OT – Do Something Different

[5yes]

Thanks in a large part to this blog, my husband and I have been financially stable and savvy for the past few years. We have decided to do something unexpected! We are selling our possessions, taking a year leave of absence from our jobs, and renting out the house that we saved for and planned for and finally bought.

We will be volunteering for a year in Haiti, rebuilding an orphanage that is yet to be rebuilt from the 2010 earthquake. We move in June! I really can’t believe it, we had not planned or sought this out, it all came from a single phone call my husband made in January. I have relied on this blog for financial advice for so long, even though I am a very infrequent poster, I feel as though I know many people on here and wanted to tell you all the crazy news!

Please wish us luck as we completely refocus our lives and learn how to live in a very poor country. No electricity! No running water! We have so much to learn! Does anyone have any book recommendations? We will have to build many different facilities as well as electrical and water systems, also one of my goals is to help create some sustainable farming for the kid’s food supply. I have never been this unprepared and nervous, but I have also never felt so strongly that we are doing the right thing. Please consider giving our family blog a glance or two over the next year while we are gone. At the least, it should be entertaining to watch our family learn to cook without a microwave (or fridge)! I am not sure if I am allowed to link it on here, but if you search for familyforhaiti.blogspot you will find it. Any advice for us?

Thanks!

[Coronita]

Wow… I’m speechless.

You and your husband get the piggington humanitarian award of the year!

Just when I was beginning to lose hope for humanity, people like you show up and share what you are doing.

That’s just awesome… Good luck with everything.

I have no advice, because it’s way over my head for me…

Mucho respect to you and your hubby.

[5yes]

Thanks flu. Right now I feel like I’m teetering back and forth between excitement and fear! Words of encouragement from friends are the main thing keeping me going forward with this. I really appreciate your support 🙂

[scaredyclassic]

Composting toilets is what Haiti urgently needs I think.

[5yes]

Haha, funny and true. When my husband visited two weeks ago, he said that people are still using as public restrooms the emergency port-o-potties that had been brought over right after the earthquake. It’s a shame to waste all that fertilizer!

[Diego Mamani]

5yes, the world needs more people like you! What you are doing is awesome and it’s a great model for young people to emulate. I can’t give much advice other than to ask how much experience you have volunteering in lower income developing countries (as opposed to middle income developing countries like Mexico or Turkey).

The poverty you will witness may be too shocking for some people. It is one thing to read about malnutrition and something else to actually see children riddled with disease. I believe they have electricity and running water in Haiti, just not everywhere.

Something else to prepare for: huge disparities in income. A minority if Haitians live with first-world amenities and have somehow got used to live surrounded by abject poverty. This contrast may shock you.

Also, some cops and government officials will be honest and will help you, but others will obstruct you and ask for bribes.

I’m only trying to help you be realistic and prepared for anything, good or bad, that may happen. Best of luck to you!

[5yes]

I hear your wise words of caution. I actually grew up in poverty in Cairo, Egypt. It was really hard leaving my childhood friends behind when I moved to the States at age 11, and not being able to help with all the horrible things that have recently been going on in Cairo has made me even more sad. I think my husband will have a harder time adjusting since he was born and raised in Southern Orange County 🙂 However, I have never lived in a third world country as a mother, and worrying for our own children has become one of my new biggest hobbies.

It is really shocking and sad that so much of the relief money and help was waylaid by a few greedy Haitians and mismanaged NGOs/non-profits, while the poorest victims of the earthquake have not had basic services restored. This contrast of wealth will be very hard to deal with, you are totally right.

[NicMM]

5yes,

Your husband and you are brave and with a big heart! Be careful with the drinking water when you are in Haiti. Boil water before drinking it.

Take care!

NicMM

[briansd1]

This must be your blog.
http://familyforhaiti.blogspot.com/

Congrats to you and your family. It’s nice that your jobs allows you take a leave of absence for this kind of charity work.

It seems like you’re associated with a Christian charity.

Some people on here may think that I’m anti-religion. But I’m not. I know people who’ve given up comfortable American lives to do God’s work in Latin America. I admire the dedication to make the world a better place.

[5yes]

Thank you Brian1. You found me!

Yes it is a Christian charity, but we would not be working with them if they did not clearly state that they do not discriminate against other religions and they do not church plant. I do not want to change anyone’s religion, I want to help children who have been both neglected and abused. My husband and I were foster parents for years, even living at a group home for high school drop outs for a year, and that organization was most definitely not Christian. I have enjoyed reading about different people’s religious opinions on this blog! There have been some spicy conversations about this topic! 🙂

[UCGal]

I am very impressed by your humanitarian selflessness.
Very inspiring.

And yes – composting toilets. WW can give you all the info you need.

[scaredyclassic]

Check out humanure

they have a facebook pg

[CA renter]

5yes,

What a wonderful thing you and your family are doing! Your kids will learn more from this than they will ever learn sitting in a classroom in the US.

It has to be difficult, and your fears about your kids are totally understandable (having kids does seem to bring out all of one’s anxieties, doesn’t it?), but this is a truly fantastic opportunity for everyone concerned.

Please keep in touch here to update us on everything you’re doing there. I’ll try to keep an eye on your blog, too.

Best of luck to you and your family as you embark on this awesome adventure! 🙂

[5yes]

Thanks for the good idea, I have been reading their website and downloaded some information from them. I have so much to learn! I haven’t felt this ravenous for new information since I first discovered this site five years ago! Finally economics made sense (no offense intended to my macro/micro profs if they are lurking here)! Thanks to piggington, humanure will soon be a common part of my vocabulary 🙂

[5yes]

Thank you CA renter and UCgal. I hope my children grow up to be good, kind people. I hope they learn from this experience that life without an xbox can be filled with just as much (or more) fun!

Thanks for your kind words!

[Author]

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