Ok, let’s be honest for a minute. Nick and I have lived in Haiti for almost 10 years now, yet we still have NO IDEA what life is like outside our gate. I mean we truly can not even come close to comprehending what life is like for our employees, their families, and the children in our soccer program. We live mere feet from our closest neighbor, yet a lifetime away as well. However every once in a while we get a small glimpse into what the effect of poverty really does to those we love, and to be honest, it humbles and infuriates us all at the same time.
There is a family here in our village that we have gotten to know quite well this past year. It’s a sibling group of four, the oldest three of which play on our soccer teams. Over a year ago, both their Mom and Dad moved to the Dominican Republic to find work so they could send money home to support their children. I wish this was a happy ending, them making it big and sending loads of money home to their kids, making their sacrifice worth it. Unfortunately that is rarely the case when someone flees to a foreign country undocumented in search of work. One of them now has a wheel barrow selling drinks, the other a wheel barrow selling shoes. So yeah, you guessed right, they left their four children behind and now make mere pennies, not enough to ever raise their family out of poverty. Not even enough to care for the needs of their family TODAY.
These four children are now passed around between their Aunt and Grandmas homes. I’ve started getting to know their Aunt a little and do feel that she does her best to care for them, but she has her own children including an infant that she’s struggling to care for as it is. There just simply are not enough money to go around.
If you’ve been following our updates this last year, you know that schools have been shut down all year due to nation wide protests where schools and students safety was threatened. The school that these four children attend opened up this week for the first time this school year, yet three of the four of them aren’t attending. After missing four months of school, I was discouraged to see them walking out in the sugar cane fields instead of heading to class. Today I asked them why they aren’t going. Their answer was simple, they can’t afford to purchase the required books, and can’t attend until they do. They’ve already bought their uniforms, backpacks, shoes, and paid all needed school fees. These books cost them maybe $10 a piece, yet it’s a fee that is far too high for this family, and many families in our community.
To be honest, this news infuriated me. How can their Principle possibly keep these kids out of school when they’ve already missed months. All three of these kids are YEARS behind where they should be. I’m angry at the sin and greed that has caused poverty to be so rampant in Haiti. I’m angry at the people who funded the protests this year all because they wanted to keep their lavish lifestyles. I want better for these children. I want them to have the opportunity to attend school, to get jobs, and to live a far higher quality of life. They deserve something as simple as a quality education and consistent proper meals (something else these four often go without).
After letting this news sink in for a few hours, I went to find the boys to discuss the matter more. I found eight year old R sitting by himself right outside our gate. It was dark out and he should have been getting ready for bed to head to school in the morning. R found his older brother L and I told him that I would pay for the books for the three kids who had yet to purchase them. I told L that I wanted to see all four of them at school tomorrow and that I would personally talk to his director and promise that they would have the books by the end of the day. L, whose 15, has agreed to do a few small chores around the farm to help “pay” for the books for him and his siblings.
For those of you who have donated to New Roots, please know that no donation is too small. We spent $30 from our community aid fund to help get these children back in school. That seems like such a small amount to most of us, but to this family, it’s life changing. This experience, and so many others over the years just confirm that we are attacking poverty the way it needs to be done. Think of how differently the life of this family would be if the parents had stable jobs. This is why we beg for funding. This is why we stay here even when it’s difficult. This is why we have dreams of building a community center with a library where we can partner with schools to provide books to deepen learning. Where we can provide resources that will TRULY help rise our community out of poverty. These four children deserve us to keep fighting for them. Thank you for helping allow us to be the ones advocating on their behalf.