The Empowering Haitians Concept
We have been traveling and leading teams to Cap Haitien Haiti for the last 15 years. We have been searching for a way to make a meaningful difference in the day to day existence of the people of Haiti. We have found that by working with different organizations who have many different objectives, we can help integrate those activities to provide a more holistic approach to the aide and volunteer efforts of our peers.
For example, one group wants to provide medical care, another group wants to provide food, still another shelter, and yet another wants to provide micro loans. We help these different groups come to Haiti on the same itinerary, stay at the same hotels, and work in the same areas. Each group maintains its autonomy and expertise in its particular objective, but instead of diffusing the efforts in multiple areas, we get an additive or maybe even multiplicative effect of the aide. The medical team can inform the food distribution team who is the most in need of nourishment. The shelter team, can rely on the food distribution team to feed the construction laborers, and the medical team to provide care for any injuries that may occur. The micro loan program will have much more data on the community and any potential loan recipient based on all the data gathered.