UUSC is partnering with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti, January 21-28. In the post below, trip participant Casey Aspin shares thoughts on working at the eco-village with local members of the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP). The UUA-UUSC Haiti Volunteer Program is made possible through the contributions of UUA and UUSC donors and a generous grant from the Veatch Program of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, in Manhasset, N.Y.

Day Three

The morning began with a discussion between the UUSC delegation and the people we came to work with — the families who live in the pilot eco-village being built by the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP). They came from all sections of Port-au-Prince, strangers to each other brought together by the need to escape tragedy and find a new life. After the teeming tent slums of Port-au-Prince, you can't help but be happy for these 10 families, each with two to four children. The eco-village is the Haitian equivalent of Little House on the Prairie. These are urban people learning a new lifestyle, and they seem confident and hopeful. Their lives won't be easy — the trip to Hinche to sell any surplus goods is not exactly a joyride. The roads here are more like boulder fields than roads. Our SUVs get by, with us being thrown around quite a bit. But people going to market are on foot or donkey or motorcycle cab.

Once the lengthy and formal introductions were over, with the eco-village leader expressing great gratitude for our work and interest in what UUSC is, we finally got to work. Everyone was pretty excited, and we set about it like we meant business — hauling rocks, mixing cement, sawing boards, and handing boards up to the guys on the roof. Everyone was busy the rest of the morning - which isn't easy when you are trying to keep 14 volunteers, three translators, and three drivers engaged (plus four UUSC staff).

I would say we were pretty amazing in what we accomplished were it not for the Haitians, who worked long before we got there and who knows how long after we left. They never stopped for water or food. I don't think I've ever seen people work this hard. Ever. Some live in the village. Some are day laborers. I worked with Joel, one of the latter. He stayed seven years in the Dominican Republic learning a trade (electrician) but couldn't get work. He returned to Haiti and hasn't done much better. He said you have to pay to get work. I haven't been able to learn more about that. He has a wife and daughter in Hinche, and I think he walks round trip. We were sawing wide planks of mango wood into narrow boards that were probably destined for the roof of the community building arising next door. Mango wood is very hard. Many of the tools I brought are being used, but the saws are no match for the mango wood. We get through it mainly by the means of Joel's brute force. I'm pretty slow, but I like giving him a break. Rev. Justin and Mike Carpenter (fittingly) are cutting boards next to Joel and me.

After lunch we visited a peasant house. Keep in mind that calling someone a peasant here is a compliment. They are the workers who seek to live life in harmony with each other and the earth. What we could learn from them! Our tour guide was a young man who is very ambitious to improve his lot in life. He's a model MPP member — solar panels on his very modest house, tire gardens, roof-fed cistern to extend the growing season, rabbits, chickens, and guinea fowl. And fire in the belly. The saddest part of the visit was a walk through the parched fields (no rain here since October) to visit a small tire garden behind a house with no livestock. Three girls (in ninth and tenth grades) live there with their mother. Their father left four years ago. They walk two hours each way to school. The oldest wants to be a doctor, but they are in arrears on tuition and she can't afford textbooks. She says if she has a notebook, she will copy lessons from someone else's textbook. Her face was so sad that we all wanted to figure a way to help. Of course all requests must be funneled through MPP so we don't encourage a culture of dependency.

After the tour, we drove down more mogul roads to Bassin Zim waterfall. I think I was too tired to enjoy the visit. We walked high above the basin to a cave accompanied by many young boys (and some not so young) who were pretty eager for money. The cave was beautiful and eerie and ancient — unsurprisingly a place where spiritual leaders convene.

UUSC is partnering with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti, January 21-28. In the post below, trip participant Casey Aspin shares thoughts on the first two days of the journey to help rebuild the community and lives of earthquake survivors in Haiti. The UUA-UUSC Haiti Volunteer Program is made possible through the contributions of UUA and UUSC donors and a generous grant from the Veatch Program of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, in Manhasset, N.Y.

Day One

The hotel where we stayed the first night has a grotto of sorts with a cannon in the middle, surrounded by cannon balls, rusted shackles, and chains. Two pairs of shackles on one chain. A few pretty plants. In about 24 square feet in front of the clean blue swimming pool. I'd like to say Haiti is full of such strange juxtapositions of its brutal past with its sparkling present — not so.

