There are many exciting elements to our Haiti Travel Study. That is what makes this an entirely unique experience. We have already shared the work I love - the fisheries research. A bit weird, I know. But I love it, and it is important work to the people and environment of Haiti. And our students are doing a great job working beside me. We have talked about medical missions, and today our students continued the great work of bringing help, hope and healing to the hurting of Haiti (some incredible stories today... you'll have to hear them from our students firsthand!).
But this trip is also has a science education component to share the knowledge of biology and environmental science that we are blessed with. Our students gained an appreciation and passion for their chosen biological field when they were young. Unfortunately, science education is sorely lacking. Biology consists of simple memorization of terms from a text books. There is no hands-on learning. We are changing that one class at a time. We carted microscopes with us to Haiti and today we stepped into a seventh grade classrooms to literally open their eyes to a whole new world. Very few young people in Haiti can say they ever looked through a microscope. Today our science team stepped in and changed that.
In addition, we had a great day in the hospital and a great day sampling fish in another fishing community. And that was just by mid-day! This afternoon we headed over to Cormier Plage (beach) where we will begin our week of coral reef study and restoration. So many great pieces to this trip, and I am just glad to be part of what has come together!
