Organization Founder Returns From Haiti
Story by Michael Harris
Awakened by a frantic friend in post-haste mode, Aaron Jackson’s mind was hazy and cloudy, yet, there was urgency to get out of his Le Plaza hotel room on Wednesday morning.
When he exited his room, he described his surroundings as if he were in a bowl of “Jell-o.” He waves his hand in front of his face as if he were caught in a dream sequence one would see on a television show or in a movie.
This incubus he was lost in was most certainly reality – on Wednesday morning, Aaron was in a hotel located in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, and what he was experiencing was the 6.1 magnitude aftershock that came just days after the devastating earthquake of January 12.
“I can’t even put into words or describe it,” the 28-year-old Clermont resident says. “Literally cement was waving.”
Aaron owns four orphanages in Haiti through his organization, Planting Peace; a progressive nonprofit organization founded by Aaron Jackson and John Dieubon in 2004 for the purpose of spreading peace in a hurting world. He made his way to the country on Sunday to help fund his cause and to help those in need. And to get in contact with his director, John Dieubon, who had not heard from for the five days following the quake until his arrival on Sunday morning.
“Because of the quake, banks were down so wiring money or funds for Planting Peace was impossible,” he says. “I was like a mule bringing money to my director.”
John Dieubon was fine and none of the kids from the Planting Peace orphanage were killed. Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that the four houses of the organization seemed to have suffered no damage. However, the kids have to live outside the houses since structurally it may not be sound.
In fact, many to nearly all Haitians are currently living outside simply because their homes have been destroyed or have structure issues or simply because of the fear of going into their home and another earthquake happening.
But what impressed Aaron, who has spent six years in Haiti, the most is the resolve of the Haitian people through all of what’s happened.
“I have a lot of respect for the Haitian people, but I gained so much more respect in how civil they were being,” he says. “Going through what they were going through without water, the fact they weren’t burning down the capitol like its being told [on the news].
“One saving grace to all of this is that being impoverished already … how can I say this … before the earthquake hit, they didn’t have water, and after the earthquake hit they didn’t have water, so a lot of things aren’t so off. I think that’s one reason they stay so strong because of their daily hardships … there’s a lot of difficulty,” he adds.
While there, he didn’t go to his orphanages simply out of safety for “his” kids. The sight of an outsider, and the fact Aaron is well-recognized in the area around his orphanages, meant others would perceive him as someone who is well-to-do and therefore feel there would be plenty of food at the orphanages.
“It could jeopardize the kids because the others would think there would be food in the house,” he says after his director advised him not to go by the orphanages. “I understood, but there’s no sitting around. We were in go mode and were trying to get help to the people. I mean I didn’t even have contact with my people at the orphanages for, what, the first five days?”
There are limits on what Aaron could do and couldn’t do. For example with the U.S. Military helping and in control, relief supplies such as food and medical items had to be checked and couldn’t just be handed out.
With so many people trying to get to Haiti, Aaron had his own troubles to deal with. For the first five days, he was making every effort he could, but it wasn’t until he got on a plane a friend of his had rented that he could get there.
“Getting down there is not so easy,” he says. “It’s not like you can just get online and book a flight. It’s more complex. It was such a struggle to get down there; my friend and I worked on that for five days, just calling people.”
And even then, it wasn’t fully assured of where he would be staying. He made reservations at a hotel, but when he got to the hotel he was turned down at the desk simply because they weren’t accepting reservations and the hotel was taking anyone they could.
“I understood,” he said.
So he and a friend spent the first night on the sidewalk. The next morning he ran into another friend – Anderson Cooper of CNN and he was able to get him a room at the Le Plaza.
Aaron may be going back in a couple of days and his work will continue in Haiti as it had before the quake. But he also feels the work for Haiti to recover will take many years, and although right now people are coming to help – help won’t always be there.
“Tragedy after tragedy, the world just seems to forget about it,” he says. “There’s a spike in our emotions right now as we’re all loving Haiti and we all want to help Haiti. You know the old saying ‘too many chiefs and not enough Indians?’ We’re in a situation where everyone is doing a fundraiser; you can’t say ‘come to my Haiti fundraiser’ because they’ll be like ‘I’m doing a Haiti fundraiser.’ There are so many people out there who want to help. In tragedy, people are great. But I know history … and I don’t want to sound negative here … it will fade away. Those tents the Red Cross has set up will still be sitting there five years from now, 10 years from now, maybe 20 years.”
To donate to Planting Peace:
Planting Peace
P.O Box 120426
Clermont, Fl 34712
Or online at www.plantingpeace.org
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