Voices

Haiti is in the process of recovering for the past 2 years, and while some of the emergency relief groups have already left, some humanitarian aid agencies are still around, such as Habitat for Humanity and American Red Cross. But what are Haitians doing now? What about work? What about the buildings? And how has the Haitian mentality changed?

Well, before I can talk about these serious topics, a proper background and introduction is required to explain the importance of Haiti in the Lafayette Voices blog.

On a typical Lafayette afternoon, I was in a lecture at Williams Center for the Arts when I received an email from my thesis professor, Professor Raich.

Subject: Drop Everything! and attend a 12:15 pm lecture…

You know that it’s extremely important when your professor sends you an email that begins with “in the next 12 minutes, you must attend this lecture.” Professor Raich found out that there was an architect from Haiti giving a lecture at the college and coincidentally, it was related to my thesis about houses in Haiti.

After an excruciating 20 minutes of waiting, I received an update from a different professor, Professor Veshoshy. He urged me to attend the event, and assured me that he can schedule me a meeting with the Haitian architect if I can’t make it.

Some people would think that it is out of the ordinary that the professors have such a close relationship with the students, but here at Lafayette, that is considered a norm. I had not 1, but 2 professors email me about this event.

Before I knew it, I was offered an internship for a company in Haiti to further my studies concerning my thesis.

You see, here at Lafayette, opportunities come and go, but when they knocks on your door, you better grab them. And truth is, Lafayette was the one that offered me that opportunity. The college had invited him to give a talk, and amazingly enough, he was the perfect person for me to talk to. Even though the talk was in the Economics department, and it was unknown to me, so it seemed we couldn’t possibly cross paths that day.

But it was that perfect timing, the right connection, and the devoted faculty members that led me to have a conversation with him, which ended up giving me an internship in the winter.

And if you are wondering about what are the new changes in Haiti, just wait for the next issue of my blog, and I will tell you all about the amazing changes in Haiti that are happening right now.

Thank you for reading,

See ya later, Alligator.