UUSC is excited to be partnering with the Unitarian Universalist Association on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti for seminarians, May 24-31. In the post below, participant Norm Horofker shares his thoughts on embarking on the journey to help rebuild the homes and lives of earthquake survivors in Haiti.

Sometimes, particularly when time is limited, you find yourself making judgments based on first impressions of people.

Last night and most of today, we were in the company of Father Chavannes (thetitle is honorific). Father Chavannes founded the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP) in 1973.

He spoke to us in broken English and through a translator. His voice is rich and deep, and he is quick to laugh.

After dinner last night, Father Chavannes told us of the early days of his work. He spoke with passion about the challenge of dealing with the fatalism and superstition of the peasants. If the crops failed because of lack of rain, it was God's will. Irrigation, for example, was an attempt to circumvent the will of God and was thus pointless.

The problems we are witnessing - the poverty, the people displaced by the earthquake, the lack of infrastructure - are overwhelming.

But today we traveled with Father Chavannes and heard in detail about his irrigation projects and sustainable gardening.

Later, we met two families displaced by the earthquake who will be moving into the houses that we were helping to build.

The impression of the projects and the sincerity and power of Father Chavannes made a strong impression. Father Chavannes is doing God's work. I have no doubt that first impressions will be validated.

UUSC is excited to be partnering with the Unitarian Universalist Association on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti for seminarians, May 24-31. In the post below, participant Dennis Reynolds shares his thoughts on the journey to help rebuild the homes and lives of earthquake survivors in Haiti. 

The day was done. We sat in a circle. A dozen seminarians and staff — seekers of a new way of being in community — in community with each other and with the people of this land.

Our circle was a check-in, a time for each of us to process aloud key impressions of the day.

In the midst of our sincere sharing, we heard the sound of loud music. It seemed a party had begun here at the MPP training center.

We finished our sharing, and after consultations and a bit of pleading to the hesitant, we proceeded together toward the party.

We found the large open-air, main classroom at the training center filled with very loud Haitian rock. We UUs were not wallflowers — we entered the darkened room and danced!

Paired with each other and with the people of this community, we danced. American students, the two Brazilian agronomists, and Haitians danced.

From diverse backgrounds and scattered homes, we shared smiles and laughter and we moved to one rhythm, one beat, one common aspiration.

Though the music was too loud to my ear and the humid heat too warm, I danced; we all danced.

There is a palpable feeling of blessing and gratitude among the service learners who have gathered together for the UUA-UUSC joint JustWorks trip to Haiti. We arrived in Haiti's Central Plateau on Tuesday after a long day of travel from many parts of the U.S. and began our shared journey with a meal, a time of spiritual focus, and introductions.

The 10 Unitarian Universalist seminarians on the trip are from five theological schools, bringing incredibly varied skills and experiences with them. Very shortly after arriving, it became clear that they were ready to get "down to business," not only taking care of each other and engaging in service work, but beginning the theological reflection work that is integral to our experiential learning model.

Our day of service included reaming ground on an eco-village project that will ultimately provide 40 Haitian refugee families with an environmentally sustainable home and field for farming. We spent the day with Haitian workers laying the foundations for two of these homes, singing, learning work songs and hymns, and forming relationships.

After the workday was over, the seminarians were joined by nine institutional partners also taking part in the service trip. Representing UUSC were Bill Schulz, Brock Leach, and John Gibbons. From the UUA were Gini Courter, Dea Brayden, and myself, along with Ned Wight of the UU Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, Lee Barker of Meadville Lombard Theological School, and Thomas Smith of Starr King School for the Ministry.

The gathered community thus became a unique body of organizational representatives as well as seminarians, all with a stake in the experiential learning model being provided. UUA President Peter Morales intended to participate as well, but was unable to join the trip due to illness. 

In the evening, two seminarians presented theological reflection pieces to the gathered community, demonstrating the deeply spiritual nature of the experience, as well as the learning that is taking place. Awe bookended the day in faith, and we look forward to the opportunities tomorrow will bring.

I am a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and I grew up in the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, Mass. After spending several years as a member and lay leader at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, I moved back north for seminary, and I became a member at First Parish of Watertown, Mass.

My seminary experience was amazing. My first year I became very involved with social justice work. I volunteered at the UU Urban Ministry's domestic violence shelter, and worked with the Alternatives to Violence Project, a group that offers weekend-long workshops to incarcerated people, helping them learn alternative responses to conflict besides violence. In year two, in addition to serving as the student minister at First Church and Parish in Dedham, Mass., I was offered an interfaith fellowship, where I worked closely with Christian and Jewish students on interfaith dialogues, events, and conferences. This past year I served as president of the student government, and next year, I am looking forward to serving as the intern at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Okla. Additionally, I was fortunate to  attend the World Parliament of Religions in Melbourne, Australia in December 2009, and to spend two weeks visiting a friend who was doing her sabbatical in Dakar, Senegal in January 2010.

