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Hope Rises from the Rubble

Despair into Hope
Love Turns

Joseph Makhandal Champagne, Jr.

Photo: Luca Ye
n January 12, 2010, a massive brightened the ceremony like Fourth of July
earthquake in Port-au-Prince, the capital fireworks. Nuns, teachers, students, and officials
Oof Haiti, caused widespread death and took the stage in succession. Speaker after
destruction. A thick cloud of despair fell over speaker, each resonated a common theme of
Haiti. Grieving families were inconsolable. gratitude and earnest thanks to God for Master
Properties that once served as refuge crumbled Cheng Yen and Tzu Chi volunteers’ love and care
into gruesome burial grounds. Teachers and for Haiti.
students who also lost their classrooms found
themselves disoriented. Their hopes were One shining example of that love and care
dashed, dreams deferred. The need to turn is in the person of Tzu Chi volunteer James Chen.
despair into hope through compassion became Mr. Chen faithfully made thirty-five roundtrips
urgent. The stage for service was set. Those Tzu in the past three years to oversee the progress
Chi volunteers, also known as the “blue angels,” of the reconstruction of those three schools.
came to perform an act of love. With a heart filled with the desire to remove the
post-earthquake cloud of despair, Mr. Chen’s
Ever since the earthquake, Tzu Chi’s commitment has helped to turn despair into
committed service has helped to steadily hope.
remove this cloud of despair. Tzu Chi volunteers
began by providing immediate disaster relief At every turn, that sense of hope was
to survivors in Port-au-Prince, then quickly noticeable. As schoolchildren celebrated the
switched gears to long-term support programs. day together with elation and gaiety, I had a
Among those programs, Tzu Chi has focused rare opportunity to interact with some. They
on rebuilding dreams through education. communicated their most cherished dreams
This is why, on Friday, May 17, 2013, Tzu Chi of becoming doctors, architects, engineers,
commemorated in Bourdon, Port-au-Prince, the teachers, diplomats, and so forth. I, in turn,
opening of three newly reconstructed schools offered them words of encouragement and
of the once-destroyed Collège Marie-Anne. inspiration. I shared with them that I was born
From the upper floors, students gazed with and raised in Haiti with hopes and dreams like
glee at the opening ceremony held in the front theirs. Through education, I have become a
atrium. They could see countless special guests mayor, lawyer, teacher, motivational speaker,
and dignitaries who came from around the television commentator, artist, father, husband,
world to witness the revival of hope and return and Tzu Chi volunteer. At that very moment, I
of dreams in Haiti. exemplified that through education their hopes
and dreams are also reachable.
The ambiance of sheer joy and gratitude
was evident. The beauty of the performers, With Tzu Chi’s reconstruction of these three
their costumes, their bright eyes, their shining schools, those eager hearts now have the tools
smiles, and their rhythmic harmony with to fulfill their dreams and materialize their
Haiti’s melodious, festive, and cultural songs hopes for a better Haiti.

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