Hi, my name is Ariana and I am 11 years old. Over my February break I went on a service trip to Haiti. I travelled with my friend Simon and his mother, Lili. We went because Lili’s friend is Jane Aronson, who is the founder of World Wide Orphans or WWO. WWO works in a couple of different countries around the world where it implements arts programs for orphans.
We did a lot of things while we were in Haiti including making rainbow loom bracelets, hiking, dancing with the kids, eating sugarcane and riding tap taps (keep reading. You’ll find out what these are!)
The day after we arrived we went on a six mile hike up a hill with about sixty children. When all of us got to the top Simon taught the kids to play dodge ball. After dodge ball we painted the children’s faces and then they put on a play and danced for us.
Two days after that Simon, Lili, myself and other adults that were with us loaded into a tap tap. A tap tap is a bus or back of a truck where a guy hangs off the back of the vehicle and taps the bus when someone has to get off. The tapper then collects money and hops back on. We took the tap tap to an orphanage so that we could teach the kids how to make rainbow loom bracelets. When we got there we taught the kids how to make the fishtail pattern with the rubber bands, using their fingers. The kids really loved that. The next day we walked into town and bought some sugarcane. Men wheel sticks of sugarcane around in a wheelbarrow. You can pick the piece you want and then the man peels it for you with a large knife and puts it in a plastic bag for you to eat. Sugarcane is delicious!
After milling around town a bit we visited another orphanage and danced with all the kids.
The following day we drove to Port-Au-Prince which is the capital of Haiti. I bought paintings and a carved vase. Before we knew it, it was time to leave.
This was a trip I will always remember as fun and moving. If you want to know more about it and see some pictures, find me at Gardiner Day; I will be raising money for WWO and if anyone has extra rainbow looms or rubber bands I would be happy to send them to the kids in Haiti. If you can’t make it and want to donate contact me at lanenicole0@gmail.com.