My story with Be Like Brit started a little more than year and a half ago, while sitting in an assembly as a junior at Saint John's High School in Shrewsbury. The assembly was about this Global Encounter Program where students from the school are selected for various trips to volunteer in and with different places such as non-profits, Native American reservations, and other communities in need for a week during a school vacation. One organization on the list particularly peaked my interest. At the time, I knew very little about Be Like Brit, and even less about Haiti. I had never before thought about or pictured myself working in a third world country. However, in the assembly, speakers briefly described each organization and what it was about.
Be Like Brit stood out to me. An organization founded and built out of a mother and father's grief and love with the goal of fulfilling daughter's last wishes, tragically killed in the Haiti earthquake while serving on a trip similar to the Global Encounter Program I was about to participate it. As I learned more and more about Be Like Brit I became more and more intrigued, however, when the time came for selection, I wasn't picked! I was upset but I thought, maybe next year. A few weeks later one of the students who was selected to go suffered a lung collapse. His condition prevented him from going, and I was selected to take his place. I felt badly for him, but hey, I was going to Haiti now!
When I arrived in Haiti I expected myself to feel shocked, depressed and guilty at what I was about to see, and in some ways I was. On the three hour van ride to Be Like Brit I witnessed the extreme poverty of Haiti, the shacks and tents people called home, the dirty living conditions, and even damaged buildings, reminders of the earthquake that had occurred almost three years prior, still lingered. However, what prominently stood out to me and out-shined the poverty was the Haitian people themselves. I did not see a country filled with downtrodden people living in squalor. Instead, I saw a community full of life. Everywhere I looked there was activity, people talking, walking, groups of kids everywhere running around playing, people selling goods, and pulling carts. The spirit and perseverance of the Haitian people is amazing and inspiring. I spent the week with my group helping with the construction of the cement road up to Be Like Brit. It was the hardest work I had ever done; hours of moving buckets of rocks and sand to make concrete alongside the Haitian workers. I personally had to take a break every 15 minutes, however the Haitian workers could work hours straight and make it look easy while I sat struggling to catch my breath in a pool of sweat.
Again it was an inspiring thing to experience because I came to the realization that these guys work as hard as they do not for promotion or raise or a fancier car or a bigger house, they work this hard because they are putting food on the table for their families, they are keeping their "houses" from falling apart with the little money they make and if they are lucky they are sending their children to school in hopes that they might have a better future. And the best part is, while they toil for hours on end, they do it with a smile on their face. I also started to realize during my one week stay that Be Like Brit was not just improving the lives of the kids that live there but improving the community of Grand Goave itself by providing jobs a means of education and much more. Any excess Be Like Brit has is never wasted. It is given to the community. There are special relationships Be Like Brit maintains with Grand Goave, it supports the economy provides jobs, often gives food, clothing, housing and healthcare to those who need it most, but on the flip side without the community of Grand Goave there would be no Be Like Brit. After experiencing and learning all this in one week I realized I needed to be a bigger part of this organization I knew I had so much more to experience and learn so I decided that week that I would do a long term trip after I graduated high school.
This time I was going directly through Be Like Brit instead of through the Global Encounter Program, however I was rejected after I submitted my application. I was crushed but I could see where they were coming from, an 18 year old coming to stay at the orphanage without any specialization could be more of a burden then of value, and that's a big thing at Be Like Brit. If you want to be part of BLB, especially long term, you have to bring value to the table. It's not a resort or tourist attraction. It is a well-run non-profit organization and has earned the title of being the best orphanage in Haiti and one of the most efficient and effective nonprofits in the country. Be Like Brit did not earn that reputation by having useless parts in its well-oiled machine. I understood this and is one of the reasons I respect BLB, but at the same time, I don't like taking no for an answer, so I sent a well written email to Jonathan (the Program Director) in the hopes that I could convince them that I would be a valuable member for the time I spent at BLB, that I was dedicated, hardworking and believed in the organization, I would do whatever work was asked of me. I caught Jon's attention because of my persistence and he talked to Len and Cherylann who agreed to let me come. It was another lesson Be Like Brit gave me even before I got there: Persistence is important. If you show people you are dedicated and hardworking it will often get you to places you want to go.
I have to admit I was nervous, I was about to spend three months away from home in a third world country with a language I barely knew. However I came in with a group of weeklong Britsionarys and I got along really well with all of them. They were great people, and they were the reason I was able to acclimate and settle in so well my first week here. The group consisted of a few teachers and a superintendent who were coming to do a literacy project as well as 2 parishioners from Saint John's Church in Worcester and the priest Father John Madden. The group's project that week was to construct a house. Before we arrived Len had been surveying the land where he was going to construct the remainder of BLB's perimeter wall. On the path where the wall was being constructed he came upon a small grave so he sent out a few guys to find the family of the deceased. They found the family in a sort of homeless shelter. The family consisted of a young husband and wife with a 2 year old daughter the grave was of their youngest born infant daughter. BLB gave them a piece of property to live and the Britsionarys donated the money for the supplies to build the house. It was a busy week and challenging working in the heat I was not yet used to for about 6 hours a day. We dug holes for the supports then poured concrete, nailed the frame together, poured the concrete floor put on the door and finally painted. One of the more difficult parts was nailing the frame and walls. The wood was strong, good quality wood which is necessary for a strong good quality house, however, this presented a problem as the nails were not good quality nails... or at least that's what we said to make ourselves feel better, it was more likely user error but anyway the nails were constantly bending when we tried to hammer them in.
Father Madden would deny it but I'm pretty sure I heard him drop a few swears when struggling over a single nail for 15 minutes. It was really cool to see it all come together starting from scratch. When the house was finished we got to meet the family ourselves and presented them with the food and other essentials we bought them. The end product, the "house" was nice but it is not what we would consider a house to be in America, it is what we would consider to be a shed. Each of us was allowed to go up and introduce ourselves and say what we wanted to the family and they would thank each of us individually. In a moment you'd think would be a happy one, I was not, I was rather distraught. I couldn't even bring myself to go up and talk to them and have them thank me, I felt guilty. I remember thinking I don't want them to thank me, I didn't want to receive praise for helping give these people what they already deserved, a means to live. I know it improved their lives and helped them, maybe even saved them but I couldn't do it. Everyone deserves to have food to feed their families and a home to put over their heads. I didn't feel right being thanked so I just watched. After that we had a funeral for the daughter, they built her a proper grave right near the house and prayers were said, Len told the family no parent should ever have to bury their child. For me the moment of presenting the house and the funeral was one of the most powerful moments of my three month stay in Haiti.
After my first week it was weird being at Be Like Brit without a group, but I got to see how the orphanage functioned day to day and become part of the family so to speak. It finally set in that I wasn't just a week long visitor I was going to be living with these people and children for the next three months. For work for my second week, I was out in the field with the workers helping prepare the land for the last leg of the wall as well as the soccer field. Mostly my work involved moving rocks from one spot to another. It might seem like monotonous work but the relationships I was able to build with the Haitians out in the field made the experience. At first the Haitians were apprehensive about me working with them, they probably didn't know why this "blan" was here doing work he had no business doing. They probably thought I was just going to be slow and get in the way, which in the beginning was actually pretty accurate, there was no way I could keep up with them. As the week progressed I began to get better and better and the workers began to appreciate me working with them, they told me I was a good worker even though I was still pretty slow. The workers were for the most part unskilled laborers with a few masons and ironworkers here and there. There were even a few who spoke English and I was able to learn a good deal of Creole from them as well. Later that week when the rocks were all moved they began pouring cement for the wall, there were no cement trucks and the cement had to be moved from the cement mixer at the bottom of the hill where the soccer field would be, to the top of the hill where the wall was being built. The main method of getting this done was by forming a line of men from the cement mixer to the place it would be poured and handing off the cement bucket by bucket. In the States we have hardware and trucks, in Haiti, they have manpower. By the next week I would be moved from the field to painting the playground and all the workers always to this day complain of how I don't work with them anymore.
While working in the field I worked under a guy named Weenshy who later became my roommate. Over the course of these three months, Weenshy and I became good friends. Weenshy was Haitian born but has lived in New York as well as Paris, he came on board BLB as just a translator but soon flew up the ranks and is now working alongside Gama as his assistant operations director.
The next week I painted the playground, BLB wanted this done because they were afraid if it went unpainted to much longer the wood would begin to rot, so that was my assignment the next week. I had heard of the legendary Britsionary group that had built the playground named Team Toro. Team Toro is an all work Britsionary group that is considered the most effective Britsionary team that exists, they were able to build that playground and two houses in one week. I realize this has nothing to do with my trip here but I thought it was impressive. At any rate, the week was mostly uneventful. Each day I would take my CD player, listen to music, and paint. My favorite part of the day was when the laundry ladies came to hang and take down clothes on the lines right next to the playground. When they came out to work I'd pause my CD player because while they worked they would sing, even though I didn't understand the words I thought it was beautiful. I would talk to them with what little Creole I knew as often as I could.
