unlock the potential of each.