Inspiration from the dance

The other night, I was at a school fundraiser called “Taste the Nations”, where for a fee, guests could sample delicious food prepared by local restaurants and parents.  Part of the festivities included student performances of various dances from cultures around the world as entertainment.  It was a chance for the school community and friends to come together, learn about various cultures, have a great time, and raise funds for the school.

After the children completed their performances, a band played as folks ate, talked and milled about.  First, two little girls went to the front of the room and began to dance to the music, and then one by one, others joined them.  About ten little girls and one little boy were dancing to the music.  There was twirling, skipping, swaying to the music, and a crowd drew around them, enjoying not just the music, but the joy that we could all see on the little faces as they spun around what they had made into a dance floor.

It occurred to me as I watched, that this is what childhood should be.  This is how children ought to feel.  I saw freedom, joy, peace, in the children who danced, and approval, love, and protection in the eyes of the adults who watched. These children have a future ahead of them that is bound to be bright because they have all that they need at their fingertips.

It is my prayer, my dream, my vision, that all children around the world can have such a future.  If only there was clean water, enough food, good medical care, excellent schools, caring and able government to provide such a future to them.

Enjoying the dancing children, the other night increased my resolve to do my part.  I, alone, cannot make much difference in all the world.  But with the help of others, all of us together can.  

Join Seastar Services as we invite more children to the dance. 

School Bus Reflection

I was driving a friend’s daughter to school this morning, and stopped for a school bus.    Traffic built up a bit, as we watched the twenty or so children who had been waiting at the bus stop, board.  Drivers were patient as we waited for one more parent and child to rush down the hill to join the others to get on for their ride to school.

I flashbacked to my first trip to Haiti.  It was six months after the earthquake in 2010.  In Leogane, the majority of buildings; homes and shops; had been destroyed, and there were piles of concrete, bricks, and rubble bordering the streets, which were cracked and full of huge potholes. As my colleague Marjorie and I toured the devastation, we were silent as our Haitian partner Fritz slowly maneuvered around the potholes.

I wondered how the people could continue.  Because there they were, now living in homemade tents of all kinds of materials.  Cooking, washing clothes in tubs, walking to and fro.  Many smiled and waved as we passed by. I wasn’t sure that I would be so resilient.  I wasn’t sure that my privileged upbringing, in a land that met all my needs, would enable me to be a survivor like these.  How would I fare if I had lost everything with no government agency to help me?  How would I make it without the many opportunities the United States has in place?  With all their issues, what if there was no FEMA, no Red Cross, no Human Services, no Salvation Army?  How would I make it?

But those are the facts of Haiti in 2010.  No government aid to the crisis.  No infrastructure – no garbage pickup, few hospitals and doctors; relief pouring in from world organizations, but not enough to reach everyone.

While I watched the children board their government sponsored, free school bus this morning, I remembered the school children in Haiti back then.  We saw many who were walking to school that day.  They were the ones who were still able to afford the $33.00 per year tuition.  They were in their school uniforms, freshly pressed, girls with hair braided with brightly colored ribbons; boys with smooth hair cuts, book bags on their backs.  They walked along, stepping and sometimes climbing over the mountains of cement and falling bricks, headed to school, which was quite a distance away.  They were on a mission.  They were determined to make the most of the day in the best way they could – getting to school to receive an education that would make a difference in their lives. 

There was no school bus to pick them up.  I would learn later that while they had money for tuition, often times their families did not have money for lunch, and there was no free school lunch available.  When we were able to visit a school on a trip in 2015, we saw more than 30 children in each classroom, sometimes two grades in the same room, divided by a curtain.  The children sat at wooden desks and chairs or benches.  The teacher had a small desk of his/her own, in the corner of the room. There was a chalkboard in the front of the class, and as we walked around the building, there was only the sound of the teachers’ voices.  The children were quiet, listening, writing, and paying attention.   With very few supplies, one notebook and workbook per child, the tone of each classroom was of respect, commitment, and an obvious seriousness about their study.  With our privilege in the United States, a lesson can be learned about appreciating what we have available to us.

