My Experience in Haiti

In 1981 I was asked by some DePauw University students to serve as faculty adviser for a group planning to work in rural Haiti during the nearly month-long interim term. I accepted the offer for several reasons. I had enjoyed being the faculty adviser for two previous work projects in Guatemala and Jamaica.

I had found the experience was educationally valuable for undergraduates, and I could use it to enhance classroom learning during the semester. In addition, the experience of living and working in a radically different environment was intellectually stimulating for me as a social scientist interested in welfare economics.

Finally, because such volunteer projects were rare in the early 1980s, I realized the opportunity should not be passed up. It was a chance to see a part of the world I had heard of but knew little or nothing about except from accounts found in newspaper and magazine articles.