Empowerment through community

Learning about Just Haiti and living among the community of Fond Tortue has been inspiring to say the least. Just Haiti has a mission revolving around the empowerment of small local coffee growers to receive a fair price for their crops using a fair trade plus model.

As a junior who has gone on three ABSTs, including Haiti, I have been transformed by the three stages that the Center for Social Concerns office (CSC) embraces. First being, Reach Out, which is working with hands on service projects. I participated in the Reach Out stage through the ABST to Guatemala my freshman year. The second is Explore Within. I was a student leader on ABST to Detroit my sophomore year, which falls under the Explore Within stage. It involves diving deeper into the social justice aspect of service, while still including some hands on service. Haiti is in the final stage of the CSC, Live Among. I am one of the two student leaders on the trip and it has challenged me in so many different ways. This trip and stage of development, Live Among, focuses on the social justice aspect of service and addressing the root of the issue at hand.

My journey through these stages of development has pushed me to think in ways to address the systemic problems and social injustices at their root. Building relationships and community with the people you serve is crucial to help empower those individuals to become dependent on themselves.

Dr. Kim Lamberty, the president and co-founder of Just Haiti, accompanied our trip. Kim has written many articles about social justice. For a reflection on Wednesday, the group read her article, The art of accompaniment (it’s worth the read). During reflection, what hit home for me was building relationships or the living among idea. If relationships are built before service that creates equal valuing of both parties, leading to a relationship that supports the dignity of each individual. When you start by giving charity first you begin to objectify the both parts of the relationship. One side will be viewed as the project and the other side will be viewed as the wallet and upholding the human dignity for both sides in this situation is very difficult. To create a true global community you must be willing to building these powerful relationships.

Annmarie Rosa