Saline High Teacher in Haiti
By Kathryn Wong
Saline High School teacher Chris Trainor had a chance to experience the deeply embedded vibrancy of the people of Haiti as well as the deeply embedded poverty when she visited over winter break.
“The first thing that you notice,” she says, “is the smell. They have no sanitation system, so when they're done with the trash – whatever it is – it just goes on the streets. The smell in the air is toxic.”
Trainor was born and raised in Saline, and she has never been incredibly rich by American standards, but she had also never been exposed to such shocking poverty. While in Haiti, she spent some time with the children at the Have Faith Mission.
“I cried every day. You would see these little kids that are so sick [who] don't have anything. They eat rice every single day. That's all they have. Rice. And yet they're so grateful for what they have. Every night before these kids go to bed, they have devotions and they thank God for everything that they have,” says Trainor.
Many of the children have brothers and sisters who died in the earthquake. But Trainor also says that, “they don't think that they lived because they're better than their brothers and sisters that died, they think that God was gracious to them. It makes you feel guilty. It really does.”
While in Haiti, Trainor was working with an organization called Poured Out that was founded by Saline High School graduates Jeremy Searls and Carlee Greene. The organization installs water filtration systems in homes, schools, and churches throughout Haiti. These water filters are instrumental in preventing life threatening, water-borne diseases.
In the course of her trip, Poured Out installed 39 filters. They also were able to conduct 20 follow-up visits to ensure that the filters were functioning properly. Each community that Poured Out works with has a local pastor who knows the people well and works with the organization to help determine what places would be best targets for a water filter. The ten people volunteering for Poured Out split up into two teams, each team installing between 4-8 filters each day.
“To install the filters,” Trainor says, “we would interview the family first. With us were three boys...who translated for us. We would find out where the family got their water, if they were at all sick with fever or dehydration. After the interview, we had these portable projectors and we would shine it up on the wall at their house and show them a movie in Creole that teaches them about the filters. It teaches them about how to maintain the filters. And then we would install the filters.”
The idea of the filter is relatively simple – it's a tub, about waist high with two layers of gravel, and one 100 pound layer of sand. The water is poured in, and the bacteria get caught and stuck in the sand. Then the water gets pushed up through a tube, completely clean. Finally, at the end of the installation process, the team from Poured Out spent time in prayer with the family.
When we in suburban Saline visit impoverished countries like Haiti, it can be a moving experience for us, but does it really change the lives of Haitians themselves? Can short term trips have a long term impact?
When asked about the inherent long term efficacy of her trip, Trainor had some interesting insights. Her daughter's third grade class spent weeks learning about the culture and the people of Haiti which eventually culminated in that third grade class skyping with an orphange in Haiti.
Trainor explains the situation, “They went to an American school, so they can't go to a Haitian college. They're educated though and they were so good and honest and kind and took such good care of us. There's a lot of paperwork involved though, and it costs $16,000 per boy per year for them to come to Michigan.”
But if any of these young men were given the chance of a college education here in the United States, they could go back to Haiti equipped with tools to help lead Haiti out of poverty. Trainor's trip has also inspired Saline High seniors Jordan Magenta and Arnór Halldórsson to travel to Haiti this March to work with Poured Out.
Lastly, a trip to Haiti has dramatically changed the way that Trainor views her life. She says: “When you come back, you feel really bad about the way that you live. You feel bad when you take a hot shower. Or when you throw away food or when your kids want a new video game.”
Yes, Haiti is a torn nation ravaged by poverty exacerbated by natural disaster and a corrupt government. Yes, stench fills the streets, and the people do not even have the most basic of needs like clean drinking water. But Haiti has hope. And don't walk away from reading this with the impression that Haiti is a place of total ruin. Haiti is a place of beauty.
Trainor recalls that, “we took a boat out to one place to install a filter, and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. The water was just the bluest blue that I've ever seen. The mountains are everywhere around you. It is a gorgeous country.”
Photos courtesy of Chris Trainor
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