Conn Committee Gives the Gift of Hope to Haiti

By Rebecca Cheney and Edward Fisher

Editor’s note: This article was submitted by two student members of the Connecticut College Haiti Response Committee.

We both joined the Connecticut College’s Haiti Response Committee almost as soon as we got back from winter break. Mary Devins, the Associate Director of CISLA, told us that a small group of faculty and staff members were going to meet the first Tuesday after break to discuss the disaster in Haiti and what the college’s response should be. She asked both of us, as committed students, if we would like to join and represent our peers. Neither of us had ever met, and we were surprised by the scope and size of the effort we would help create.

From that small meeting in the CISLA office with a few faculty and staff, and just four students, the effort ballooned. Student volunteers came pouring in, forming a committee that is responsible for much of the events and outreach. This weekend, hundreds of hours of volunteer work by over 100 students, faculty and staff will culminate in a series of events that will be the capstone of our outreach efforts.

It has been a long road, one that has been by turns rewarding and extremely difficult. We have been accused of both being too slow to respond and having the wrong priorities. We have been bogged down by endless details about speakers, PR, entertainment, outreach and the question of which organization to donate to, among others – all while trying to remember that beyond all of the hard work and struggle is the simple need to do good and to provide hope.

We have chosen an organization; our reasoning was that, in a time when the initial flood of aid has already passed, it is important for us to contribute to the future of Haiti’s recovery. Giving affected children a chance for a better future is the perfect way to do that. In that, we hope to be unique and to start a new form of aid: one that will have lasting effects on the people of Haiti.

We have done our very best to create the greatest celebration of the Haitian artistic and cultural experience, the boundless spirit of the Connecticut College student and the unconquerable durability of the human spirit that we possibly can. Now only one thing is left to do: we need to provide the hope. So while you’re enjoying the events this weekend, please think about the disaster that started it all. Remember that our celebration of hope has a real world counterpart and that counterpart is matched by pain and suffering that is still occurring.

Images on CNN, articles on relief efforts and tallies of aid dollars tell a story. But they do not tell the entire story; the fact remains that every single dollar brings the gift of hope. In this world of absolutes, where money is often a form of exchange moving measurable items back and forth, it can be hard to remember that money can bring things that are all the more powerful for their intangibility. Please think back to a time where you needed hope, and remember who gave it to you. Please give the gift of hope. Please donate.