We drove through Port-au-Prince today on a disaster tour of sorts. We saw the tent city that spans the Haitian equivalent of the national mall in Washington; the cock-eyed, collapsed National Palace; the shell of the Catholic cathedral; more tent cities; throngs of people everywhere. It's hard to understand how people survive in such dire and depressing circumstances. Hard to see a small child picking through garbage and piles of rock rubble everywhere. People packed into tap taps (colorful Haitian buses) like cord wood. There's also a frenetic energy — people are resourceful and appear to carry the Haitian equivalent of a minimart on their heads. It's as if Port-au-Prince could be a bustling, exciting city if the government could only manage to provide things like housing, water, proper roads, garbage pickup.

Day Two

The day began in the mesmerizing presence of Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, founder of the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP). An agronomist, a populist, a leader, a visionary, a problem solver on a large scale. After nearly 40 years, MPP touches more than 100,000 lives. With the team he has built, there isn't anything this group can't do.

We saw cisterns that hold fish — water from the tanks better fertilizes the fields. A low-tech solar-cell recycling room (facility would be too strong a word) that provides power for schoolchildren to do their homework (an improvement over the smelly predecessor, gas lamps). Solar cell power the pumps that provide well water, and they also charge radios and, of course, the omnipresent phones. Goats that formerly died of a parasite from eating their own feces are now in elevated cages. Their poop is collected along with that of rabbits and chickens — the better to make rich compost to nourish the soil. And then there are the worm-compost gardens, and the wastewater from showers that is filtered and used on gardens, and the fruit-processing facility (it was three rooms, not one), and the pharmacy. The list is endless.

One man's love of peasants manifested in hundreds of ways that help people live sustainably and with dignity. These people work incredibly hard — Chavannes hasn't made life easy for anyone. But he has helped them obtain land, tools, knowledge, and a sustainable lifestyle. Another agronomist gave us a tour of the two lakes MPP has had a hand in creating (and stocking with fish for peasants to catch). He made it clear that the MPP leaders see the peasants as the heroes. The leaders are eager for us to meet the people with the calloused hands and weather-beaten faces. One of the things Haiti (at least MPP) has over America is celebrating and revering the people who do the work. In the United States, they are at best hidden, at worst vilified (particularly if they have brown skin).

I am grateful to Priscilla Osgood and Nuala Carpenter from the Main Line Unitarian Church in Devon, Penn., for making this trip happen and to the UUSC organizers for exposing us to so much in so little time. Thank you, thank you. And tomorrow, we work! 

In preparation for Justice General Assembly (June 20-24, 2012) in Phoenix, Ariz., the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) have jointly organized three service-learning trips to the U.S.-Mexico border with UUA partner organization BorderLinks. Rev. Eric Cherry, director of the UUA's International Office, is taking part and offers his thoughts on this joint service-learning trip.

The first trip will begin on Tuesday, January 24, and continue until January 27. The delegation is led by UUA President the Rev. Peter Morales, who encourages UUs throughout the country to participate in one of the service-learning trips planned for April and May with BorderLinks. 

During the trip, the group will learn about and work with the following organizations:

• Scholarships A-Z: A network of students and advisors working to make education accessible for all students. They help connect students to available resources and train them to be their own advocates.
• Samaritan Patrol (aka Samaritans): People of faith and conscience who patrol the desert at the U.S.-Mexico border on a daily basis during the hot months. At least one member of each patrol is a fluent Spanish speaker, and one is, ideally, a medical professional. Patrols carry water, food, emergency medical supplies, communication equipment, maps, and packs for travelers containing items necessary to survive in the desert.
• The Restoration Project: An intentional ecumenical community that blends faith and action through social-justice work. They sponsor the Greyhound Bus Project, giving hospitality to recently released immigration detainees and providing them with information and resources.
• Hogar de Esperanza y Paz (HEPAC): HEPAC is a sister organization to BorderLinks and a community center in Nogales, Sonora. Programs offered at HEPAC include adult education and training classes, and the Child Food Security Program, which provides lunch to children and education for their families on nutrition and gardening. HEPAC also is home to a women's cooperative that produces jewelry that raises awareness about deaths in the desert.

