It was a surreal juxtaposition of news this Fall; to paraphrase: poverty makes strange bedfellows. Muhammad Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for the brilliant concept of microloans for the poor. Madonna sparked much criticism by using her personal wealth and fame to address poverty in Africa’s far-away Malawi. And for my part, with a more or less contemporaneous visit to near-by Haiti, I witnessed firsthand the kind of tragic poverty that motivates Madonna, and the kind of sensible micro-economics that Nobelist Yunus promotes.
In rural Haiti, a child-centered non-profit called Theo’s Work is helping alleviate the devastating effects of poverty for over 1,000 children, mostly orphans. Founded in 1998, and lead by Father Marc Boivert, this important ‘mission’ is following both the tradition of “teach them to fish,” and the Nobel-class principals of personal economic responsibility, converting despair to hope. In fact, the children there suggested “Pwoje Espwa” as a name for the project -- Haitian Creole for Project Hope.
The small ten-seat aircraft that carried me this fall to the southern Haitian village of Les Cayes only recently began serving small outlying populations. I arrived in time for supper and to see the physical beauty of rural Haiti in last light. Local residents with deep, knowing stares watch visitors from the roadside. The reek of trash affronts my senses at every intersection. Children wander half to completely nude, hair patchy and tinted red from malnutrition, stomachs puffed out. Women walk in slow procession toward the mountains, accompanied by their boney donkeys that carry enormous amounts of unsold charcoal. They will reach their destinations late into the night and turn around hours later to return to try and sell their wares once again.
The state of destitution is shocking. Rather than half a world away, it is barely two hours travel from the Sweet Land of Liberty, the wealthiest superpower on Earth. Haiti - the western third of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola – is barely 600 miles from the U.S. but leagues away in prosperity from even its island-sharing neighbor, the Dominican Republic.
Haitians rank among the world’s poorest. It is hard to imagine, without seeing. A volunteer at Pwoje Espwa described Haiti as the only country with a “sub-title” -- rarely does one read “Haiti” without the collateral phrase, “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.” The phrase seems a way to write the country off rather than to draw attention the desperate need.
Much like the economic principal of 2006 Nobel winner Mohammed Yanus, Pwoje Espwa puts the responsibility, and the money, in the hands of those it serves. The organization employs Haitians as house mothers, teachers, school principals, drivers, artists, cooks, nurses, farmers and a myriad of other occupations that opened because of the purchase of a 140 acre farm that produces food and houses hundreds. One of the drivers, who came to Fr. Marc as a child only nine years ago, has now saved enough money to buy land. Eventually, he will build a house.
The artisans – Pwoje Espwa’s kids who make art from oil drums, beads, and twine – were originally handed materials by the project. But the program’s directors found that things – tools and such – would mysteriously go missing. Similarly, the project ‘lost’ three car batteries in one day with not a single driver owning up to their disappearance. The solution: Fr. Marc provided (small) amounts of money, instead of the materials, and required the artists and the drivers to replace anything missing with money from their own profits and salaries. Magically, tools and car batteries stopped walking away.
The Peace Corps has deemed Haiti in a state of civil unrest and keeps volunteers away. Jesuit Volunteers International has followed suit, pulling their volunteers several years ago. The UN certainly has a presence there, but often fails in efficacy because actions frequently get mired in local bureaucracy. The sustainable success stories come from the small grassroots organizations – non-profits that work directly with the people and for the people, and practice sensible, Nobel-class, economic motivation.
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