Good afternoon friends and family!
This is Luke Couwenhoven with our 5th and final trip update. I apologize for the delay, as this should have been sent out last night. I started on my recap email during our final leg of our trip from Atlanta to Minneapolis, and am now finishing up from the comfort of my couch!
Our final morning started out with another attempt at an American breakfast by 2 amazing Haitian women. All the meals that they made us this week were quite good, but all had a unique, local twist.
After breakfast, we headed out to a local company called the Apparent Project. The Apparent Project was founded by an American woman with one goal: job creation for the local community. The AP utilizes local talent to create incredible handmade clay jewelry, pottery, screen print tee shirts, and sewn goods such as purses and stuffed animals for the kids. As we got a tour of the compound, the joy of the employees was incredible. Primarily women were employed, and the money that they earned each day often paid for their entire family’s well-being. One of the awesome things that the AP offered was child care and preschool for the women’s children up to 5 years of age. This allows employees to work full work weeks, knowing that their kids are being taken care of, and not just wandering the streets (which is very common). The AP has a gift shop attached for tourists to shop, and they also sell all of their goods both for retail and wholesale on their website. CLICK HERE to take a closer look at their website! There was also a restaurant on the top level of the facility that served a variety of drinks and meal options. It was cool to see such a thriving business that was being managed and operated by only locals.
As Americans, we often assume that the way to help a struggling country like Haiti is to bring them food and build them homes. This way of thinking can have a positive short term affect, but by a bunch of Americans bringing down supplies and building a house, you just took money and jobs away from Haitians who could have done the work themselves.
Jason, who you heard from a few days ago, and also seems to know a little bit about basically everything, gave me an awesome example of this! In 1994 the Clinton administration started shipping huge quantities of rice to Haiti in an attempt to help alleviate hunger in the country. The short term affect was positive. The poorest of the poor now had free food to eat. The long term affects were devastating. Within a short amount of time there was no market for local rice. All of the local farmers lost their jobs, homes, and land because they no longer could sell their crops. As Clinton was wrapping up his administartion, he was interviewed and asked "What is the biggest regret you have from your time in office"? His response was "Free food for Haiti."
Going into this trip I was well aware that the country of Haiti is in desperate need of help, but after this trip, my idea of help has been totally changed. The Haitian people are happy, appreciative, and hardworking people that have no opportunity to utilize their skills. Healing Haiti and their affiliates are set on creating opportunities for the people. Change comes from within!
After our visit to the Apparent Project, we had a short turn around to get packed up and head to the airport. If you like complaining about security lines, having to pay for wifi, or the lack of a delta club at your local airport. Please visit a 3rd world country's airport! Your life isn't so bad! The trip home was relatively uneventful. Everyone made it safe to their destinations.
Thank you so much to everyone who read our updates and prayed for us during this trip! It was an incredible experience for all of us! I am so appreciative to live in such an amazing country with the freedom to pursue so many different job opportunities. The country of Haiti and its people are beautiful! Their circumstances are heart wrenching. After 5 days, it is apparent to me that God has not forgotten about the poorest of the poor. God transcends all cultures and economic status. Haiti is an exceptional example. God is good!
-Luke C.
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