On January 12, 2010, a nineteen year old college student from Florida’s Lynn University, texted her mother from Porte-au-Prince Haiti. She had arrived there only two days before on a Winter Break Alternative service trip and had spent a portion of those days working with poor Haitian children.

Her brief experience there had so deeply impressed her that she was able to write in her text:

“They love us so much and everyone is so happy. They love what they have and they work so hard to get nowhere, yet they are all so appreciative. I want to move here and start an orphanage myself.”

Three hours later the devastating 7 point earthquake hit. Within a span of 20 seconds, 300,000 men, women and children were crushed to death, and as many, if not more, were injured, homeless, and worst of all, helpless and hopeless.

When news of the quake reached Britney Gengel’s family in Worcester, they immediately did all they could to contact their daughter or to find information about her safety and whereabouts.

After many failed attempts, misinformation and false hopes, it finally became clear that Britney had perished in the rubble of the earthquake.

She was housed at the well-known Hotel Montana in the capital, the site of Bill and Hilary Clinton’s honeymoon.

But, like most others, the building collapsed in upon itself, killing Brit, along with some of her fellow students and professors as well.

The Gengel family almost immediately turned to the text message Brit had sent them only three hours before the quake.

In it they discovered comfort, support, and a constructive channel for their overwhelming grief. They were especially inspired by the final line of the paragraph. “I want to move here and start an orphanage myself.”

They began a foundation to bring Brit’s dream to fruition and 4 years later, opened the doors of the BLB, “Be-like Brit” orphanage in Grande Goave, Haiti.

In addition to serving the needs of 66 orphans, the Gengel family also started a program of volunteer service for those interested in assisting in the rebuilding of and the restoration of hope in Haiti.

For the first time this year Saint Anselm College chose Haiti, and specifically the BLB program, as one of its 8 sites for Spring Break Alternative experience.

Myself, another faculty member and 11 students spent 8 days last week in Haiti, fully engaged in the work of the “Be-like-Brit” service program.

There were three major components to the experience: working in the orphanage with the kids, building a house for a homeless family, and engaging in cultural education about Haiti.

The Orphanage:

The children there range in age from 3 to 16, boys and girls. They go off to local schools during the day and have programs of study, recreation, sports and human/spiritual development at the orphanage.

It is a beautiful place with a large staff of dedicated men and women who engage with the children in every possible way.

Our experience with the kids was awesome. We were privileged to participate in recreational events with the kids, several walks into the hills, various musical programs, footprint painting, a movie night and a talent show, (the kids were clearly more talented than we were, despite our best attempts at a choreographed version of the Lion King’s “Hakuna Matata”!)

The House:

A young, single mother with a two yearold child was in need of a place to live. For much of the time, the mother had to be separated from her child, because she could not find a place for both of them to live together.

Guided and assisted by a small crew of Haitian workers from BLB, our volunteer group constructed a modest wooden house from start to finish within a week.

We dug out a foundation, mixed, hauled and poured the concrete floor, framed the house, sided it, painted it, and hung a door.

The footprint was 12’ x 16’, with 12’ x 12’ being the enclosed part of the structure, the remaining 4’ a small portico.

Plywood walls on 2’x4’ framing. There was a small metal ventilation “window” as they don’t use glass. The process was very labor intensive.

Since there is no running water or electricity in the area, we had to haul the water needed to mix the cement, then haul the concrete up the hill bucket by bucket. This in itself was an all-day event.

On the framing day, they brought in a gas generator so that we could cut the 2’x4’s with a skill saw.

Our group worked there each morning for 4 hours, the “experts” on staff continued the work throughout the afternoon.

For furnishings, we built a 2’by4’ bedframe and purchased a second-hand mattress. On the last day we blessed and presented the completed house to Venia and Dave.

The Culture:

Haiti is the only country in the world where the official language is not the same as the spoken language. French remains the legal language for all official documents, etc… Creole is the spoken language.

We had a one hour Creole class at the beginning of our week, covering the basics of conversation. Creole is mostly derived from French with a mixture of some Spanish and African words and expressions.

