Volunteer Voices

On July 3rd 2010, I and the other volunteers arrived in Port-au-Prince to begin what would be an amazing, life changing volunteer project in Haiti. Unsure of what to expect in our unfamiliar surroundings with an unfamiliar host, we set off to our destination in the mountains of southern Haiti: La Vallée de Jacmel. Here we lived, worked, opened up to each other and became members of a local Haitian community embodied by the local organization Corde Enfant Haitien (CODEHA), and its unique leader/organizer/educator Gody Boursiquot.

Our work in La Vallée primarily involved working on an international project involving the expansion of a bamboo planting project initiated by a Canadian university. We traveled throughout the region planting bamboo, constructing fences and gardens, fixing up the damaged CODEHA facility, and providing medical and social aid to those who needed it. The work was both physically and mentally challenging. Not only did we have to endure the physical hardships that most Haitians live through on a regular basis without complaint such as having little or no motorized transportation and a lack of running water, we also had to struggle through the often stressful and frustrating organizational differences that we all encountered in the Haitian way of life. Nevertheless, we endured and we continued!

Aside from the difficult yet fruitful work and the hardships that we experienced during our two weeks in La Vallée, without a doubt the most important and lasting experience that we all received from this project was the bond that we would all form with each other and with our Haitian hosts. Our group consisted of Americans and Canadians from many various backgrounds and it was remarkable how quickly we became friends. We were all like minded, free-spirited, concerned individuals wanting to change the world and help out those made unfortunate by any and all circumstance. Our common passion and devotion to humanitarian assistance and international development definitely helped in bringing us closer to one another in an environment that we could not experience back at home. With regards to the Haitian members of CODEHA, even amidst the language barrier and the cultural differences that we faced our group formed strong friendships with our Haitian friends who spent every day with us and who would help us in our daily tasks and chores. By the end of the two weeks, we were truly one united family desperate to stay in touch with each other and with our new home in Haiti and to continue the good work that we began.

All in all, it was an amazing experience in an amazing part of the world that I will continue to be involved in. The strong relationships that I formed with the volunteers and the Haitian members of CODEHA are too unique and important for me to forget. As this was in fact the consensus amongst the group, I am confident that we will return to Haiti to begin the next project that CODEHA has in store in order to bring sustainable development to the people of La Vallée de Jacmel. Thank you VFP for allowing us to turn our ideas into reality and for assisting us in discovering an organization that is truly making a difference in its community.\"

Adrian Swietlicki ~ Haiti 2010