Sharing Sweetness at SAKALA

News for a Better World from the SAKALA community center in Cité Soleil, Haiti

It was my first trip back to Haiti in six months and I was stressed.

   It might seem natural to be stressed, what with the extreme instability in Haiti and the COVID-19 pandemic  hanging over everything. It was these threats that had kept me so long away from my beloved SAKALA in the first place.

   But, no, my stress had a simpler cause.

It was Valentine’s Day and I knew that afternoon there would be a big party at SAKALA. I had suitcases filled with Valentine’s ring pops, Skittles, and gummy bands that I bought with a donation from my friend Jinny – what I call the Jinny Fun Fund.

Here’s a first picture from the first — but not the last — project of the Jinny Fun Fund.

   Sitting on the plane on the short flight from Florida to Haiti, I was frantically trying to put stickers and little Valentine’s Day cards in the 200 slippery sandwich bags that would hold the treats.

  Little red and pink hearts fell to the floor around me as I somewhat crazily tried to balance everything with my complimentary beverage and snack.

It was nice to be so stressed over something a little silly.

The idea came to me when my friend Jinny gave me a donation to spend any way I wanted in Haiti. As she has one of the biggest hearts I know, I tried to channel Jinny’s sense of sweetness and fun and bring what she might if she were able to be in the seat next to me this trip.

I remembered meeting Jinny on her first trip to SAKALA a few years ago. One of the gifts Jinny brought for the kids was candy – which was of course a huge hit with them.

But Jinny was second-guessing herself. The kids here have so many needs, was candy too frivolous?

   No, I said at the time. The candy she brought was perfect because the kids – and all of us – need fun, color, sweetness and joy in our lives.

Jinny’s question that day — and my response — reminded me of one of my own before my first trip to Haiti in April 2009.

In March 2009, I had the good fortune to interview Dr. Paul Farmer, whose legendary and revolutionary work in global health as co-founder of Partners in Health began in Haiti in the 1980s. He unexpectedly died this week at the young age of 62.

I asked him about all the usual things a newspaper reporter (which I was at the time) might ask about the conditions in Haiti.

Serious questions about geopolitics and health disparities.

Then I asked a question that I felt a little foolish about, but which he took perhaps even more seriously than the rest.

Should I bring cookies?

I said I felt like I should bring a gift for my Haitian hosts. Here in the US I was always making chocolate chip cookies as gifts to friends, for things like birthdays or if they were just going through a hard time.

But reading about the overwhelming difficulties in Haiti, I asked Dr. Farmer if bringing something as frivolous as cookies might actually be insulting.

“Bring the cookies,” he said with a glint in his eyes, perhaps picturing his many friends in Haiti. “They will love that.”

That 20-minute interview over bagels in Boston with Dr. Farmer has guided my work in Haiti ever since.

Maybe most especially his advice: Bring the cookies.

I brought the cookies then and nearly thirteen years later I was hauling bags of brightly colored sweet treats.

When I told SAKALA leader Daniel Tillias (a CNN Hero for 2019) about my candy dreams for the Jinny Fun Fund, he said it was a great idea, then joked that maybe next we would have to start a dental clinic.

I am as big a proponent of sound nutrition as anyone and would not push candy as an everyday diet — no matter how big my own sweet tooth is.

To show we are not all about sugar, one of my favorite things that SAKALA does is grow hundreds of moringa trees in its community garden (the kids in the picture below are watering the little trees). Moringa leaves can be made into a powder that is super nutritious, filled with vitamins and protein.

  But vitamins and protein are not all there is to life. There is also joy. And fun. And sweetness of all kinds.

And SAKALA’s Valentine’s Day party was full of all of those important nutrients.

  The party began with a little lesson on the meaning of Valentine’s Day. The day was about love, yes, but also sharing — whether its our talents, our kindness, or our candy.

  Sharing is at the heart of SAKALA. It is just what they do. For me, it has always been the most generous place on earth.

I remember once standing in the back of SAKALA’s auditorium, smiling as I watched a visiting organization give the children Christmas presents and treats. At the end, a few of the children rushed over to share their cookies with me, delighting in their ability to give a gift.

The children taught me then, and not for the last time, that there is a human need not only to receive, but to give and that it is important not to deny someone their chance to be generous.

A belated Happy Valentine’s Day to you all (and Happy Birthday, Jinny! :) ).

Our greatest thanks for sharing your good hearts, kindness, and solidarity with SAKALA.

Wishing you much happiness, health, and sweetness every day of the year.