The numbers are exactly the same as in French. The language sounds like French but is written like English, very phonetically. For example, faith, “foi” in French is written “fwa” in Creole.

Children who go on to high school learn French and sometimes English there, but the little kids speak mainly Creole, though at the BLB orphanage, English is introduced at a very early age.

Language was a bit of an obstacle with some adults, but not as much with the kids who have their own universal language of hand signals and facial expressions.

It is said that 80% of Haiti is Catholic; 20% Protestant and 100% Voodoo. We went to Mass at the local Catholic Church on Sunday, a Mass that lasted two and a half hours, filled with several homilies, spirited music and a whole array of cultural flavor.

We also went to a Voodoo temple and had a very interesting dialogue with the Voodoo priest. The place has a sacred pillar in the center around which symbolic objects of offering are placed along with instruments used in the various animal sacrifices that take place there.

Along the walls are paintings of “Catholic” saints, apostles, martyrs, and the Virgin Mary. The Haitian version of Voodoo developed at the time when the country was colonized by the French and the people were forced to turn from their native religion to Catholicism.

Externally they conformed and placed the Catholic symbols in their Churches, but they also secretly used the Catholic saints as fronts for communication with various spirits worshipped by their ancestors.

This all makes for a very curious and confusing mixture of religious symbolism and experience. In Voodoo, both Lucifer and God are acknowledged and worshipped.

Though it appears to be a largely benevolent religious system, there is the dark side when Lucifer becomes the prominent focus.

As in any religion, when fanaticism takes over, it is no longer benevolent. But, as it appears, Catholicism and Voodoo in Haiti coexist and intermingle relatively well.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Though there are some higher class places and people in and around the capital, the overwhelming majority of Haitians are extremely poor.

Unemployment is 75%. Life expectancy is short and infant mortality high.

BLB is located in a rural area and we were privileged to get to know some of the local people as we hiked out to the work site where we were building the house.

Every day at the sight of our white work brigade marching along the dirt road, the local children came running out to meet us, some clothed, others not, some with flip-flops, others with bare feet, holding our hands, getting a piggy back ride, thumbing through our cell phone photo collection and just simply being with us. Their parents looked on with big smiles and peaceful countenances.

Again, these people have no electricity, no running water, no kitchens, no bathrooms, just a ramshackle shed of sorts or a simple wooden or cinderblock dwelling, the size and shape of what we would call a tool shed.

A lingering question for me remains. Are the peace, joy and apparent contentment demonstrated by the adults we encountered on our way genuine? Or, is it a disguised despair, quiet desperation, or helpless resignation?

As they sit outside their dwellings seemingly doing nothing and just staring at the hills, are they weeping inside or are they just living in the moment, contemplating reality with wonder and gratitude?

Are they naturally possessed of that enviable mindfulness that we need to attend workshops in order to merely taste, and even then, somewhat artificially? Which of our cultures is really “underdeveloped”?

All throughout the activities of the week, I grew in appreciation and pride towards our Saint A’s students. They were nothing short of awesome.

Each evening our Saint A’s group met together for reflection and prayer, merely scratching the surface of the powerful experiences we were undergoing.

Many questions arose with few satisfying answers in response. It will take us a much longer time and deeper reflection to unpack this experience.

Surely extreme poverty and hunger are evils calling out for remedy. But beyond those basic human necessities, what is the relationship between an extremely simple mode of existence and serenity of heart?

During the Sunday hour-and-a-half long homily, the priest, in reviewing the Gospel for the previous Sunday about the three temptations of Christ in the desert, warned the congregation against the temptations to food, riches and power.

I wondered why? The people in that church had very little of each.

Maybe he was counseling them against letting the desire for any of the three overtake them, thus sabotaging the joy, peace and serenity that faith in the Lord Jesus can bring us, no matter in which hemisphere we live or in which social circumstances we find ourselves.

Brit’s initial observation comes to mind: “They work so hard to get nowhere”. My question is: Are they really “no-where” or “now-here”? And where am I?