Miguel, Parish Twinning and Rising Above Poverty

Miguel is pretty remarkable.  He’s smart student who speaks Creole and French and understands quite a bit of English.  But even more remarkable, he’s not married, he has no children, and he’s twenty.  Wow.  He’s charming and attractive, and he doesn’t even have a girlfriend…  that doesn’t happen in Haiti.

So, what made this possible?  What gave him the confidence to pursue his education, and what let his family allow him to do that?  After all, he should be working in a field somewhere, building a family, and being a productive person.

He lives in a parish with a twin/partner in the states.  He goes to a church-based school.  We can credit his language skills to his education, which likely has roots in that twinning relationship.  But there are twin parishes all over the place here through a billion different NGOs, and most twenty year-olds are still done with school.  I’ve learned that school is a potential starting point, but it doesn’t hold the answers.  That’s not where I put my money, my investment dollars, or even my time.

Miguel’s overall success in life really is due to his family’s stability.  Fond Baptiste has a productive cooperative.  His family is economically stable.  They can let him finish school, they value his education because they see how it will help them all, and they encourage him to wait to have a family because they see hope for his future. 

Kids all over this country go to church-based schools, but if their families are not stable and their communities can’t see a future for in their education… Schools aren’t the answer.  Churches aren’t the answer.  Economic development and community building are.

          I’ll go one step further, and then I’ll get off my soap box.  There is a ridiculous amount of money coming into Haiti every day.  People are bringing everything from beanie babies to life-saving medications.  Many organizations have been doing this for years and years providing all variations of handouts.  As my friend, Colleen, said tonight, there’s nothing more demeaning that repeatedly asking someone, “What do you need?”  To truly partner with someone you need to live with them, work with them, and ask them how they do things.  Haitians have been surviving, against all odds, for much longer than they technically should have.  We need to recognize their strengths and empower them to stand up with outstretched empty hands.  Only then will we start to learn.  And I’m just starting myself…