Beans

Beans

What creates poverty and what creates wealth?

Haiti is poor.  Very poor.  We've heard it time and again.   It's hard to comprehend the level of poverty until you've walked through it, felt it, smelled it, heard it and seen it.

The results of this poverty are immediately apparent:  lack of food, shelter and lack of medical care.   The 'relief'' side of our organization is black and white.  Provide food and water to those who have no means to provide it for themselves.  

The 'development' side of Reiser Relief, and for any organization attempting to address poverty, is much more complex.

Today we explored both relief and development.  Let me start with beans!  We started our day chatting with a Haitian who explained to us that, as a child, he rarely got to eat rice and beans as they were too expensive.  Instead his family often foraged for native grown vegetables and fruits such as breadfruit, yams and bananas.  In the rare times that he got to eat rice and beans it was a huge treat!  Make rice and beans for you family tomorrow night and explain to them what a rich feast they are privileged to eat!

We discussed beans again when we met with the director of a school we support.   We partner with this school providing Feed My Starving Children food to supply some of the caloric needs of the 650 kids who enter his school daily.  Beans and rice take propane to cook.  Propane is expensive.  He is often faced with this difficult decision.  Do I spend my last dollars on propane tanks that will feed these kids at school today, or do I send food home with the kids, in which case I will run out of food more quickly?  I can't send home food just to feed my one student, but I need to send enough food home to feed that student's family.

We also visited a soccer program today located right in Cite Soleil.  The big-hearted director of this program gives boys in the slums a positive outlet for their energy in a safe and supportive athletic environment and then feeds the kids in a large nearby kitchen owned by Lasallian order of Catholics.   One by one he, and the organizations that partner with him, are lifting kids up.  What an inspiration.

And on a light note, we saw beans in what I called "Haitian McDonald's."  Our guides pulled over to the side of the road and negotiated for a carton of hot fresh rice and beans from industrious roadside entrepreneurs operating with a tarp, kettle and large spoon.

On the development side, I've been mulling over the question of what creates wealth.  How can we as a non-profit organization make a long term difference in improving the economy of Haiti?  Our current focus is on education.  We pulled together the rough skeleton of a scholarship program where we will sponsor talented Haitian high school seniors to further their education in studying disciplines such as accounting, agriculture and computer science.  Our hope and prayer is that these students will go on to develop skills that will, even in small increments, lift to economy of Haiti.  We met 3 new students today in need of sponsors and toured a university that some of them will attend, by the Grace of God.

What an awesome days.  And to top it off, guess what I had for dinner?

Spaghetti!

(Gotcha)

Peace,
Joyce