Haiti testimony and reports by Jo-Ann REID

Testimony July 12—July 16 2010

Two days before my third trip ever to Haiti, I found myself smack in the middle of feeling the anticipation of my return and a sense of fear and wonder over what little difference I might make once I arrived at the Foundation. Little did I know that this trip would transform me in so many personal and professional ways as I reconnected with my roots and tried to make some kind of impact on the lives of others. Before the trip, I was a typical Haitian-American college professor of English teaching Composition, Creative Writing and literature electives while working on committees such as The Haiti Committee (on campus), The Honors and Awards Committee, The Graduation Speech Audition Sub-Committee, and The Honors Steering Committee in addition to working on my writing (mostly poetry) and co-facilitating the campus literary magazine each spring along with doing Black History Month events, Leve Kampe Haiti Awareness and fundraising events (Spring 2010) and working on my second three year portfolio evaluation. Working steadily this past semester on the Haiti projects in particular while teaching at Dean College really helped many of us to focus our energies as we waited to hear from family and friends back home.

Although I was born and raised in the States in February of 1976, I still consider Haiti to be home as well. It is evoked in my writing and of course in my childhood home and this sense of home has continued to grow within me over the years; particularly in 2005 as my family faced the devastating loss of our beloved mother/wife/sister/auntie, Nicole (Noel) Reid, a native of Petionville and Ti’Goave who succumbed to cancer after putting up the fight of her life for seven months. Just before this trip, I ruminated on the fact that it had been nine years since I’d been to Haiti as I had gone with my mother to see her parents, in August 2001, shortly before the death of her own mother in September 2001, just days before 9/11. I knew that I would be reconnecting with family and family friends and relatives on this current trip but the void created by my dear mother’s death had created a void within me and I feared how it would affect my emotional state and ability to make some kind of impact on those I met. I also knew very little about the Foundation and the work I would be doing there. I did know that I would be working with student teachers as well as a group of adolescent girls who were also personally scarred by the events of January 12, 2010. As the world watched as Mother Nature held Haiti in her furious grip, we wondered what would happen next and where to go from there. As the world watched in shock and horror at the devastating 7.0 earthquake and its effects, we knew that the time was and still is now to help Haiti reach its full potential and live out its prod legacy as the first free black nation in history led by Toussaint L’Overture in 1804. Few people truly knew the weight of that historical fact but those who did often turned their backs on Haiti while others around me often claimed that Haiti had been paying the price for its freedom ever since.

Now, it is a full week since my return back to the States and I can truly say that this trip was awe-inspiring, shocking, celebratory, empowering and most of all healing. For a cynical and slightly jaded and often stressed thirty-four ear old Haitian American woman, this trip helped me continue to thread together each square that makes up my cultural identity and it helped me to not only work side by side with my father, Gerald Reid and his companion Yannick Ferrus and her son Jean Noel Salvne (both now dear friends of mine), as well as my ever-dedicated Auntie Edwige. The trip helped me reconcile with so many changes that had challenged and healed our family since 2005 and what I was in store for and eventually experienced has transformed me in so many ways that there is not enough room to reflect on each one. Besides, the time I spent getting to know those amazing student teachers as well as with 12 adolescent girls was what the real work was about. I not only got to be inspired by others but I really rediscovered my love of teaching and storytelling, the power of lending a hand to someone in need, and the necessity of asking for help as well. As human beings, we need validation, and purpose, as well as maturity, accountability, love and resources and what we are lacking we must do everything in our power to mend that loss and regain a sense of focus.

This third trip to Haiti reinforced the spirit of everything my sisters, Marie and Tamie had learned from our proud and hardworking parents. It spoke to the significance of knowing where you come from and taking a leap of faith. This latest trip showed me that people are still connected by their roots and branches, and that even across oceans; we can wake up one day and truly find ourselves. I was reminded that we all have a story to tell no matter how triumphant or tragic and that we all deserve to be heard. It is in telling our stories that we find the potential to affect and possibly even motivate, accept, and of course heal each other and ultimately ourselves.

So it is with these thoughts and reflections that I thank the people at L’Enfant Enfant Jesus for all of the amazing work that they continue to do each day as they wake with the symphony of babies gurgling, and donkeys going to market and fall asleep after long days of work to the singing frogs (who knew they could sing!) and the backdrop of stunning mountain views and seemingly every star in the sky as a protective blanket and a reminder that although as individuals we may seem insignificant in the universe but as a united front anything is truly possible with the help of community, self-determination and maybe even a bit of faith. I thank you so much for this opportunity and I hope I was able to be of some use during my time there. I miss each of the teachers and adolescent girls I have met as well as Gina, Maryise, Mamie, Lucien, Frankie, Jan, Robb (a.k.a. Rob with two B’s!) as Sara…and of course how could I forget Achi’s hefty bark and Sophie’s keen eyes! Leve Kampe my friends and let’s see if we can do even more to help Haiti find herself again!
—Jo-Ann Reid, MFA
Assistant Professor of English