For a good amount of my stay here I worked with Be Like Brit's driver, Francky. Although his official title is driver I believe he brings much more to the table then his ability to drive. One thing you need to know about Frankie is that in the town of Grand Goave he is famous. Everyone knows Francky and everyone always want to stop and talk to him. Before BLB came along, Francky was a barber as well as a moto taxi driver, besides just living his whole life in Grand Goave these two occupations allowed him to become very well known in the community. BLB has taken good care of Francky, and Francky in turn does everything he can to help those he cares about, which is good for BLB. I don't exaggerate when I say that Francky is one of the most giving people I have ever met and I feel lucky to consider him my friend. I think of Francky to be a sort of informal, public relations director for BLB. He knows the community of Grand Goave and is well-liked which makes it beneficial for BLB to have him on board. I believe Francky is one of the reasons Be Like Brit has such a good relationship with the community of Grand Goave. Throughout my stay I ran many errands with Francky, some just around Grand Goave, some in Petit Goave, and some in Port au Prince. I really enjoyed working with Francky because I loved the guy but also because I got to see got to see different towns in Haiti and experience the real Haiti. Don't get me wrong, Be Like Brit is an amazing place but inside its walls you don't experience the real Haiti. The Haiti on the inside of Be Like Brit is completely different from the rest of Haiti. So I was grateful for this opportunity because I wanted to experience the real Haiti, not just be sheltered inside the walls of Be Like Brit from the reality of it all. Driving in Haiti in and of itself is probably one of the scariest things I've ever done. Let's just say it's not at all like the driving in the States.
Francky also got me hooked on sugar cane! There is nothing more refreshing after a day's work then chewing on some nice, juicy sugar cane. I usually kept a good stock of it in the fridge but one day I decided to leave some on my nightstand to have later that night. When I went into my room the power had gone out so it was pitch dark. I was used to this so I just lay down on my bed and started eating my sugar cane. After a few bites I felt something weird in my mouth. When the power came back on and the room was illuminated, I realized my sugar cane was covered in little ants! I freaked out. and needless to say I only left my sugar cane in the fridge after that.
It's hard for me to see some of the realities of Haiti when I've never truly wanted for anything. I've never been truly hungry or deprived. The "problems" I have at home get diminished to nothing when I see the struggles people face here. Even when my friends would talk to me on the phone from home about their problems or their bad day while I was here it was so hard for me to find any sympathy for them. It was refreshing after moments like that to come back to Be Like Brit and see the opportunity that Brit's kids now have and the chance at a good life, not burdened with the worries of hunger or fear.
I like to think I've connected with almost all the kids while I've been here and I really love them all equally. However there are a few who stand out that I feel I have given them something through my stay here; the first being Fredo, who is the oldest child here. He is thirteen. Fredo acts like a big brother to the rest of the kids. Fredo, as the oldest, is starting to get more and more responsibilities. One thing Jon wanted to him to learn was how to mow the lawn. So, I started to teach him. I corrected him every time he veered from a straight line; it was the first time I ever felt as rigid about something as my dad. Every time it came time to mow the lawn I would take Fredo out and show him. He got better and better. The last time he did it, he was able to mow the lawn alone and he did a fairly decent job! I like to think we bonded. For me, I felt I made an impact, as I will always be the person who taught him how to mow the lawn. It was a special moment for me even though it seems just to be a simple thing.
When Petit (little) Bruno came I was responsible for him, feeding him, walking him, and washing him. Dogs in Haiti aren't treated the same as dogs in the States. Although some people keep dogs as pets, most people just see them as an annoyance trying to steal food. Most of the time dogs just get kicked when they come to close, or get rocks thrown at them. So it took some time convincing the kids that Bruno was a friend, not something to kick or poke. Over time they have gotten much better to the point where he can for the most part, run around the orphanage freely. But I was only here for another month and a half by the time he came. I knew that someone was going to have to take my place once I left. I thought why not one of the kids? But I'd need to find someone who liked Bruno because half the kids were and still are petrified of him and someone who was responsible. The kid who stuck out was named Tooveno. I taught Tooveno how he needs to be walked and fed and played with, how to handle him around kids that are scared, and how to wash him. Jon and Amanda noticed that as Tooveno became more and more responsible with the dog Tooveno's behavior even began to improve. Now the dog is essentially Tooveno's although other kids like to help him out with the responsibilities.
I've realized during my long term stay that Be Like Brit is not just helping these kids or the community of Grand Goave. Be Like Brit's goal, its hope, is that these children will take what they have been given here and thrive as citizens of their country. To ensure they will have the tools within them to become the future leaders, doctors, and teachers of their generation. The goal is that one day they will have the ability, with the resources they've been given and the morals that have been instilled within them, to move their country onward and up - to help it be a better place with more opportunities for future generations.
It may seem unrealistic, but after living with these kids for three months I truly believe it is possible. It has been an honor for me to be just a small part of Be Like Brit, and to help them work to achieve their goals. It's an experience I will never forget. Be Like Brit will always have a special place in my heart, as will the people I have gotten to know and love in Haiti.
