Haiti: The Man with a Vision for Ouanaminthe

If you read my post yesterday about my initial thoughts on Haiti, you probably noticed that that I had a lot of good things to say about Hugues Bastien. And you know what? You would definitely be correct. I only spent a brief time with Hugues, but in that time, I continued to be impressed by his determination to help his native community of Ouanaminthe, Haiti succeed. He is our main contact in Ouanaminthe and the success of Mission 29.2 is largely due to his help and cooperation. However, Hugues didn’t arrive at this place in his life without a story!

Hugues Bastien

Hugues was born in Ouanaminthe and was one in a family with 13 siblings. His father was involved in the Haitian political scene which led to safety issues for the family when Hugues was still a child. Back then, Haiti was under the control of Baby Doc which meant any type of opposition wasn’t tolerated. I’m not sure what the specific reason was, but regardless, Hugues’ parents had to leave Haiti for the United States when he was still young.

They came up with a plan that they would send for one of the children every year, starting with the oldest first. However, when it finally came time for Hugues to go to the US, his parents realized that  the smallest kids would be left alone and decided to reverse the order. In essence, Hugues didn’t get to go to the United States until he was 15 years old.

He spent the next decade living in the United States, and enjoying his relationship with the church. By the time he had reached his mid-20s, Hugues found himself devoted to his faith and really wanting to go abroad to help others. When he told us this story, he kept explaining that Haiti had never crossed his mind; instead, he was focused on heading to Africa to help people in Ethiopia. However, his parents finally moved back to Haiti once Aristide took control of the country, and Hugues went to visit. As it turned out, this trip changed the course of his life.

While in Ouanaminthe visiting his parents, Hugues realized that although the people of Ethiopia may need his help, so did his childhood community. He made the necessary arrangements, sold all of his belongings, and left the United States to return to his native country. He laughed when he told his this part of the story because he said his Haitian friends and family kept asking him, “Are you crazy? Can I have your American passport? I’ll buy your American passport!” No one could fathom why he would leave the wealth of the US to return home to such a poverty-stricken country.

Ouanaminthe from the roof of the orphanage

Once back in Ouanaminthe, Hugues decided that his first step forward needed to be a new school. While the Ministry of Education is supposed to provide education for all Haitian children, this unfortunately does not happen. Even more shocking is that the enrollment rate for primary school is 67% but less than 30% of those students reach the sixth grade. In fact, the Haitian literacy rate is only 53%: half of the country’s population cannot read.

I don’t want to speak for Hugues, but I imagine stats like these are why he felt it so necessary to provide a quality school for the children in his community. His parents agreed to give him some land that they owned (although he waited to begin building until they were out of town and then took the entire parcel instead of the small portion they had agreed upon!) He broke ground, established a small building, and started the first year of his school with a class of kindergarten students. Once that initial group of kiddos reached the first grade, he added a new crop of kindergarten students. This growth pattern continued until his school represented all grade levels!

Students at Univers

However, Hugues wasn’t done there! Once Institution Univers was established, he realized that his students grew lethargic and exhausted right around mid-day. The cause? They were hungry. Most families in Haiti eat once a day which clearly isn’t enough to sustain a long day of education. Hugues knew that if he could provide a good meal for his students, they would then be able to concentrate on their studies. Thus, his food program was born. Through various international connections and donations, Univers now has a food program for all of its students. According to him, it only costs $40 (American dollars) to feed one student for an entire year. Seriously.

This kiddo loved his karate poses!

After Univers was built and the feeding program established, Hugues continued to add improvements. Next on the list was a trade school  so that the older, graduated students had the opportunity to learn a skill that could lead to potential employment in their future. During our visit, he gave us a tour of this school and we were able to check out the various trades including industrial sewing, auto mechanics, screen printing, and electrical. He also showed us the newest building that was under construction: a bakery. In addition to feeding the kids, the bread can be sold to people in Port-au-Prince and bring in a little bit of revenue for the school. Remember how I mentioned yesterday that he has a chicken farm too? Same rules apply: those eggs are then sold to Port-au-Prince in order to bring in some money to Ouanaminthe.

Industrial sewing classroom

While listening to Hugues talk, I literally grew teary eyed. I feel like it is so rare to find someone who truly believes that they are on this earth to help others, and even more spectacular is that he has the inner drive required to accomplish anything. All of the programs mentioned above are funded by donations through his connections, through non-profits such as Mission 29.2, and even by his own sweat and blood. Hugues moved back to NYC at one point, solely so he could work and save money for his projects in Ouanaminthe. During this time, he worked as a cab driver and was robbed six times! Because of this, he will happily laugh in your face if you ever try to tell him that Haiti is more dangerous than the United States 🙂

So why did I tell you this slightly long-winded story? Because I was inspired. I was inspired by what one man has done for a community and I was inspired by everyone that donated to my cause while fundraising. Because of all of you, this year’s Mission 29.2 group was able to raise over $20k, of which a large portion went to Univers. I saw firsthand where those donations went and how they are helping the youth of Ouanaminthe. So, on behalf of Hugues, Institution Univers, and everyone else at Mission 29.2, I wanted to say thank you again for your donations.

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Who is the most inspirational person you have ever met?