Lessons from Haiti

by Stephanie Romero | More from this Blogger

28 Sep 2011 06:39 AM

My 17-year-old son spent a week in Haiti, on a construction project. I knew going into this that he would come back changed...I just wasn't sure how.

Thanks to technology, I was able to keep in contact with him almost every day. The house he stayed in had WiFi so he was able to text me from a program he downloaded on his iPod.

The biggest struggle he had was working in the sweltering heat. He was doing real labor, bricklaying and using a sledge hammer to take down walls. The temperatures were in the 100's. He battled headaches each day and I'm still not convinced he was drinking enough water.

His favorite day, however, was the day before they left. They only had to work until 9:30 a.m. and then they took a trip into the mountains. This apparently didn't hold a candle to Niagara Falls, a majestic sight we saw about two years ago.

Despite the heat, he enjoyed doing construction, he loved the people of Haiti and he wants to one day return. But the greatest lesson he learned was something he sent me in a text message.

I had asked him on Friday, the day before he was scheduled to come home, if he was eager to get back. His reply was, "Yes, I miss my country. This place is literally a dump. Really, the poorest people in America are better off than the people here. In fact, I feel really rich right now drinking a glass of water with ice in it."

His perspective on life here in America has changed. His appreciation for what he has most definitely changed.

This coming from a 17-year-old, who tends to be selfish just because its part of the nature of us as humans and definitely as teenagers. Yet he learned some powerful, life-changing lessons through that experience.

It has got me thinking that all of us could probably learn a lot from a trip such as this. How much more would we appreciate the good things of this life?

It also showed me that you can't really teach appreciation. It has to be experienced. I'm so glad that my son was able to get some real-life experience in that.

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Photo by Beverly & Pack in Flickr

Learn more about Stephanie Romero

Stephanie Romero is a professional blogger for Families and independent contractor for We Do Web Content. She has been married for 20 years and is the mother of three children ages 13, 15 and 18.

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