Field Visit to Haiti
A visit with Scouts d'Haiti - A tale of two days, by Robert "Bob" Mazzuca (USA)
I was honored to have been asked to participate in the WSF field trip to Haiti. I had never been to Haiti before and the opportunity to experience new places is always appealing to me. Images of Haiti in the media abound, especially since the earthquake, so I had some sense of what to expect…at least I thought I did.
On our first full day there the Haitian Scout Association took us to visit a community center that they had opened in a community of several thousand people living in temporary housing and the remnants of structures impacted by the quake. They also took us on a walking tour of the village to meet and talk with families living there. It was an emotional, gut wrenching journey. I met one family, 3 generations, 14 people, living in two rooms. As we were leaving I asked, through Brunel, how they dealt on a daily basis with acquiring food to feed their children. The grandmother looked to the heavens and said “it is up to God”. They literally, from one day to the next, have no idea if they will eat that day. That scene is replicated tens of thousands of times each day, not only there but throughout the country.
When we returned to the hotel that evening I was overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness, helplessness, and despair. I sat on the patio and phoned my wife in Pennsylvania and tried to describe my experience to her…I could not, I could only cry.
The next day we returned to the same center in the same village but this time something had changed. The Scouts were there, over a hundred of them, to conduct a community service project. As we entered the center the Scouts greeted us with enthusiastic and joyful song. They received instructions from their leaders on the day’s project, a tree planting and community cleanup project, and then it was off for another walking trip through the village. This time there was purpose, hope, and optimism traveling with us.
The brilliance behind this project is so simple and yet elegant. The Scouts would approach a family and explain to them that the Scouts were willing to plant a fruit bearing tree in their space if the family would agree to nurture and care for it. If a family didn’t want to agree to that condition the tree would be planted elsewhere. What a remarkable way to foster a sense of partnership and community spirit! Even amidst the worst living conditions imaginable, the sense of community pride and self worth was palpable. The Scouts will continue to monitor the trees to help assure their chance for success but ultimately the collective community will assume that responsibility.
While this community wide project was remarkable by itself, the bigger and more lasting impact will be that of continuing, daily operation of the community center. The Scouts will provide ongoing support to the community in many meaningful ways including access to books, classes on a variety of living and self improvement skills, sports and recreation opportunities for the children and much more.
Needless to say my phone call to my wife that evening was much different than the one the day before. The spirit of Scouting is indeed alive and well in Haiti. The Haitian Scouts epitomize what the founder envisioned and all of us in Scouting around the world aspire to. Equally important as the good works they perform are to the community is what each individual Scout learns by performing them. These Haitian young men and women are acquiring skills and character qualities that will serve them, their communities and their country well throughout their lifetimes.
I want to thank the leadership of the Scouts d Haiti for allowing me the honor and privilege of witnessing, up close and personal, their remarkable demonstration of all that is right about the Scouting movement. The circumstances under which they are forced to exist and operate would discourage and dishearten most people and yet they go about their task with grace, optimism, energy, and enthusiasm.
Robert Mazzuca, USA
