Lorry asked me if I knew what a “science journey” was and after some very interesting back and forth in Kreyol, we settled on an understanding of a “science fair”. The reason he asked was because there was such a thing happening during our upcoming trip to Haiti and he wanted to show us this event.
We gladly carved out the time in our schedule so that we could go with Lorry and Angelo. Come that Saturday morning we caught a tap-tap into Port-Au-Prince and then a taxi (of sorts) up to the location of the “fair”.
It was not a “fair”, it was a very significant exposition of technology and electronics at a very large technical school in the Delmas area of Port-Au-Prince. Lorry was our guide.
It is on certain occasions and at some events when you really get blessed by being able to see how excited the people of Haiti can become when they are given the opportunity and resources to build something. We may have been the only other American’s in attendance and I think that added to what was going to happen next.
We got special tour guides. We were approached by just about every group of students to come and see what they built and learn about what they had accomplished. Teenagers and young adults worked together at this technical school to learn and develop.
We met with students who proudly demonstrated the electrical system they had configured and assembled; those that had developed full blown networks for cloud computing; electronic circuitry projects; a smart house; solar powered irrigation systems; and furniture from recycled 50 gallon drums – I’m sure there was more but I lost track.
What we saw in these young people is the same thing we see in those who are in our English language program and from the young men who are sponsored for college – pride in their accomplishments and inspiration to be more than what their world tells them they are.
This is the kind of reward that irreplaceable.
It turns out it was far more of a “science journey” and far less of a “science fair” – the young people in Haiti should be proud of their accomplishments and what those can do to help shape the future.