Please follow stories from the journey over the next week.

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is partnering with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti, January 21. In the post below, trip participant Kara Smith of UUSC shares her thoughts on the progress made so far and on the journey to help rebuild the community and lives of earthquake survivors in Haiti. The UUA-UUSC Haiti Volunteer Program is made possible through the contributions of UUA and UUSC donors and a generous grant from the Veatch Program of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, in Manhasset, N.Y.

I boarded the plane for Haiti this morning. As I packed and readied myself for the trip, questions ran through my head in a continuous loop, mostly about what it will be like two years after a massive earthquake struck.

Last Thursday our team was readying ourselves, going over logistics and schedules, and we paused for a moment of silence to reflect on the two-year commemoration. As I said a prayer for all those who perished and for those who survived, I said to myself, "This is why we do this work."

Since the earthquake, UUSC has worked with partners as they work for a just recovery. I am privileged to work for an organization that understands the meaning of the human struggle for human rights. It is about helping one person at a time, treating them with dignity and compassion as we build together for a better future.

Today I am on my way to meet some of the amazingly brave and powerful people whose blood, sweat, and tears are part of the mortar of rebuilding Haiti — and making it a Haiti in which all who struggle for voice, agency, and inclusion in the recovery process are respected. We will visit with partners in Port-au-Prince who are working to ensure sustainable access to food, providing skills trainings and income-generation projects, and helping protect women and girls from gender-based violence. Then we will head to the Central Plateau to work with the Papaye Peasant Movement for a UUSC-UUA JustWorks service-learning trip.

I feel truly privileged to be a part of this journey, through the work that I do at UUSC and the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners on the ground. I invite you to join our webinar From the Ground Up on January 26 at 7:00 p.m. (ET) to hear a bit more about our trip and UUSC's work in Haiti.

Two months ago, I traveled to Haiti assisting UUSC Haiti Emergency Response Manager Wendy Flick and also serving as a photographer, capturing photos and video of our partners and their work. I met most of UUSC's partners and visited many of our on-the-ground projects. In addition to the many kisses and warm hugs exchanged in greeting, it is the strength, pride, and resilience of the people I met that I cherish the most. It's amazing how motivated I became when surrounded by such great energy, work ethic, hope, and resilience. They are truly some of the most amazing people I have ever met, and I'm certain their hard work will benefit their communities and country beyond their lifetime.

My experience enabled me to see firsthand the importance of the way in which UUSC works — using the eye-to-eye partnership model — and what this means to our partners and their work. In addition, I was reminded of the significance of lifting Haitian voices, especially as we commemorate the two-year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010.

I learned about the need for increased education and awareness around issues such as gender-based violence and child slavery. Guerda Lexius of Limye Lavi (Light of Life) in Haiti shared, "Recently Limye Lavi has decided that gender-based violence and child slavery issues are so closely tied together that when you bring up one you must also address the other. The issues are very closely tied together, along with education."

I participated in brainstorming solutions for income generation, and we encouraged our partners to network with one another around finding solutions to common issues. On several occasions our partners spoke about the importance of the way UUSC is working in Haiti.

They expressed their appreciation and recognized UUSC's uniqueness in working in a way that supports them to become independent from aid. Coleen Hedglin of Beyond Borders told us, "Haiti needs this desperately! Bring hope to Haiti through solidarity and partnership, not oppression and dependency."

UUSC works through eye-to-eye partnerships, building relationships of empowerment rather than relationships of dependency. It was fascinating and powerful hearing from our partners that they joined hands with UUSC because they recognize and appreciate our intent to provide aid from a place of solidarity.

Our partners' experiences and testimony highlight the importance of UUSC continuing to work for a just recovery by providing aid with dignity to our partners on the ground. It is equally as important for those of us who are not on the ground to find ways to be in solidarity. Join UUSC for an on-the-ground report via a webinar from Haiti and learn more about what you can do to support the recovery effort at home in the United States.

The following post was written by Beth Dana and Betty Jeanne Rueters-Ward, two people involved with congregations in the New York City area that have actively engaged with the Occupy movement.

