TWA Update December 2020
TWA Update June 2020
We are in contact with our guides in Haiti on an almost daily basis and they are coping as best they could in these trying circumstances. TWA is sending payment to our guides as a bonus that is almost an equivalent amount to their salaries as guides every May.
We have not excluded our yearly trip for this year. We are still planning on traveling to Haiti to continue our efforts there hopefully before the end of the summer. So if you are still interested in traveling with us, please let us know so that I can keep you updated.
Here is our new guidelines for our upcoming trip with respect to Covid 19 measurements:
Pre-Screen Questions:
- Do you have any of the following symptoms:
- Fever greater than 38C/100F
- New or worsening coughs or difficulty breathing/shortness of breath
- New general flu-like symptoms
- New chills or shakes
- New unexplained feeling or malaise, confusion, or loss of consciousness
- New loss or change in ability to taste or smell
- Chest pain
- Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
- Have you travelled outside of Canada within the last 14 days? (Before travelling with us to Haiti)
- Have you had close unprotected contact with a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case?
- Have you had close unprotected contact with a person with acute respiratory illness who has been outside of Canada in the last 14 days?
- Social distancing when feasible
- Wearing masks when possible
- Keeping all surfaces clean in rooms and common areas
- Everyone is responsible in providing their own personal protection equipment (hand sanitizer, masks, disinfectants etc)
- Handwashing or using hand sanitizer frequently
- Reduced physical paperwork, more digital paperwork
- Updates to be provided via email or telephone
8. We have purchased a touchless thermometer to do daily temperature checks if necessary
Hoping to continue our efforts in Haiti soon! Please check back for more updates.
An update from TWA on the current COVID-19 pandemic
TWA Supporters,
During this difficult time, we wanted to thank those who are the front line keeping the world going and those who are staying home and helping keep the rest of us safe. Stay hopeful and keep looking up.
During this time of isolation, check in with your loved ones over the phone. Even though we are apart we are never truly alone.
Finally, due to current travel restrictions, the May 2020 Haiti trip may be postponed, but we won’t know until at least the end of April. Things are changing every day.
And don’t forget, in helping other we help ourselves!!
Peace and Love,
Third World Awareness
Coronavirus & Haiti
Haiti currently has 0 reported cases of COVID-19, and the number of cases in other Caribbean countries is very low. The May 2020 annual trip is still scheduled in spite of the virus. Much like many other viruses, it doesn’t spread well in heat, hence why it likely hasn’t reached Haiti yet as it is a warm country. There have also been no reported fatalities in the Caribbean from the virus.
The United States still has travel warnings at Level 4 for Haiti, however these have been in place for a long time and have nothing to do with the virus. This travel warning means that there are not a lot of people travelling to Haiti in the first place, and the chances of COVID-19 reaching Haiti are currently low.
On the plus side, flight prices have gone down due to virus and current worldwide travel restrictions– American Airlines has it at $686 round trip.
For more information or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact Bridget.
Privilege in Haiti
Blog post by Tom LaFrance
After our last evening meal in Haiti, John Callaghan said to the volunteers, “ We have an enormous privilege – being in Haiti.”
What does he mean, I wonder?
Days later, an answer comes from a Ron Rolheiser column:
The lesson . . . is that genuine religion, maturity, loyalty, . . . lie in letting ourselves be stretched by what does not emanate from our own kind.
I realize I was being…
Stretched into genuine religion by taking the long trip to Saut d’Eau waterfalls, putting my backpack down and trusting a young Haitian boy to guide my footsteps up the slippery wet stones. Slowly, I come to realize that this waterfall was the site of an apparition of Ezili Danto – the Black Madonna – a fierce mother figure as well as a goddess. I had learned this information while reading a National Geographic article, “How the Virgin Mary Became the World’s Most Powerful Woman.“ December, 2015.
Stretched into a deeper maturity, by spending my evenings washing socks and packing my backpack for the next day instead of continually socializing in the comfortable Methodist Centre living room watching sports on a large screen TV.
Stretched into loyalty by going back, yet another day, to the Missionaries of Charity, called the “Brothers” in Pele, to massage wounded bodies. Leaning down to reach people in low metal beds, touching crippled men and quiet, suffering women who can’t pay for this service and can only thank me by the deep look in their eyes. Returning again to Malnourished Children’s Clinic – the Sisters’ – to pick up the same child, although today he’s not smiling; he’s hungry and wet and once I pick him up he won’t easily be put back down in his crib.
I have been stretched into generosity by the people of Haiti, from a different county, but the same earth:
By the man who asks for my running shoes, I do have two pairs.
By the young man who asks again for money; this time he wants to start up a “grocery business,” after I have already given his school all of my personal daily “allowance money,” so he could write his exams. I can go to bank with my debit card.
By the doorman at the Brothers who has asked for my watch; I wait until our last day to give it to him. I have another watch at home in Canada.
I am beginning to understand what John was saying about “privilege.”
Fr. Ron Rolheiser, “Community is formed through love, inclusion.” The Catholic Register, May 15, 2016; 14
Our lives begin to end…
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Helping Hands
TWA is fully supported by the work of many volunteers. Some come for just one trip, others stay around for many years or join us on our Board. Bridget Ogundipe is one of our key and longest serving members. Read about her TWA volunteer experience in her interview with Black Ink Magazine.
Never be afraid…
“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed.”
~ William Faulkner