New Views & Time for a Change!

When I started writing a blog back in May, it was originally to keep my family in touch while I went on a short-term mission trip to Wings of Hope, a home for children and young adults with physical and mental disabilities in Haiti. 5 months later... and I am back in Haiti with a renewed passion, a new purpose, a new outlook on life.... and a much bigger Family to stay in touch with! I am still flying on hope that one day Haiti will not be known for it's poverty and tragedies, but for the next year, my mission is to walk alongside Haitian business owners and entrepreneurs, encouraging growth, and witnessing God transform lives through partnership.

After months of preparing for service through prayer, fundraising and anticipation, I was welcomed back into the warm Haitian culture and climate one week ago. At 27 years of age, I'm pretty confident in travelling solo, but i'll admit I was kind of nervous about navigating my way through the airport with 3 large suitcases and a very small capacity for the local language. But here, for a few bucks, there are many people eager to be your friend and give you a helping hand. My partnership manager, boss, and mentor for the year, Daniel Jean-Louis, was waiting outside the airport at the end of a long walkway, looking like a pretty sharp businessman, and my new life began!

The Montana Hotel

It's pretty cool having Daniel as my boss, mentor, landlord, and really my new Haitian brother I can look up to. The 100,000 Jobs for Haiti Initiative is really his vision, and the last week as I'm seeing it put into action, I realize that Haiti actually has a chance with educated people such as himself bringing about change and   restoration. On Sunday we had a chance to tour downtown Port-Au-Prince, and visit the Hotel Montana, where so many perished as the main structure on top of the mountain crumbled into oblivion. It was heartbreaking as we slowly made our way through the trash-and-sewage strewn streets near the Presidential Palace (which still lay in ruins almost 3 years after the tremblemante), and Daniel reminisced about spending his childhood at the now-deserted movie theater, or about playing soccer in the park that is now home to huge cities of tents and "temporary" shelters, about Quisqueya University where he teaches class, which had just completed a $5 Million construction project just weeks before it all came crashing down on January 12, 2010. Much like 9/11, people here refer to the earthquake as January 12th.

Trinity Lodge S.A.

My first week in Haiti has been greater than I ever could've expected. The day after I arrived and got settled into my cozy room at Daniel's Guesthouse, Trinity Lodge, we welcomed Roger, a Christian entrepreneur/engineer/mentor/amazing character with a huge personality. Daniel, Roger and I immediately took off for Leogane, where his Church in Arkansas, Lake Valley, has been working with the newest affiliate of business owners. It also happened to be the first day of work for Oscar, who was hired as a driver/translator. Oscar is still in "orientation", but he's been an a hugely valuable part of the team. He speaks Creole, French, English, Spanish, and is currently teaching himself to speak Italian. He's been working with me on my Creole, and I'm grateful for his friendship.




I suppose I should explain exactly what it is Partners Worldwide is doing before I go further into the personal stories of all the business owners I've been meeting in the field. In each country we operate in, the focus is slightly different, but the model and philosophy for this small-NGO remain the same. We don't
give hand-outs, but we provide training classes, connection to North American business mentors, and make small-interest loans available to small-medium sized enterprises already operating in their chosen field of business. In Haiti, Daniel is the country-wide Partnership Manager. He sets up a network of  business owners (tailors, dry-cleaners, bakeries, block-makers, farmers, etc.), and determines their needs on a case-by-case basis. He is currently meeting in Leogane every Friday to give training classes to the first group of 20, who are being evaluated financially and operationally to determine the viability of expanding their business and equipment with loans and mentor-relationships. Further North, in Gonaives, a Construction Block-Producing company, Jerusalem S.A. was partnered with Brookfield Partners, a group in the U.S. that provided them with a loan to purchase new equipment and materials. Wilsonor, the owner of Jerusalem, expanded his 






 

 





Training Classes in Leogane



  


 




Daniel, Jack Vander Ploeg (N.A. investor
& mentor), Oscar & Wilsonor



business and has been paying off the loan, and recommending new businesses in the area for expansion. His payments on the loan are being reinvested by Brookfield into these recommended businesses...a Bakery run by a Jamaican who fell in love with Haiti and realized he could bring amazing pies and pastries into the community. He was provided with a loan, and has expanded into new stores, a delivery truck, and an increase in local-Haitian employees. Also expanding into new operations through this loan is Exode, a dry cleaner. Let me explain however that dry-cleaning here really only means they press your clothes with a steam-powered press. The problem with this is that steam-powered means they are burning trees for fuel at a rapid pace with a "boiler". Haiti cannot afford to be burning it's trees. Daniel says the country is dying...the deforestation is killing the country, and it's these small-medium enterprises that are responsible for 70% of the problem. Therefore, we are seeking alternative methods in propane-boilers and propane-powered electricity. This change in operation requires not only capital for different equipment, but changing the way Haitians operate their antiquated methods of work. So you're starting to get the picture of what we're doing here....it's about sustainability. It's about creating jobs and opportunities for Haitians so the children can go to school  and not be enslaved as restaveks in the home, or worry about where their next meal will come from as they fall asleep in a cholera-ridden pile of filth under a USAID tent in the slums every night. It's about those same people who've been given opportunities to work and expand so they can return the favor to their neighbors and communities of faith. It's about the huge population of naiive NGOs making the decision to purchase locally-produced products, instead of ignorantly importing free "aid" to unconsciously destroy any hope of the market society. And this is just my first week! I can't wait to share my new experiences of living in another culture... it will take me the next year just to explain what I've gone through in just the last week!


  I'm so grateful to everyone who's made this experience possible. Please continue to keep the people of Haiti, all people struggling to maintain dignity through lack of employment, and those pushing for a world without poverty in the creation of wealth in your prayers. Bondye Blesi Ou, Bon Nuit!