Meeting at the Williams'

Hello! It's Hannah here. As per Stephen's request, I am writing again to tell you all of our meeting that happened on Monday, the 20th of August. The Haiti Four and our familes all met at the Williams' house for a potluck and get together, our first meeting since arriving home on the 24th of July. We ate a lovely dinner consisting of many yummy things, like quiche, fruit salad, cucumber and tomato salad, vegetarian lasagna, pasta salad, foccasia bread, and barbequed chicken. After dinner, we dined on blueberry cake, cookies, and ice cream, and for the adults some decaf coffee.
We then went to the Williams' basement and watched a slideshow that Thomas and Teiga had previously put together from 200 of the 1,000 pictures they had taken in Haiti. For every picture, each one of us had a story to tell, and we all took turns explaining what each picture was of and the story behind it. After the slideshow, we sat around and briefly discussed our next steps. We touched upon the size of the group of people going to Haiti next year and determined that it should stay small so as not to interfere with the camp itself and with the experiences that the four of us got to have. We also talked about how the junior members of the Haiti Four will have another chance to go to Haiti next year, which is awesome for them! We also discussed what we will do for the Haitians now that we have returned home, and if us going there had any impact on them. They certainly impacted us and enriched our lives. My personal answer to the question of whether we impacted them or not is yes, we have impacted their lives. We went down and made a conscious effort to be a part of their society and live their way of life. Most Americans just bring money or food, and then leave shortly after. What we did was something completely different. We lived in dorms with the Haitians, learned some of their language, ate the customary food, and played music with them. All of these things helped to build friendships between us that will last our entire lives.
The last topic of conversation that we shared before we all went home was the decision to make Maine Music Outreach a nonprofit organization. Nothing was determined on the 20th, but in future meetings for next years Haiti folks, hopefully something will be.

Bonswa! -Hannah

Returning Home

A week or so after our trip, my mind still drifts to Haiti periodically during the day. Actions will trigger memories, such as filling my water bottle from a 5 gallon container, and some certain American phrases I'll remember in Creole, like mwen gen dormi and mwen grangou. When someone asks me to tell them about my trip, I always pull a blank for a minute or so- where do i start? There were life changing experiences on this trip, yet I still have a hard time choosing a story to tell someone. Sometimes this trip feels like a dream to me, impossible to pin down the right words to describe the feelings of elation, sadness, surprise and happiness.

Although Haiti can be considered simple in some respects, the way they live their life is not. I find myself meeting people who have ten fold what families in Haiti have, yet they have more complaints. Everyone in Haiti fills their days to the fullest with small acts of kindness in every moment of their day. I miss the straightforwardness of life in Haiti, how everything just happened when it happened and there was no stress.

If I had to chose one moment in Haiti where my perspective on life changed completely, it would have to be the day that we ran out of water at the camp. I've spent most of my life in America, and I'm used to always having whatever I need. And if I don't have it, I can drive ten minutes to the store and buy it. It's just how I've been brought up. In Haiti it's completely different. When we ran out of water, there was no more water until the trucks drove and filled them up for us- this took about half the day. No one wasted the water in Haiti. You drank when you needed to and filled up from the communal 5 gallon container in the middle of the campus. Showering was kept to the brief limit, as well as washing, teeth brushing, and toilet flushing.

In America it's just so different. While we wait for our showers to warm up, the water runs freely, wasting into the plumbing. We flush the toilets every time we use them. We let the water run while we soap the dishes. The tap flows while we brush our teeth for no apparent reason. Water runs freely in our house, as I'm sure it does in many other American households. Before this trip, I'd never known what it was like to be without one of the main human needs. I'd never thought that water could simply run out before. There's always the talk, but the reality is simply not there. It's almost impossible to imagine life without a need that I've always had access to plenty of before.

I've gained awareness about other worlds from this trip, and there's no way I could have learned without actually travelling and experiencing everything firsthand. If I could change anything in the world, I would try to give people the awareness I have gained from this trip. Although it's just not the same to be told about differences in other countries, I think this would be a good place to start.