End of Year Reflection from Wynn
Dear Friends,
The last six months have been beyond difficult in Haiti. Trauma upon trauma, most recently the earthquake of August 14. Thanks to your generosity, local leaders in Petit Trou have had resources to continue creating progress despite overwhelming challenges. Our programs in health, education, agriculture, and girls’ empowerment are thriving, and after a heroic, locally driven earthquake response, we’ve turned the corner from relief to rebuilding and regeneration.
As the year comes to a close, I’d like to reflect on three starkly different yet interrelated images.
First, the photograph above, taken by Sterlandy, a young woman in our girls’ empowerment program. If you look closely, you’ll see that the young woman in the photo itself, Nathanaelle, is also about to take a photo. As part of our broader girls’ empowerment program, these young women took part in a storytelling focused initiative this year. With the challenges facing Haiti right now, they wonder what the future holds for them and their community. It is an uncertain future, and yet, the beauty, grace, and possibility in the photo is profoundly present.
Second, take the photo below. We again see unmistakable, transcendent beauty. The coastline of Petit Trou de Nippes is breathtaking, and the talents and capacity of the people who live there are an inspiration to all of us who have been lucky enough to know this place. Petit Trou is fertile, and full of possibility.
Third, bring to mind one of the images from the Texas border. Men on horseback, reins raised. A young boy on the shoulders of a man, perhaps his father, shoulder deep in water, traversing the river. Our work is motivated by the unconscionable gap between these images. The gap is a result of human choices and human history - the gap is not natural, it is man made. How can it be that a journey of several thousand miles, on foot, through every imaginable danger, can represent more hope than the options offered by a place of beauty like the photo below?
It’s complicated, and it isn’t. The tragic answer is that there is currently little hope for work, health, or prosperity in most of rural Haiti, and this is because there is no access to investment in these areas, no options. How can we close that gap, in a way that is both lasting and respectful of the agency of local people? Our partnership in Petit Trou is one small, but undeniable way. We invest in people, in ways that allow a different story to emerge. It will not happen overnight, but it can start now, with Sterlandy and Nathanaelle. It can start with students and staff at St. Paul’s School, with community health workers at the clinic, and with the hundreds of family farms we support. It can start in Petit Trou de Nippes.
In fact, thanks to you, it already has.
We thank you for all you’ve done this year, and we hope you’ll visit locallyhaiti.org/rebuild to learn more about what we've accomplished together. And if you’re in a position to donate in support of these rural families and locally led programs, please do. It will make a real and lasting difference.
With gratitude as always,
Wynn Walent
Locally Haiti, Executive Director
