What I learned from Eko

This is Eko. He's one of my favorite people in the world.  Eko is 24 and has down syndrome.  He went with me pretty much anywhere I went throughout the week.  I learned so much about joy from him last week in Haiti.  The closest he's ever been able to pronounce my name is "Kame"

Eko has a way when he walks into a room that he makes everyone feel important.  He walks in with joy radiating out from him (most of the time), walking up to each person and giving them this special kind of Eko hug and pronouncing each person's name in a way that sounds sort of like their actual name.  If you hang out with him long enough, you learn to understand him. Speaking creole seems to helps - which I don't.

Tom informally adopted him when he got to Verette and has helped him learn to communicate more clearly, and given him a place to hang out.  Tom has also unofficially donated his entire CD collection to Eko, who will sit for hours listening to music, and singing along with everything from James Taylor to worship music.  One of my favorite moments in Haiti was driving through the streets of Verettes with just Eko and I.  He wanted to start singing a song, "Come, now is the time to worship" so I joined in.  You had a tone deaf guy and a down-syndrome guy who doesn't understand most of the words singing a worship song at the top of their lungs together.  I'm sure God smiled as he put cotton balls in his ears.

"Tout mon konnen Eko" in Haitian Creole means "Everybody knows Eko", which they all seem to in the town of Verettes.  You'll be driving through the streets and you'll hear a random "Eko" shouted out as someone recognizes him. If you drive by the police station, you see the local police yell out his name.  Kids in Haiti are no different than kids in America, and some of them can be mean and it kills me to see them being mean to Eko.

Eko has a great sense of when others are getting into tough situations and will redirect you away.  Sometimes it's because I can't understand what's being said, sometimes it's because he thinks I'm doing something dangerous.  I reached out to pet a horse and he grabbed my hand back and demonstrated that the horse could bite my finger, by putting his own finger out in front of the horse.  A group of teenagers were being rude to a woman in our group, and Eko grabbed her hand and led her away.


Tom explained to me that the Haitians don't understand sarcasm.  I'm pretty sure Eko does - at least he gets me and he never failed to make me smile when I saw him.

Reflections on my second Haiti Trip

I'm back after my second week long trip to Haiti.  This trip was radically different than the first trip for a few major reasons, which created a very different outcome for me.  Cathie commented that when I got home I was a whole different person than the first time, that I'd come back full instead of empty.

One of the biggest differences was that fact that I went down to Haiti with a large group of people (14 of us) this time.  On my first trip, I'd gone with Bill, a 70 year old man that I'd just met from church.  Bill had been to Haiti on and off for 10 years and Tom had been down in Haiti for 15 years.  I stayed right with Tom and his family, but it was still a little overwhelming and lonely - though I wouldn't change it for the world.  I think both Bill and Tom appreciated seeing Haiti through a fresh set of eyes, but it was tough not having anyone with whom I could process what I was seeing and feeling.  Having a broader group of friends around this time me to think through what was going on, to see others going through what I had went through and even to have some levity at times about what we were seeing made it easier to process.

The fact that it was my second trip made all the difference in the world.  My first trip, so much energy seemed to go into processing the huge paradigm shift I was going through in terms of what I saw with the poverty, the culture, the language and coming from being the majority to a minority. I almost felt guilty for not being shocked by what I was seeing this time, but it was interesting watch the others in my group process what they were seeing - what shocked them, what silenced them and what blew them away.  I laughed so much this trip, which may sound trite, but it was wonderful.  By not spending all of my energy on the paradigm shift, I was able to spend more time enjoying and learning from the people I came into contact with.  I focused on learning the language prior to the trip, and even that little bit of extra creole was a big help in terms of conversations with people.

I went into this trip with a whole different mindset thanks to a book that our pastor had us read before we went: When Helping Hurts.  The book flipped me 180 degrees on my purpose of going into Haiti.  My first trip, I had gone down focused on the question "How can I help the people of Haiti?".  I was all about taking in everything in order to fix it: absorbing the culture, talking to several missionaries and tried to understand where I could apply myself to help with the plight. I brought stuff to give out and analyzed inefficiencies and inadequacies that I saw in order to help.  I left feeling very helpless, that what was broken with Haiti was too big to fix.

