Albion teen takes part in FFA work trip to Haiti

Monica Haugen will begin her senior year at Pullman High School with a whole new attitude.

Haugen was chosen for the FFA to Haiti program and traveled to the Caribbean country July 20-30.

She is the Pullman FFA president, District VI FFA treasurer and the Albion 4H president.

Haugen said an FFA chapter in Iowa started this trip three years ago and then opened it up to any FFA member in the U.S.

She said she had no expectations of the trip, but knew she would be going into an area hardest hit by the hurricane in 2012.

The group, which included eight FFA members from Iowa and Indiana, flew into Port au Prince and then drove four hours.

“There was garbage everywhere and piles of debris,” Haugen said. “People walked across the street wherever they wanted, and the driving was absolutely crazy.”

She said she saw a few animals and that generally people have one animal. She saw mainly beef cattle and goats, but also saw pigs and sheep. She didn’t see any herds of one kind of animal.

“Chickens ran around wherever they wanted,” she said.

She also saw a lot of dogs and found they were not pets, but used for security and meat.

While in Haiti, Haugen said she helped build Safe T Homes and helped install an electric pump at an orphanage so it could have running water.

Safe T homes are quick and easy to build, and are all-steel construction designed to be weather, fire and termite proof. The round shape allows the building to withstand high winds.

She also spent a lot of time with orphans and brought them to the beach house where she was staying to watch a movie, helped them learn to swim and attended church with them.

“People are so friendly and happy and the children craved attention.” They are very hard working and entrepreneurial.

She said the people were very poor. They grow a lot of corn and rice, and they do everything by hand.

One person tends to own a lot of land and then other people do the actual work and get a portion of the profits.

Haugen and her fellow FFA members stayed at a beach house that actually had electricity, a rare thing in this part of Haiti. She said their electricity was from a generator with solar panels and was turned off every evening to conserve energy. Sometimes the power went out.

Haugen said she ate rice for almost every meal and the food was more spicy than she expected. She ate a lot of goat and beef, but also was treated to fresh lobster and shrimp when they went to a restaurant.

They didn’t have any desserts, but had breadfruit with most meals, which reminded her of potato chips. Not many vegetables were served.

“The Haitian people are absolutely amazing,” Haugen said. “They are all so happy. No matter what they get, they were happy.”

“It was absolutely amazing. It was way more beautiful than I had expected,” she said.

“The trip completely opened my eyes to how much everyone has in America and how much is taken for granted,” she said. “I don’t need to go out and spend $100 on a pair of jeans. I should be happy with what I’ve got and spend the money on going back to Haiti.”

“It was also heartbreaking, but at the same time I fell in love,” she said.

She said when the FFA group left, the orphans sang “Goodbye My Friend, Goodbye,” which made everyone cry.

“This strengthened my relationship with God and made me realize that stuff like this is what I would be interested in doing for the rest of my life.”