Any mention of Haiti conjures the earthquake: multi-story buildings flattened like cardboard, tent camps squeezed into busy city centers, the tears and heartbreak of mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who lost loved ones in the disaster.But there’s another side to the disaster with which many of us are unfamiliar – the tremendous resiliency of the Haitian people, their eagerness for new opportunity and collaboration, and the catalytic impact technology and education are having in transforming the situation in Haiti.
Just days after the Earthquake, I was on the phone with Natasha, my co-founder, exploring ways I might be able to travel to Haiti to capture stories on the ground. As is often the case, we were being inundated with news of the destruction, but it was hard to find stories of positive transformation – stories of resiliency, of wide scale collaboration, of hope amidst the devastation.
It wasn’t until several months later that I was able to travel to Haiti with my camera and film the stories of two nonprofits doing innovative work “in the field”: Inveneo & Samasource. Each uses technology to transform the conditions of those most in need. Inveneo designs and delivers highly sustainable and affordable Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions for organizations that provide vital services — education, healthcare, economic development — in rural and under-served areas, like Haiti. Samasource provides dignified, digital work to marginalized people around the world, including Haitian youth. And two months later, I returned to Haiti to tell the story ofNetHope Academy, which provides technical training and internships to humanitarian staff and unemployed youth in developing countries, allowing the non-profits they serve to rely on local capacity for their technical support rather than importing or outsourcing to specialists.
It was strangely appropriate that the three organizations whose stories we told in Haiti, all leverage technology as an enabler. As a result of my work at the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab I’ve been working on projects that relate to Peace Innovation, I’ve been very interested in the role that ICT can play in the context of education and conflict resolution. Haiti offered me a glimpse into a real-life laboratory where the deployment of technology faces innumerable challenges; infrastructural, institutional & technical, but where important progress is, nevertheless, being made. Our work with Inveneo, Samasource & NetHope made it clear that Haitian youth, in particular, are eager to build a better Haiti – and are looking for ways to collaborate with the rest of the world in overcoming their country’s many challenges and support the healing and transformation of their country.
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[/image_to_lightbox]My time in Haiti forced me to confront my overly simplistic perspective of disaster and poverty. I was abruptly reminded of the transient nature of many things we, in the U.S., take for granted: our homes, schools, public services, roads/transportation, our physical health and access to medical care. However, despite the external chaos and instability that have plagued Haiti, there is something within Haitians that has remained unmarred by decades of crippling poverty and natural disasters – a ‘joie de vivre’ that has not been crushed. This resiliency of the Haitian people and incredibly animated spirit are especially apparent in the children, with whom I was privileged to sing and dance with at Save the Children medical camp outside of Port-au-Prince, Luc and other workers of Samasource, and Jude and the students at ESIH. Those moments of carefree joy, creative expression and connection, transformed my own sense of what’s possible, despite the odds.
The Haitian’s resilient spirit – and the incredible partnership support of organizations like Inveneo, Samasource, and NetHope – give me hope that there is a very real, brighter future for Haiti – to which Micro-Documentaries is excited to contribute.