In June of 2007 my friend Nate Lasseur called and asked me if I could lend him a few mannequins to travel to Haiti and teach CPR. Nate is a Haitian-American firefighter who was already providing aid to firefighters in Haiti and has provided fire gear, training and humanitarian relief to fellow firefighters. My answer was "I'll get back to you".
I was intrigued, consulted my schedule and decided that I had to check this out. I called him back and said I was going with him. And so happened my first trip to Haiti, and the start of a passion that I didn't know I had.
What I experienced on that trip literally changed my life. "You won't know until you go" had become my mantra when talking about Haiti . She is a uniquely beautiful, desperately poor nation of resilient, hard working, God loving people. We have expanded to provide training to private companies and specialize in fire safety, CPR, First Aid and disaster management. Our goal is to train Haitians to help themselves in disaster situations. Our current 5 year project is teaching the nations "Scouts" disaster management in a train-the-trainer format, and is sponsored by Voila'.
Check out our website at IFArelief.org for more info and upcoming events.
Another Haiti project I became involved in was Haiti Clinic, nestled in the outskirts of Port au Prince in Cite Soleil (Sun City). You can learn more about Haiti Clinic and even sign up as a volunteer by visiting HaitiClinic.org and registering on the site with your clinical experience and contact information. The clinic takes volunteers with no medical experience as well as seasoned medical personnel.
The experiences you will encounter in Haiti are powerful and life changing. If you are looking to "live outside the box" and find a way to make your presence in this world count, this could be for you. Remember, "You won't know until you go".
"Bayo Eswpwa"
(give them hope)