South Florida young adults visit Haiti, give back

A group from a South Florida church visited Haiti to show Haiti's young that they have not been forgotten. BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
JCHARLES@MIAMIHERALD.COM
CARREFOUR, Haiti -- With song and prayer, hundreds of former street boys greeted a visiting delegation of Haitian-American youths Saturday not far from the epicenter of Haiti's devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
The group from Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church in Little Haiti is visiting Haiti as part of an effort to remind some of Haiti's neediest quake victims that they have not been forgotten. Eighteen in all, they came bearing school backpacks -- at least 800 of them purchased out of their own pockets -- for children living in orphanages.
``We thought it was just a distribution,'' said Emmanuel Pean, 30, of Miami. ``But it's touching our hearts.''
Pean and the group started the morning at the Centre d'Accueil de Carrefour, along with church pastor the Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary. They hand-delivered 200 bags for the center's residents, boys who once lived on Haiti's streets and now call the expansive building home.
``The youth represent the future of society, the change for a new Haiti must come from this young generation,'' said Jean-Mary, who planned the trip as a way to help shape the consciousness of the South Florida group but also to show Haiti's young that they have not been forgotten.
In total, almost 3,000 bags will be distributed to children throughout the metropolitan area who have been touched by the earthquake. About 2,000 of the bags were donated by Miami-Dade County public schools. When the group learned that those bags were delayed in transit, and would not arrive in time, they went out and purchased 800 bags on their own.
Father Jeff Desruisseaux, who runs the center, said the effort ``is not just a beautiful gesture because of the bags, but because one heart recognizes another and blood recognizes blood.'' Where some see street kids simply as homeless beggars, he sees children struggling to take responsibility when both government and family have failed them, he said.
``When you take a child in the street and you transform that boy, we have a new citizen for Haiti, for the world,'' he said.

Group members were touched by the experience.
For some, it was their first face-to-face look at the devastation of the quake that left an estimated 300,000 dead. For others, it was a chance to briefly reunite with family they had not seen in more than 20 years.
``It's surreal,'' said Darlyne Jean-Charles, 31, of Miramar. ``It's emotional, a bit overwhelming.''
Jean-Mary said he hopes such trips will be the first of many steps in bridging the gap between Haitians in Haiti and those living abroad. ``It's time to break down the walls that separate the two Haitis,'' he said.
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