My Christmas in Haiti (video)

[Prof. Clutch]

Sounds like the trip of a lifetime, Prof. Clutch.  As you know you were already near the top of my list of good guys...solidifying your position and raising my opinion even more,  with grace.  I look forward to your next adventure!  (No pressure, but the expectations grow...I expect great success to find you.)

Oh TB, you sure know how to make a guy blush!     Haha. 

Thanks so much for what you wrote.  It was the trip of a lifetime, admittedly with great positive and moments of sadness/craziness.  I hope to make a few more of these videos, including perhaps a full length documentary about the trip. It certainly wasn't all a bed of roses like the moments in the video I shared. 

Now all I have to do is pull somebody from a burning building (spiderman style) to keep your expectations growing. 

[Prof. Clutch]

Awesome stuff, PC ... you are an amazing guy and a person who gives from the heart ... I hold very few people in as high esteem. I know how enriching an experience it must have been for you, especially at Christmas ... seeing the faces of the children when they saw Santa made my eyes water a bit, because things are still so very bad down there, and especially for the children and orphans.

While we've already been trading experiences, I look forward to doing more of the same in the future, and maybe hooking up there this spring! Thank you so much for sharing this video ... it brought me back to a place and a people that I have fallen in love with, despite the devastation. God bless always, Buddy ... you are truly a great person!

Bahku, what can I say?  It has been really amazing discussing Haiti with you and comforting to know others who can really empathize.  Talk about giving from the heart, the piece you wrote last year and your work down there shows how exceptional a person you are.  And I have a funny feeling we will meet up down there at some point.

And the duality of being down there that you had described to me, the beauty of the people set against the widespread destruction everywhere you looked, was very true.  One thing not depicted in this video is any of the bad things that are still going on down there.  Even the positive experiences like handing out toys weren't always good.  The day after this event we headed into a camp and there was such a feeling of desperation in the air.  The sight of these bags of toys as we carried them in with us turned into instantly into a riot, with parents willing to do anything to get their kids what all of us would come to expect on Christmas, a present.  A few people got trampled, fights broke out, it was absolutely crazy and heart wrenching.  We went in there to accomplish something beautiful, hoping to match the experience from the day before (which you saw in the video,) instead we had to evacuate the camp.  We ended moving to a church right next door and managed to get all the gifts out to the kids despite a mob of people trying to force their way through the gates.  It was a hazardous experience, and one at the end that left me confused about whether or not we had just done a good thing or a bad thing.

Anyway, I know that you understand the importance of fact that both those sides exist down there, and that the journey to recovery is still long for so many.  Thank you for sharing your experiences with me.  TP to you brother.