Haiti March Break Awareness Trip
2017 - Day 7
We have found ourselves on the
final day of our trip. This day started out with a bit of a later breakfast. As
has been the theme St. Joseph's, staff provided us with a great meal. Following
breakfast we boarded a bus and visited the Apparent Project not very far from
our accommodations. We met our tour guide Tricky who provided us some
background information and took us through the various workshops that would
create goods. The Apparent Project is the location where many different
goods are handmade for sale in the shop. We saw different types of beads for
jewellry, some of which are made from recycled cardboard. We also saw pottery
and t-shirts being made among other things. We learned that this project was
created to provide jobs for parents so they can afford to support their
children and avoid situations where they may end up having to bring their
children to orphanages due to poverty. We visited the shop where finished
projects are sold after our tour. It was hard to pick just one thing so most of
us picked many! It felt nice to support the program, but many of us agreed that
the things we purchased would have been worth buying on merit alone in a store
anywhere.
Our time at the project was
capped off with a delicious lunch at the rooftop Papillon Clay Cafe.
From there we took the bus to
Croix Des Bouquets, also known as "tin town". This is an
outdoor market that sells hand crafted metal works made out of the recycled oil
drums. Our group split into pairs and went on a shopping excursion to buy items
to be used in Rayjon fundraisers. Some of us even bought a few keepsakes for
ourselves! Overall this was a good experience and there was lots to see.
The amount of creativity involved was at times overwhelming.
On our way back to St Joseph's
house there was a very important pit stop to buy some Haitian vanilla. It is
said that this vanilla stands apart from the rest in its aroma and essence. On
our way we drove through City du Soleil, which was perhaps our most jarring
experience of seeing the abject poverty that exists for many Haitians. For lack
of a better word this is a slum made up of many small dwellings packed in
together. We also made a brief stop at the Cathedral in Port Au Prince. The
Cathedral was significantly damaged in the 2010 Earthquake. There has been
limited repair since. Group members who viewed the Cathedral pre 2010 spoke of
what it looked like before which put the damage into perspective. Nearby we
also got to see the famous statue of the "Unnamed Slave" which we had
learned about days earlier at our museum tour in St. Marc. This powerful image
celebrates the revolution.
When We returned to Our
accommodations we enjoyed a delicious dinner provided by our hosts and spent
some time reflecting on our trip. Our reflection tonight was about the true
purpose of Rayjon Awareness trips. Each of us shared how we used
"Look, Listen and Learn" during our journey and what stood out to us.
We also discussed ways we can share our experience when we return to Canada (so
if you're reading this there is a good chance one of us will be looking to tell
you some more in depth stories than this blog can provide at some point).
We (bloggers Ian and Amanda)
think it is safe to say that this trip proved to be an enlightening experience
in many ways, some of which we might not have seen coming. This has been a
great group of people to travel with and we met and listened to some truly
inspiring and insightful people; people that are passionate about their
country, their people and the issues that are present. If you're thinking about
an awareness trip we would all encourage you to attend an info session for a
future trip.
That's a wrap on the 2017
Awareness Trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment