During my collegiate years I had the opportunity to study at The George Washington University in Washington DC, and during my time there I made friends with people who felt a calling beyond the halls of Academia. People that I know will change the world and have already started on that journey. One such hero of mine is Elizabeth Hill, who majored in International Relations. Upon graduation she chose to devote her time and intellect to helping those less fortunate than her. She joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Moldova.

Upon reading La Guevara’s letter to the Peace Corps she and I sat down for a series of Gchats where we discussed why she decided to join the Peace Corps, her time in Moldova and why she felt that the best way to ensure long term success in improving developing nations was through programs like the Peace Corps and not individual trips to poverty stricken places. 

I was chatting with Watson, the tap-tap driver that took us around Port-au-Prince one day, and he proceeded to talk about his experience since the earthquake.

There are certain questions that we’ll ask throughout our lifetime that we know have marked a special place in history. For my parent’s generation they were: “Where were you when John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. or John Lennon died?” For us they are: “Where were you during 9/11?” or “Where were you when Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech after winning the Presidential election?” :) Sorry, I had to throw that one in there!

A letter to the Peace Corps
May 5, 2010

There comes a time in your life where you have to make a life changing decision when you thought there weren’t any left to make at that point. That happened to me this weekend, and this is why I’m writing this withdrawal statement.

My nightly lullabies consisted of gunshots and screams.  The gunshots started at around 10pm. If they started from the back of the house, soon thereafter the gang that lived across the street from the front of the house would echo those shots. It would go on for a few minutes, sometimes even hours. The screams were horrifying. They weren’t necessarily associated with the gunshots though. This time it could be rape, murder, or a voodoo ritual. The heart wrenching screams, mostly from women, painted a very visual picture of what might be going on just a few meters from my cot. Sometimes they ended abruptly, like how a life would end, other times, they turned into cries until she fell asleep.

This is a direct response to Noah Davidson’s article on La Acera: An Immodest Proposal

I loved the first third of your piece. I can identify to a point with your want and desire to call it as it is, which you did a great job at that by the way, and proposing an idealistic solution to not only end the 200 plus years of injustice, but to make the nation prosperous. But here goes my two cents... The term "living laboratory" scares the bejesus out of me in this context. Although I recognize the technological and even anthropological benefits of one, it implies trial and error programs that I don't believe Haitians can endure right now.

From the high ivory tower of the emerald city, about as far from the Caribbean as one can be on this continent, it’s patently easy to propose starry-eyed solutions to deeply entrenched socio-economic problems even while knowing nothing about one’s beloved objects of armchair philanthropy. Idealistic notions like “Let the Chinese people have democracy”, “Open the border between North and South Korea”, or “Stop all aid to Israel” amount essentially to “Let them eat cake” if one is ignorant of some basic facts on the ground critical to the carrying out of any sort of plan (nevermind the will or means to enact).

With the advance caveat then of my geographic insularity, I would nonetheless like to enjoin the reader to my idealistic and starry-eyed foreign policy fiat for one particularly troubled area of the Caribbean. In so doing, I invite whatever critique to whatever aspects of Ms. Antoinette’s cake, is, in fact, an erudite hipster’s lie, but more importantly, I invite whatever positive ideas, and dreams and (and discussions thereof) that might actually be better informed and better suited to raise the bar of well-being for our fumbling species.

Once in a while, you meet someone that just blows your mind away. That happened to me in February. I met a 24 year old young man called Gedisma Elie. He's tall and skinny with a smile that reaches your soul. The instant I met him I knew there was something different about him.

February 7, 2010

Margaret was in agony. She came in right after Sunday service. Her hand was swollen and infected; her appearance was ragged and meager. She needed to see the doctor immediately. She had a deep wound on her right wrist, multiple lacerations on her body, and a cry that punctured my heart.

As the doctor took care of her we heard her story. Prior to the earthquake, there was a group of Satanists who went walking down the streets singing Christian hymns to get other people to join them. When the Christians would join the circle in song and prayer, the Satanists would take their babies away and sacrificed them. People were petrified.

I’ve missed my La Acera family. It’s been over a month since I wrote my last post. I left for Haiti on February 1^st on a humanitarian mission trip for two weeks. It’s my third mission trip and not even close to my last. I’ve needed time to process every thought, every tear, and every smile that has left an impression in my mind, in my heart, in the smallest fibers of my being, under my skin, and on the pages of my journal.

I’m sure most of you have already read Jean’s post on the medical team from Puerto Rico who went to Haiti. It’s made headlines all around the world and it’s put some of us to shame. This situation has tainted what some have done already in Haiti, and what some of us will do there in the coming months.

The group of doctors from Puerto Rico posted pictures on facebook under the group name “Salvemos a Haití” – meaning “Let’s save Haiti.” The mere mention of the word “save” has colonial and imperialistic connotations. It’s not about going to Haiti with a “holier than thou” mentality; that we have all the solutions to their problems. Let’s remember that Haiti’s problems didn’t start with the earthquake. I was appalled by what happened, but it made me think about the purpose of a humanitarian mission and the meaning behind it.

No. No es por la violencia de los desesperados haitianos que la ayuda humanitaria, los antibióticos, los médicos y la comida no ha llegado donde tiene que llegar. Es simplemente porque el mundo “civilizado” que encabezan los Estados Unidos no saben cómo ayudar. Saben cómo invadir, cómo atacar, cómo controlar naciones y pueblos, pero a la hora de ayudar, de socorrer al desvalido, de moverse con sentido de urgencia, son analfabetos del socorro.

In light of the recent catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti early last week, I’ve been torn in more ways than one. My heart goes out to the people of Haiti. To even begin to comprehend what they’re going through is beyond me. I think about the Haitians outside of their home country who haven’t been able to get in touch with their family members; the mere anguish they must feel, for not knowing whether their family survived or not, escalates as days go by. I admire those who are tirelessly helping, day in and day out, selflessly.

El ¿evangelista? Pat Robertson, quien en una ocasión quiso correr para presidente de los Estados Unidos por el Partido Republicano –por cuál si no- cree en un Dios vengativo, tal vez a imagen y semejanza suya. Y como Dios es todopoderoso, utiliza ese poder para aplastar a aquellos que no siguen sus reglas. Por eso para Robertson, el desastre del huracán Katrina fue un castigo de Dios por las leyes que legalizaban el aborto ya que los americanos no sentaron cabeza con los ataques terroristas del 11 de septiembre que también eran un mensaje de Dios por este asunto del aborto.

As you all have heard, Haiti is going through a very intense crisis following the devastating effects of an earthquake. Our friend Jean “Le non French” has been more than helpful in keeping everyone up to date on his blog. Two days ago, Jean, the members of The Magis Foundation and LaAcera.com, and I got in touch to create a plan of action so we could help Haitians in any way possible. The plan is available on Jean's blog or by e-mailing: PuertoRicoForHaiti@gmail.com