Haiti trip sets stage for service project

Donna Tatum-Johns first met Stephanie Privert shortly after the fifteen-year-old arrived from Haiti in June of 2010. Stephanie’s home had been destroyed in the January earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, and even worse, she faced a life-threatening heart condition that could not be treated in Haiti.

The nonprofit group Healing the Children arranged for Stephanie’s trip to Louisville, where Kosair Children’s Hospital donated the surgery that repaired her heart. KCD served as Stephanie’s school home during the year that she stayed in Louisville. During that time, she attended classes and became friends with many students and teachers, including Ms. Tatum-Johns.

A few weeks ago, Ms. Tatum-Johns used a Fortnight grant to travel to Haiti, where she visited Stephanie and her family. “I flew in on the two-year anniversary of the earthquake,” she recalls. “Two-thirds of the people whose homes were destroyed two years ago are still living in tents.” Fortunately, Stephanie’s family was able to return to their home (below), which was rebuilt in large part because of the generosity of the KCD community. In addition, fundraisers by the Middle School Drama Society and other groups had raised about $1,000 to help the Privert family get back on their feet. Ms. Tatum-Johns reports that Haitian Christian Outreach has been overseeing the allocation of the funds and reporting back on how the family is using them.

“Our primary goal was to help them build self-sufficiency,” Ms. Tatum-Johns said, “so that they would have a means to buy food not only today, but also in the future.” Toward that goal, some of the funds have been used to purchase a freezer that will allow the family to sell cold drinks and start a small store in the front of their home.

Ms. Tatum-Johns also used the trip as an opportunity to lay the groundwork for a service learning trip to Haiti next year. “This will be different from our existing Global Studies trips,” she explained, “because the focus of the trip will be on service.” Ms. Tatum-Johns hopes to bring the first student group to Haiti in June of 2013.