William and Mary Haiti Compact

A large part of my life at William and Mary, and some of the most memorable times that have constituted my years here, have focused on service. My freshman year through the Sharpe Scholars program I learned how it was possible to connect one’s academic interests to community engagement, and I had the good fortune of being able to travel to Nicaragua with the Global Village Project for spring break and then to Romania with Students for the Improvement of Global Health during the summer. My sophomore year, I continued my service kick by participating in the Community Scholars Program, and living amongst like-minded community active individuals in the awesome accommodations of Jamestown South. With other Community Scholars, I designed a trip and traveled to La Ceiba, Honduras over winter break in order to work with the Honduran Red Cross and design and implement peer-education models centered around HIV/AIDS awareness. While in Haiti, we were interviewed by national newspapers and televisions who were interested in the project myself and my three friends were doing. My junior year, I went to Gaston, North Carolina to work with the Gaston College Prep Charter School there through a Teach for America trip, and just this past summer I was able to travel to Port au Prince, Haiti, on a research trip with delegations from four other schools in an attempt to analyze and determine how college students might best be mobilized (responsibly) to help in post-earthquake recovery.

This coming January, it’s my privilege to be able to lead a team of outstanding students back to Haiti for the College’s first international alternative break to the country, and we will be in the country for two weeks. Just two days ago I was interviewed about the trip by the USA TODAY who took up an interest in the Haiti Compact as well as alternative breaks in general in colleges and universities.

While in Haiti, my team will be working with two different community partners, the Mennonite Central Committee and International Child Care – Grace Children’s Hospital, examining the structural causes of poverty and injustice in Haiti. With MCC, we will be partaking in a learning tour that will allow us to connect with and learn from a wide array of community partners, and will have the opportunity to help plant trees as part of reforestation efforts outside of Port au Prince. With International Child Care, we will have the opportunity to: visit Wings of Hope, a home for children with disabilities; attend local church services in Haiti; tour downtown Port au Prince; work directly within Grace Children’s Hospital; work in tent communities with ICC health agents distributing health kits; assist with the basic care of children at the hospital’s inpatient ward; work to do lesson planning with teachers at school sessions; visit a the factory of Pure Water Haiti and visit distribution sites; complete a construction project related to the hospital; spend time with children in the hospital; and participate in events for the one year anniversary of the Haitian quake.

Our group will also be flying to Northern Haiti to Cap Haitian where we’ll have the opportunity to travel to the small village of Joli Trou and examine the integrated health programs offered there by ICC, we’ll be touring the hospital in Grand Riviere du Nord, we’ll visit the Citadel, one of only two World Heritage Sites in all of Haiti, and we’ll be spending time at a cultural center before returning to Port au Prince and then the United States.

It’s going to be a busy two weeks, but I’m incredibly excited for all of the amazing opportunities and experiences that await the team. Our focus on service for the trip is a different notion than is normally embraced, and we hope to spend a lot of time participating in activities which will allow members of the Compact to become active citizens with a lifelong commitment to Haiti and it’s people, as well as agents of change upon our return to the United States. In this way, the trip is not only about experiential learning and direct service, but also about being a vehicle or catalyst that will allow for us to affect much more sustainable, long-term service for the country.

Our team, 2 seniors, 2 juniors, and 3 sophomores, along with Melody Porter from the Office of Community Engagement and Scholarship, spans the entire William and Mary student body – I can hardly wait for January!

Live to serve, Love to serve,

Go Tribe,

Brian