faq part 5

I went stateside again which means I have more questions coming my way.. so the FAQ is back!

• How long will it take to rebuild everything that was destroyed after the 2021 earthquake? I am not sure exactly but my guess would be a very long time. People are still living without from the earthquake back in 2010.
• Where do I live? I live on a missions compound with several other missionaries from multiple organizations. I am actually moving from one house to another on that compound right now.
• Am I afraid? No, I’m not.
• Have I ever had any experiences related to human traffikking? I have not but that does not mean it is not happening, I am just not seeing it.
• Do you help kids come to the states? No, our mission is to help children go to school in Haiti. Getting anyone outside of the US into the country is a very difficult process that takes a lot of time.
• Is it just one community that we work with? We work with many different communities throughout southern Haiti.
• Is it helpful to send school supplies down for children? I always encourage things being purchased in country as that helps with the Haitian economy. If you want to donate a specific item I would suggest asking if it can be purchased in country and sending the funds instead. You also save money on shipping this way.
• Do you run into many restevaks? The term restevak has turned into something far worse than what it once was. When we hear the term we instantly think of child slaves who are often abused. But this is not always the case. At this point, most of my Haitian friends prefer to not even use the word restevak because of this. There are still many children who live with others because their family cannot afford to care for them. While some children may be living in terrible situations that does not speak for all of them. I personally know many that are well taken care of. There are many organizations that assist with this problem but it is not one of our main missions. We may touch some of these children but I do not know exactly how many as most would not admit their situation.
• Who comes to help after a natural disaster? Many organizations come to help after a natural disaster. You suddenly see a great enflux of foreigners who are doing a lot of work. Very quickly, however, a natural disaster will hit somewhere else and they will leave…leaving behind the rest of the work to those who are there full time.
• Is it worth it? Yes.
• Do you have a doctor? I do not personally go to the doctor very often but there are plenty of doctors available to me if I were to need one.