This time I went down with the question, "What can I learn from Haiti?"  I can't begin to explain the freedom that came with my asking a different question.  I begin to see the beneficial aspects of poverty, including the of lack possessions.  I realized how much what I thought would be helping was actually hurting the Haitian people.  I watched the joy that my friend Eko, a down syndrome man of 24 brought to a room.   I saw the freedom in a lack of urgency and lack of focus on time as a finite quantity.  I wondered what it would be like to not have the burden of my stuff, to build pieces of a house as I could afford it, and even to not know that people existed in the world with so much more than me as a measuring stick.  I did a lot more reflecting, I walked away without any real solutions, but a couple of ideas, but a lot to think on and even more motivation to move forward.

I came away with a vision of how I want to retire, inspired by my friend Bill.  Instead of playing golf and sitting on a beach in a retirement community, I'd like to live down in Haiti for a few months at a time with my wife and help out somewhere, doing something bigger than myself.  My Dad has been a great model of this for me - pouring himself into helping others, making a gigantic dent in the world around him for good.  I want to follow his example... Only 25 years until retirement, and the small task of getting my wife to love Haiti as much as I do.

So what am I going to do with what I learned?  That's what I'm chewing on and praying over now.  Something in my heart is connected to Tom, my friend in Haiti and helping him with his vision around Faith in Action.  I'm trying to figure out how I can bring to bear what I do well to intersect with the needs of the organization.  Another thing I'd like to do is bring back my family to Haiti to experience it.  I think that Cathie, Maddie and Nathan would get a lot out of going to Haiti for a week with me.  I'm not sure Em is ready.  I really would love them to experience the people and the culture the way I have and fall in love with both.

Waiting in the Port Au Prince Airport to come home

We're tired and excited to see our families.

Decompressing at the beach

We left Verettes today and stayed at something I've never seen in Haiti: a bit of luxury. We're heading back to Port Au Prince later today and flying home tomorrow.

Jesse had a Jellyfish run over her arm in ocean. Without missing a beat, Rodney quickly responded, "do you need me to pee on it?"

Leaving Verettes, Heading to Port au Prince

Rodney is too tall for Haiti

Barb wire is everywhere down here. The convent had tiny old nuns and low barb wire that nearly gave Rodney a haircut.

Hunting Tarantulas at Night

Justin discovered the spider holes in the yard, so we went out tonight looking to catch ourselves a pet tarantula. We didn't have much luck other than this big fella.

Justin is riding dirty

How many people have a motorcycle in their kitchen?

Day old baby goats

There are goats everywhere in Haiti. I have no idea how the Haitians know who they all belong too. You have to dodge them when driving down the road. This pair had just been born near where we're staying.

French Nuns with Problems

Rodney and I are over at a local convent helping French nuns with computer problems. This keyboard is killing me. Can you see why?

Giant Moth

Can't beat the view: Verettes, Haiti

The view at night from the mountains is equally amazing. You see 5 or 6 lights across the valley; the opposite of what you would see in the states where you would have millions of lights everywhere.

Baby Tarantula

Justin saw a spider hawk wasp and followed it to the spider hole where it was hunting. He put a stick in the hole and out popped a baby tarantula.

My first time driving in Haiti

I drove through Verettes today, running errands for Tom. It was a wild experience, crazier than NYC traffic. Instead of dodging cabs, you're dodging chickens, goats, motorcycles stray dogs and people drying out their rice. I am living up to my nick-name (self given) of 'Blanc Haitian' - The White Haitian.

Getting Water

Getting water is no small chore. We head up to the Culligan to get fresh water. Instead of juice bags, they have water bags for the kids. You bite through the plastic and suck from the bag. These way us about 50 lbs, nice putting that on your head.

Obenes and the view

This was the view from outside the church. Obenes is our friend (Zami) and translator who is with us most of the time. He helps Tom and FIA has sponsored his schooling. He has great potential.

Haitian Church Service @ The Salvation Army Church

We dressed up and went to the local Salvation Army church, the same one we saw play soccer yesterday. We didn't understand a word, but the pastor spoke some English and switched between Haitian Creole and English a bit for us. Everyone wore their finest and it was a wild contrast to the naked children playing outside the church. The view from the chirh was amazing.

Can you guess which bed is mine and which is Justins?

The infamous Echo out cold