Tech Mission accomplished in Belle-Riviere, Haiti

After my 2007 trip to Haiti, I realized the need to give back to my country I love so dearly. I began to pray to the Almighty God and told him I wouldn't return to Haiti until I can make a contribution. After the January 10th earthquake, my prayer was answered and I was given a task to fulfill my next trip to Haiti. Fortunately, this calling wasn't that demanding, after-all it was to share my gift of technology with my countrymen and women.

By April 2010, I didn't quite know how I was about to share my unique skill with my country, but I was eager to do what the Lord was calling me to do. I consulted my former co-worker for some computers and out of my wildest dreams she offered to contribute to the cause. Wow, this was actually coming to reality.

Now that I had computers, I needed to figure where these computers would land. I contacted my former elementary school in Cabaret, Haiti, unfortunately, they were so awfully affected by the earthquake that they wouldn't be able to accommodate the computers and it wasn't a priority for them. I contacted another place closer to my village and they didn't seem interested either.  Well, by this point, I was starting to think, I might not have a place to send these computers after all. 

In June 2010, I was invited to a Provocate Haiti meeting here in Indianapolis, and I overheard many local NGOs give talks about their projects involvement in Haiti. I was especially touched by Don Miller's talk on Friends of Belle-Riviere (FBR) project. They had just completed a community center in Belle-Riviere, a small village in southern mountainside Haiti, located 20 miles from Miragoane.  I chatted with Don following the meeting and offered the computers and my assistance to install and train the locals. I don't think he understood how committed and excited I was then, but he would soon find out!

Following that meeting, we begun to work out the details of the project, from installing solar power on the roof, shipping the computers and finally, to traveling to Haiti to install the computers and train the Belle-Riviere's student/staff on the new technology.  This all started in August 2010, Don surprised me and called to say FBR has raised enough money to install the solar power on the building and the equipment along with computer would be shipped in April 2011 and would likely take the trip to Haiti in December 2011.

Fast forward a few months, in September 2011 we began to put the final touch on the actual trip to BR. We work on the actual date and connection flights between Indianapolis and Boulder, CO and narrowed down the date to Dec 2^nd with layover in Miami and arrival in Haiti on Saturday Dec 3^rd.

In the meantime, I began to construct my training schedule and content for the trip. Unfortunately, we decided it would not be conceivable to implement Internet access in the community center on this trip. Therefore, I was putting together slide show and visual for the training. In addition, I was planning to visit my Haiti family on this trip. So, I notified them of my trip and when they should expect me in Cabaret (45 miles north of Port-au-Prince).

We arrived in Haiti on Saturday morning (bright and early). Our drivers (Gy and Jeanty) were awaiting our arrival. We ran a few errands in the city and hit the road for BR. This village is 120 miles/4 hours southwest of Port-au-Prince. We didn’t arrive there until 6pm. 

Although it was already dark outside, I was surprised upon my arrival to the community center. This village is high on the mountainside, we crossed 3 rivers, the road was very uneven and many mud houses, but that wasn’t why I was surprised. I was surprised to see this magnificent (state of the art) 2 story building with 24/7 electricity, well secured and running water in this village.

Well, this is where my Haiti trip begins.  We arrived to a wonderful meal prepared by a young mother hired to cook in the community center,

She prepared 3 meals per day for us. The word meal is an understatement to describe her cooking abilities. She’s a fabulous cook and her personality is even better than her cooking. She’s always smiling.

                           

In the morning we attended church service, which was interested since it has been awhile since I attended a catholic mass. Nonetheless, it was great to see the most of the community there to uplift up the Almighty God in melodies and prayers.

Don introduced us to the community and we socialized with them following the service and we went on our way. 

When I returned back to the community center, I had a gentleman by the name of Alex there to assist with the actual computer setup. Fortunately, Alex has been exposed to computers and was a great help with the setup and training. The computer setup was done in no time. 

By Monday morning the computer classroom was setup and ready for local kids. You can always tell how excited people are about something by their arrival time. Well, the training was scheduled for 8:00am, by 7:40 people started to trickle into the classroom and by 8:10, we had a full class!

                    

Let’s begin our computer training class. A former introduction and how this project came about. With that said, we dug into the ins and outs of computers. The kids were extremely quite at first glance, then I offered to give out prizes for good questions, well, I should have defined “good questions” all of a suddenly, questions began to pour out of these clueless kids about computers. In honesty, some of the questions were good and the others were simply to get prizes!

By the second day of class, we had more kids than the class can accommodate. Truth be told, the class can accommodate them, but we didn’t have enough tables and chairs to place computers. Nonetheless, that wasn’t such a big issue for me or the kids. They were glad to share with their fellow classmates. 

  

By Tuesday afternoon, we have come to the end of the training session and it was time to give out some top prizes. I already gave away T-shirts, Hats, Flash Drives, Digital Camera, etc. However, the top prize was 2 iPod Videos. In order to be fair to all, I decided to do a drawing, without anyone knowing what the prizes were, I had them write their names on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. I then had a non-participate shake the hat and draw out 2 names for the top prizes.

 

Well, you have heard, Haitian doesn’t like to smile for photo, that’s especial true here. As these kids were excited about the iPod, but when we say let’s take a photo, they stopped smiling immediately!

Summary, this was just half of my trip in Haiti, but it was the most excited part. It was especially great to see these kids plowed into the computers eager to learn something new. For some of these kids, this was the first time seeing a computer, let alone an opportunity to play with them was marvelous experience for them. Some took the time to express their excitement and appreciation.

                          

You might be asking, now FBR delivered, setup and demonstrated the computers, what’s next with the computer classroom and the local kids? Well, on the way to Belle-Riviere, we stopped at Miragoane to meet up with a local computer trainer and discussed the possibility of him coming to BR and provide training to local kids, teachers, and adults. He agreed to do so, but funding will dictate whether they go forward with that project. Other option is to periodically take others to BR to provide training in the near future.

This was definitely a profound experience for me. As a disciple of Christ Jesus, I was able to share my experience with BR in a way that’s priceless!

                                      The School bus!

Thank you to all who supported me on this trip. Special thank you to Sayuri and Yves for your long-suffering..