Integral Human Development

Extreme desperation, hearts aching, and poverty unimaginable to our standards usually depict the story of Haiti. A place where we are unable to travel, worried about our safety, and a brewing pot of disease define the media’s perception of Haiti.

However, over this week, and these past few days, our ideation conclude that amongst all of those depictions and despite the widespread knowledge of this situation, we redefined the depiction by living among the community and people themselves. We’ve found the love of a person, of a human. Sharing, smiling, and intentionally welcoming culture grew into our ideations of Haiti in its truest form, and we’ve looked beyond defining Haiti, what we’ve concluded is we see beautiful people, hard working people, and people that love. Haiti is a country, but in conclusion people are people, and the people we’ve encountered through many blessings are essentially love.

In our group discussions, Dr. Kim Lamberty, the Co-founder of Just Haiti ( justhaiti.org - go buy their coffee! ) wrote an article on Integral Human Development and the dignity of he individual. We divulged into the process of not determining projects based on success, but that we are in accompaniment on a battle of justice. Francious, Joane, and the people of Fond Tortue, taught and exemplified the characteristics of leaders that we all should learn from in life and our goals. The children led us on journeys through the beautiful, awing hikes in the mountains that we were breathless at the halfway point and they still had yet to break a sweat as children yet to reach junior high. We saw individuals come hours to a meeting to greet us, but largely to buy in on a movement bigger than themselves and sustaining a livelihood for their familial generations to come. These are people that can change the world. They are people that change the world. They are people that deserve human dignity, not to be looked upon as the poor but to be looked upon as people. As the article mentions, no one optionally lives poor. This poor is below the global poverty line. The article points in the Catholic viewpoint, we are called in our evangelicalism to directly fight the injustices of poverty, and not just help in aid but create a global development plan to ensure that they have the right to help themselves.

In reflection of the trip, and our once in a lifetime experience of joining a community and living among them in the rural areas that are hardly accessible, I’ve realized and understood the first step to true development and not just aid is to respect the human dignity of a person. The ideations in fighting poverty is to not use a bandage by looking upon the issue as a project, but to find a solution of empowerment by looking at the dignity of the individual, of the person. Religiously, spiritually, and humanely, I find it impossible to sincerely accept the global trend in making helping the poor as an industry, and decide to join the integral human development called upon all of us as just members of society.

To the love of the people I’ve experienced this journey through, I hope you all will search, ask, and join this walk of integral human development aimed at the dignity of an individual, and end to injustice.

Kishan