Why are we going to Haiti?

Family Health Ministries' Nancy Ferree Clark Guesthouse in Leogane, Hait

 

Recently one of my sisters asked why we are going to Haiti.  She wanted to know if it was going to be fun or if we were just going to help out.  I thought it was a good question.

Sugar cane field location before the earthquake

Guesthouse completed in May 2012

Yes, we're going for fun and adventure and challenge.  But also to serve.  Is it our obligation to help those in need?  Most people would say yes, but how we do it is the question.  No one really seems to have the complete answer.  

In fact there are a number of books already on my Kindle that I hope to read while we're there that will help inform us - Volunteer: A traveller's guide to making a difference around the world (Lonely Planet), Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding--And How We Can Improve the World Even More (Charles Kenny), and More Than Good Intentions: Improving the Ways the World's Poor Borrow, Save, Farm, Learn, and Stay Healthy (Karlan and Appel).


And maybe I'll reread some of the those I've read before, like When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself (Fickert and Corbett) or The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster (Katz).  The latest Amy Wilentz book, Farewell, Fred Voodoo,  would be good to read again, too, but we only have it in hard copy, so it will stay home.

It's starting to sound like a purpose of this trip is finding time to read?  Maybe you'll read with us, and comment??!!

If you'd like to read more about the guesthouse, go to http://familyhm.org/leogane-family-health-center/guesthouse.