Changed. That’s how Louise Keim and her niece, Sage Bausher, feel after a mission trip to Haiti in November. The pair say they will never look in their stocked fridges or filled closets without picturing how life is just a short plane ride away.
“It was really eye opening to see how happy the kids were, even though they live in such deplorable conditions. Just giving them the littlest bit of attention,” said Bausher, a junior at Hamburg Area High School. “They were so happy to have someone do something for them.”
The pair, both residents of Shoemakersville, were part of a 10 person team assembled by Glad Tidings Church in West Lawn and Kutztown. Keim, a retired Hamburg High School teacher, visited Haiti on four prior trips before she began attending Glad Tidings.
“I am a retired teacher from HASD and have a passion for education, and I see it as a way out of poverty,” Keim told The Item in an email. “We worked in four schools, and some of the team did some light construction and helped build a house in Cite Soleil, the “slums” of Port au Prince. This was my fifth trip (prior trips were with two other organizations), and I saw a level of poverty this time I’ve not seen before.”
Noting incidences of slavery, revolt, war, corruption and natural disasters, Keim said, “Haiti has the potential to be a beautiful country but it has a tragic history. I fell in love with the country and her people and I would encourage others to get involved, give and [go see] Haiti’s unique culture and resilient people.”
Glad Tidings Church sends mission teams out on a monthly basis, and Keim kept asking when Haiti would be on the roster. Finally, the chance came in November of 2016.
Keim, her husband and two pastors were part of this mostly adult team working with Assembly of God missionaries Bill Smith and Bridgett Conner. Bausher was the only teen member.
In the mornings, they visited several local schools run through Latin American Child Care efforts. Each school met in a large room housing groups of 40 to 100 kids of all ages. There were no dividers for classrooms, and the children must tune out distractions when multiple lessons are being held in the same space.
A translator was on hand to provide assistance, especially during singing. The Glad Tidings team presented a program including activities, games and crafts and a Gospel lesson.
“None of the team were professional actors, and none of us had a lot of lines to memorize, but the kids loved the Good Samaritan [skit],” said Bausher.
Afternoons were spent on odd jobs. They helped paint the interior of a home, fixed a batch of sewing machines donated to the mission and helped assemble and distribute first aid and school supplies.
“The team got together [stateside] and created eight first aid kids,” Keim said. “We spread them out among our luggage. Once we got there we had to sort them out and create the kits, eight for eight different schools.”
The school supplies were donated by faculty at Perry and Tilden elementary schools via Hawks4Haiti. In the past, Hawks4Haiti has also arranged a letter exchange between Haitian students and Hamburg high schoolers and raised funds through a pencil sale, an online auction and a Girls on the Run bake sale.
As expected, the team worked in hot and humid conditions while in Haiti. In addition to light maintenance and construction work, they visited an international school in Delmas and toured an American-run school and medical center in Gressier.
In order to attend the trip, each team member had to raise $1,600 to cover costs. Additional expenses included passports and shots.
“I wrote letters for my family and got them to sponsor me,” Bausher said. She also used money from savings.
This was the first international trip for Bausher, who has gone on “Reach Out to Reading” trips locally. Bausher is a junior Hamburg Area High School and attends Zion’s Church.
As she talked about the conditions she saw and the people she met, tears came to Bausher’s eyes.
“It was a lot of hopelessness, honestly, a lot of poverty,” she said quietly. “Most of the houses were cinder block or tin shacks.”
Keim agreed. “Rusty walls, kids walking around with no shoes. Naked kids… but happy kids, though, they all were ready to hold our hands.”
“They wouldn’t let go,” Bausher said.
Both women say a trip to Haiti changes how one sees things.
“The depth of the poverty, it’s hard to imagine. I want people to know that,” Keim said. “And it’s so close to the United States, so it’s easy to get to. I want people to know if they’ve ever considered going and they have an opportunity, go. It can be life changing.”
Bausher agreed. “People don’t understand how lucky we have it here. We take it for granted, then you go down there and see people who are lucky to have shoes, a good pair of shoes. I brought back a sense of gratitude for everything I have, everything we do.”
