Travel and Service: Haiti Sak Plen

I’ve been a bit of a slacker and haven’t produced a good post for a couple of weeks.  I have a good excuse, though.  Last week I was in Haiti, doing a service mission for a non-profit organization that I helped establish after the Haiti earthquake in 2010.

Two of my best friends from Haiti, Stanley and Pouchon

I haven’t traveled nearly what I’d like to, but I’ve been a fair amount of places… and strangely, one of the places I’ve been to most often is Haiti.  I have such mixed feelings about the experience, but the net has always been positive. For one, it makes me appreciate so much more all the blessings that we enjoy to live where we live.  It’s also inspiring to see people who are so destitute, and yet so impenetrably happy.

Haiti has become a part of me, and I’ve developed a love for the Haitian people moreso than almost any other place I’ve been (the Basque people being the exception – Gora Euskadi!) I think it’s a product of the objective of my trips there, which has never been anything other than service. That said, I’ve done my fair share of playing… two of the funnest waterfall experiences I’ve ever had have taken place in Haiti – cliff jumping at Bassin Bleu, and the crazy voodoo experience at Saut d’Eau.

I’ve written a lot about Haiti, though very little of it has been on this blog.  I’d just like to share some of the posts I’ve made over the years on our non-profit organization site, HaitiSakPlen.com.

• Neg Mawon (2010)
• Humbled by the Haitians (2010)
• Haiti Kanpe Fem (2010)
• Haiti Two Years After the Quake (2012)
• Honor, Respect, and the “Yes” Interrogative (2012)
• Ivanite Augustin’s Smile (2014)

You know the purpose of our blog is to build an army of worldwanderlusters – zealots who travel more often, for longer, and to places they wouldn’t have otherwise been.  But given my experience with these service missions and the deep satisfaction that’s come from a genuine commitment to help however possible, today I’m going to urge you to find the passion to travel for a service purpose.  You can’t apart your entire vacation budget to something like this, but it will enrich your life as it has mine.

Where will you go? What will you do?  Have you already done something like this?  What was your experience?  Please don’t hesitate to comment and share with all of our readers.