this hasn’t been very daily but I am going to keep it up as often as I can

Maurice. Maurice was a young boy I met in Haiti. It was not love at first sight. Maurice was a boy at the orphanage we visited in Port-au-Prince, was probably around 4 or 5, and was amongst the swarm of 100 kids that greeted us as soon as we walked into the orphanage. At first, I chose other children to pick up over Maurice because a) he had no pants on and b) he was obviously autistic. b) scared me. I had no experience working with disabled children and I was scared I wouldn’t know how to handle him, how to entertain him or keep him happy. So for the first while I occupied myself with other children, drawing with chalk, giving piggyback rides and being chased around the orphanage. But it was bothering me that I had ignored Maurice. I wouldn’t want to be ignored like that, why should I do that to him? One-on-one attention is probably something he gets so rarely, and probably something he very much needs. 

So finally I told myself to stop being such a coward, go over and try and play with him (and grab our empty hockey bag to cover his bum with!). I did, and he stole my heart. We sang together and played peekaboo and made lots of chalk scribbles. I told them they were “si belle” and he continued scribbling, alternating between whispering, talking and screaming “si belle, si belle!”. He made me laugh and he made me smile. I had so much fun that afternoon and he stole my heart in a matter of hours. 

But this is what kills me - at the end of the day when I leave, Maurice is just 1/100. He won’t receive the one on one care he probably desperately needs, and while we seem eons ahead with our fancy classrooms, specialized equipment and teachers, Maurice is still competing for life with others much more physically and socially able than him. He still lives in a world where your physical and social skills are vital, the only way to make money in a place without solid government, organized infrastructure and good education. And that’s not fair. Just because I just so happened to be born in Canada, and he just so happened to be born in Haiti. I just so happen to have tons of family members who I know would take care of me if anything were to happen to me, while he just so happens to not have a soul in the world. Don’t get me wrong - the staff and kids at the orphanage love him to pieces, but at the end of the day no one is really responsible for him, he has no one to fall back on. 

The world needs us to be great. Not only for people like Maurice, but for people like Joseph, an abled boy I met at the orphanage. It is pure and utter chance that they are in the situation they are in while we are in ours. It is completely unfair that the world we are in has put them there, dealing with constant hunger and poor education, while our kids are dealing with obesity and we struggle to keep them wanting to go to school. So whatever you may be talented at, whatever you may be passionate about, use it to be great. Use it so the whole world can benefit from the great things YOU can do. Our individualistic society has driven us up a whole new wall of crazy, and I think a lot can be learnt from sharing and community and working towards a greater good. 

since i wrote a serious blog post, and i’ve been lagging. i’ve been thinking about starting a daily thing, writing about my most recent trip to haiti. 

i could write you all a massively long post about the whole thing, but that would be a waste of time because honestly, i wouldn’t read a million-paragraph post.

so i’m thinking i’ll just write some quick thoughts day by day. here goes!