Youth groups and multigenerational teams from congregations throughout the New York City area have taken interest in the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement this fall and winter. This is the story of how the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Shelter Rock in Manhasset, N.Y., have been involved.

Beth Dana, a seminarian intern at the Brooklyn congregation, writes about their experience visiting OWS:

Betty Jeanne Rueters-Ward, the youth and young adult program coordinator at the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, shares about their engagement with post-raid OWS:

Whether or not they are located near Occupy sites, youth groups across the country can be involved in the movement for economic justice. By now, many of the Occupy movement camps have been shut down, and the movement has taken new forms. As OWS moves into its next phase, there are still ways for youth to advocate for economic justice. UUSC has resources to help youth and congregations work for a living wage, fair trade, and compassionate consumption through individual activism and legislative advocacy. Youth can also work to educate themselves and their peers about economic-justice issues. We hope this movement will, in the words of William Ellery Channing, "touch inner springs," prepare our youth to think and form opinions about justice issues, and ultimately "awaken the soul," as it did for the youth (and people of all ages!) at our congregations.

The following post, "A Solution for Saleh," by UUSC President William F. Schulz, was published in the Huffington Post on December 30, 2011.

The recent decision of the U.S. government to admit the embattled President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to the country for medical treatment presents a classic human rights conundrum. Though a friend of Saddam Hussein and conciliatory toward Iran, Saleh has been an ally of the United States against al Qaeda. But according to human rights groups, he and his security forces have been responsible for hundreds of deaths since the Yemeni opposition took to the streets last spring to demand his ouster. By rights, his opponents claim, Saleh should be brought to trial, not provided top-notch medical care and, presumably, a comfortable retirement. At the same time, there is much to be said for removing him from the scene in Yemen — something Saleh has repeatedly agreed to and then reneged upon — and letting Yemen get on with its future, however fraught it may be.

If we lived in an ideal world, all those who are alleged to have committed crimes of whatever stripe would be brought before a bar of justice and, if convicted, sentenced. But just as prosecutors sometimes decide to plea-bargain a case or even not to prosecute an obviously guilty party because of extenuating circumstances such as an overriding state interest, so nations often have to decide whether it makes sense to offer a human rights offender safe haven in exchange for a chance at peace. The most recent dramatic example of that dilemma presented itself, at least theoretically, in the case of Muammar Qaddafi. Had Qaddafi been willing to flee Libya early in the conflict, thus no doubt saving scores of lives, a reasonable argument could have been made that offering him immunity might have been the better option than insisting upon justice, despite his decades of human rights violations.

One solution to this quandary is to establish a reliable system of international accountability. Were the International Criminal Court (ICC) the universally recognized arbiter of the guilt or innocence of the world's tyrants, supported by all nations, its indictments enforced, human rights offenders would know that the odds of their finding a country willing to host them and hence of their escaping punishment for their crimes were minimal. But of course major powers, including the United States, are not parties to the ICC; even some of its member states refuse to honor its indictments; and the Court has not yet succeeded in convicting anyone.

In the absence of consistent enforcement of international law, therefore, the burden of holding human rights violators to account often falls to individual victims of those crimes. Fortunately, in the United States, we have not only statutes (the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act) that allow for civil suits against alleged perpetrators but also an organization, the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), founded in 1998, that facilitates such litigation. CJA and its clients have successfully won judgments against wrong-doers from China to Haiti, El Salvador to Peru.

So one option with regard to Saleh, following his admittance to the US, may be to bring civil suit against him on behalf of some of those he has harmed. On February 21, 2012, when the transfer of power in Yemen is finalized, Saleh will no longer be a head of state and hence protected by sovereign immunity. At that point legal action becomes at least theoretically tenable. Of course, the US may have made guarantees of immunity to Saleh and may seek to intervene to stop such a suit but that would put the government in the uncomfortable position of defending an alleged human rights criminal. If the Administration is intent on admitting Saleh and, for whatever reasons, unwilling to return him to Yemen for trial, let it at least refuse to shield him from civil suits, thereby preserving at least one clean hand in the dirty business of dealing with despots.