It’s easy for some of us to take things for granted in America.  Public, free school (even with all of the problems we face with public education), transportation for the children, free breakfast and lunch programs, free textbooks.  We are fortunate, blessed and privileged to live in a society that affords our children the basic need of education.  With that blessing, how can we ignore the plight of other children who are in such need?  

On our last fact-finding trip, we learned that there are 26 children in the community we support, Barriere Jeudi, outside of Leogane, who cannot afford the tuition, and were not in school. Twenty-six families do not have $33.00 to pay for a year’s tuition.  Most of us are not wealthy in American terms, but most of us can afford to help a child go to school in Haiti. Please visit our donations page, and contribute at least $33.00 to afford one student a year’s worth of education.

2 Life Lessons Learned from Haiti

Everyone is saying the same thing.  It seems like Haiti just can’t get a break.  As the country has still not recuperated from the 2010 earthquake, Hurricane Matthew swept in and homes, crops, buildings were destroyed, along with hundreds of lives.

As I sit in my comfortable office, in a soft, cushioned chair, with ample electric light, a working computer, and so many clothes, books, and knick knacks around me that I cannot even put everything away properly, I can only reflect once again on the disparity that exists in our world.

My visits to Haiti over the past six years have taught me two great lessons.

1. The human spirit is amazingly resilient.  A recent New York Times article reported on the town of Beaumont, completely destroyed by the hurricane.  At night, the reporter wrote, music could be heard as people played makeshift drums of buckets and tin plates.  The words they sang?  “We are poor people, but we are strong.  We will not live on our knees.”  When I first went to Leogane, Haiti six months after the earthquake, I was inspired to see school children climbing over the debris of fallen buildings to get to school; adults, with no paid jobs, working together to carve out space for life. 
2. People are inherently generous.  Already, relief efforts have begun, with collections of food, clothing and other items being collected and sent to assist.  I left St. Thomas a few   days ago, and two days after the hurricane landed in Haiti, a shipping company had donated container, and freight charges to send tons of items to Port au Prince. Now I see that here in New York and all over the US, at this moment, churches and other groups are collecting items as well for shipping.  On each visit that I’ve made over the years, there have been small charitable organizations like Seastar, on the ground helping to re-build. 

Despite our view of the historical corruption that has plagued Haitian politics, despite our feelings about the involvement of “first world” nations in the poverty of Haiti, each of us must decide where we stand in the area of humanitarian aid.  We need to decide our role in helping when help is needed. 

From where I sit in my comfortable home, I have decided to do what I can to help in some small way to help somebody else.

And so, as we like to say in our Seastar meetings, we know that we cannot “fix” all of Haiti’s problems.  But we know that if all of us can do just a little, together we can make a huge difference.

Visit our Facebook page for information on our support drive and fundraising effort.

An Optimist's View of a Complicated World

The world is so complicated now.  Every day, it seems that we are hearing about more violence, whether is it’s our community, our country, or our world. It seems that the ideas of common decency, willingness to accept differences of others, and patience are things of the past.

What is the response that we, people of peace and faith are to have?  Do we turn to our faith system and pray/meditate?  Do we stick with those who think like we do and try to just stay out of the way of others? Do we spend time looking for someone to blame?  Do we turn off the news, whether on TV, radio, or online? Do we accept the world as it is and focus on our own needs and wants?

Some say that we need to take our concern to the polls and vote for the person who thinks most like us and count on them to make the change.  Some say that we need to take to the streets, lift our voices, and let our concerns be known.  Some say that we need to accept the status quo and live our lives as best we can.

If I were to join the discussion, (and I guess I am now), I would say that our response will and must be as diverse as our world is.  We can vote, protest, focus ourselves, pray, meditate, chant.  I believe that if all peace seekers would do something, each in her or his own way, there would be a difference. A solution is just as complex as the problems of terrorism, police violence, crime. 

So if we act our conscience, and not just think our conscience; in whatever way is comfortable for us, perhaps there would be a change.  In other words, if we take our position from within the confines of our friends and colleagues, and step out into the world we so worry about, and do something, I believe our collective positive actions can make the world a little less complicated. 

I am often called a hopeless optimist.  And that is probably true.  But I refuse to believe there is no way to end the violence we are faced with every day.  It’s time for a change and we are the ones who can make that change.