The trip to Dakar really opened my eyes. I have been lucky enough to travel to and live in places such as Japan and England, which were amazing experiences, but very different from spending time in a developing country. While in Senegal, I saw firsthand many of the challenges facing developing countries, including the immense challenges of deep poverty. Unfortunately, I wasn't able do any direct service on that trip, and the stories of people I met have continued to sit heavily in my heart. So when the possibility of going to Haiti and actually being able to be of help, I jumped at the opportunity.

This sounds perhaps a bit trite, but my genuine hope for the trip is that I am able, in some small way, to make a difference in some peoples' lives, by giving them a place to live. We are going to build houses, and I can imagine no better way to spend a week of my time. I fear far too often we in liberal religion talk a big game, and I am really excited about walking the walk here, and not just talking the talk. On a deeper level, I hope to learn more about a culture I do not know, and to build not just houses, but connections and friendships with people who are different than I am.

I've been a humanist Unitarian Universalist since about 1997, though I didn't know it at the time. I did know the UU church felt like home, as I found my adolescent ideas of God as authority and judge were no longer big enough or complicated enough to fit the complexity of my reality. I found myself much more concerned with how humans ought to treat each other than with notions of incontrovertible truth. Committed to walking this path made of questions, I recognized that some part of me is a minister, called to be present to the questions others carry.

This year has covered a crazy spectrum of learning for me. I've moved from the mechanics of community organizing to socially engaged Buddhism to the effects of religious law on women's lives around the world. One of the most exciting things has been the work Harvard Divinity School is doing toward creating a seminary experience that builds our commitment to anti-oppression work, while exploring the true meaning of religious plurality.

All of these things awoke my interest in development and humanitarian aid work. Constructing sustainable living spaces in Haiti will help me to understand more fully what a UU model of development work looks like, and what anti-oppression work looks like in a humanitarian context.

In the last 10 years, as I continued to ask the question of how we might treat each other humanely, I've begun to learn more about Buddhism. Mindful presence is the core of this belief system, and in Haiti, I hope to see, to attend, to acknowledge, to ask. Still, my friend Matt asked me why I didn't just donate my airfare to an organization already doing work in Haiti. I don't have a satisfactory answer. What good can I do with my presence?

I have done mission work in the past, in places facing abject poverty and religious conflict, and I have more questions than answers about how to reach out in love from a place of privilege. The Zen Peacemakers offer three tenets, however, which may give me a roadmap for responsible presence. The first is Not-Knowing, the second Bearing Witness, and the third, Loving Action.

I attend  First Parish Cambridge UU, a church which offers space for my Buddhist approaches to questions of everyday living, as well as opportunities to engage in justice work. One of our institutional partners is the Haitian Coalition of Somerville, a grassroots organization doing justice work with the sizable Haitian community in Boston, which has done its own aid trips to Haiti in the wake of the earthquake. In Haiti, I will witness. I will act with love. That is all I can say for certain.

The following post was written Friday evening by Tammy Webb, a physician assistant and participant on UUSC's current medical trip to Haiti (May 15-20).

As expected, I saw the poverty and devastation. As expected, I saw survivors of unspeakable violence. What I didn't expect to see were lush green hillsides and beaches to rival any in the Caribbean.

We had the honor of watching a parade on Haitian Flag Day and the national pride was enormous. Haitians were gracious and friendly. We met the founder Camp Oasis, Lionel, a Haitian businessman who is working to protect children and to reestablish production in his beloved country.

The staff at APROSIFA and KOFAVIV are inspiring in their work. The Haitian people are working hard to rebuild their country. I believe partnerships like the ones UUSC has developed are an ideal way to provide assistance. Handouts do not help but joining hands make us all stronger. Haiti is in my heart now and I look forward to an opportunity to come back.

The following blog post was written Friday evening by Jeanne Paule Noel, a nursing assistant and participant in UUSC's current medical trip to Haiti, May 15-20.

What a day it was on Thursday; the trip was going well. We saw and heard some sad stories but it was different on Thursday. The day before was Flag Day, and I was so happy that the group got to see my country in a happy state. We saw a couple of parades on the street, and it was awesome.

I've heard some disturbing stories before and I'm aware of the cruelty of human in the world, however when you hear that a 3 year old was sexually assaulted, it brings out different feelings. It makes me think of my sisters, my cousins, and my friends. It would kill me if something like that happened to my child. So to me, the parents or the close families of that child was what I thought about. How do they move on after something like that? Will that little girl ever forget what happened to her? And the worst part, would she get the help she needs to live normally? I will never know.