Hey there my fellow Wildcats. Can I just start by saying I miss you? And the squirrels and the grass maintenance that costs more than my tuition, the people, the professors, and those warm peanut butter cookies from the café. I miss it all.

I miss it all a lot, mostly because I’m living in a place where I have access to none of those things. No squirrels, no peanut butter cookies, and to be honest, no grass. I’ve been living in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti, since four days post-graduation. If you’re feeling particularly politically incorrect, you could call this a “third world” country, or a developing country, as I would prefer you to call it.

However, having lived here a while now I can see how people see this as “third world,” because it is unlike anywhere you’ve ever been before. Have you ever scooped water out of a dirty sewage-filled-trash-dump ditch and used it to bathe? I haven’t either, thank goodness, but I’ve seen it happen. I’ve witnessed a man bathing in water that was neon green. So this is quite honestly a whole new world, and it’s not the Disney one that Aladdin and Jasmine talk about.

I’ve seen an abundance of nudity, men and women urinating on the street, bathing in rivers and ditches. I’ve seen a dead body, bloody on the street. I’ve had orphan children cling to my limbs desperate for a loving embrace. Maybe by now you’re wondering why I’m still here.

All of the horrible things I’ve seen are incredibly outweighed by the beautiful things I have experienced. One of my grown male students wiped tears from his eyes as he pulled me into an embrace upon hearing that I would be staying long enough to see him graduate. “Thank you for believing in me,” he said.

I saw an adult woman read her first sentence aloud to a crowd that was there to witness her graduate from our literacy program. This woman has grandchildren and just finally learned how to write her own name.

I helped organize a water filter distribution that will be supplying over 300 people in our community with clean water. I see people working harder than anyone I’ve ever seen before for a minimum wage of a whopping $5 a day when gas is an outrageous $5-8 a gallon. Can you imagine? I hope you feel a little spoiled now, or at the very least a little humbled. I sure do.

That’s why I’m still here. I believe so strongly in the mission of community empowerment. I believe that a difference can be made by empowering individuals to become strong as a community. I believe in hope for Haiti where many people do not. I see hope, love and potential for this country, a cause that is not lost. This island, this little western third of the island Hispaniola, is a treasure and it has stolen my heart. Every day I am fascinated by the new things I am learning. Not only that, but I am actually able to apply–get this–things I learned in school. Who would have ever thought?

I regret not taking more classes, not paying attention just a tad more, not memorizing every page of those sociology textbooks. Looking back, everyone was so wrong when they said, “Yeah, well when am I ever going to use this in the real world?” I can’t say I’ve directly applied the Pythagorean Theorem (yet), but I can say that I would have been horribly ill-prepared for this experience without the education I received at Baker. I can’t pinpoint the title of one class that helped me, but I can pull bits and pieces from almost every single one of them that I’ve found myself reflecting back on. I’m constantly saying under my breath, “Man, Dr. (Susan) Emel and Dr. (Jake) Bucher were so right.” I wish I could go back now and just hang on to every word my professors ever said. Those Baker professors speak gold, my friends. Shame on us if we ever take that for granted.

It’s strange being in the exact place people told me I wouldn’t be, in the place people told me I couldn’t be, and to be honest, I told myself the same things. But I’m here, and I love every second of it. As much as I miss familiarity, air conditioning, warm water, food other than rice and not getting stared at because of my pasty white skin; I love it here just that much more.

There are too many things wrong with this country to name, but I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. Haiti hasn’t given up, and I think it would be terrible of us to give up on Haiti.

I will never take electricity or running water for granted again. I have grown as a person, and I am so unbelievably humbled by this experience. I am appreciative of every second I spend here because I know that no matter how hard it is, it is helping me to become a better person. I thought I came to help Haiti, but Haiti has helped me. For that, I am forever grateful for this beautiful little island.