Despite strong warnings and limited amount of time, 12 Penn State students, alumni and other volunteers will spend their spring break in Haiti helping with relief efforts.
With the help of Adventures in Missions (AIM), students David Adewumi and Zack Johnston pulled together the trip within three weeks -- an act Alisha Brodie, who will also make the trip to Haiti, calls "amazing."
Brodie (junior-nutrition), who has been on three previous mission trips, said the planning process was "chaotic, but expected." Adewumi (junior-Spanish) credits the help he got from AIM and outside community support in making the trip possible.
"These people going will not forget the amount of help and impact they will leave behind in Haiti, regardless how small it will be," Adewumi said.
The group hopes to rebuild buildings, clean up debris, pass out food -- whatever they can do to help reconstruct the ravaged nation.
But while they've got plenty of enthusiasm, some say their good intentions are misplaced.
Project Haiti President Alain Bonny, who went to Haiti last year, said while he was happy to coach the group prepare in what to expect in Haiti, he doesn't agree with the idea of them going.
Indeed, he's canceled his own group's annual spring break trip.
"As a Haitian, I want to be there and help out and do what I can, but I just don't see now being an appropriate time," Bonny (senior-chemistry) said. "The area is kind of dangerous to be around right now. There was a reason why our annual spring break trip was postponed."
As a member of the coalition Penn State United for Haiti, Bonny said he neither supports, condones or recognizes the trip, but he appreciates the efforts students are making to help Haiti.
Adewumi said he has done his research in advance and "would not go on a trip that would endanger the students' lives." He cited a previous trip to Kibera, Kenya -- which had been called "the worst place on the face of the earth" -- that proved to be very successful.
Amanda Karl, who is also going on the trip, said despite doing a lot of reading and watching news and videos about Haiti, the only way the group can truly be prepared for the trip is by actually going there.
Karl (junior-labor studies and employment relations) expects the trip to be very different from her previous mission work in California.
But the ideology behind it is still the same, she said -- reaching out to those in need.
And in the end, Adewumi and Brodie both said despite the warnings and negative feedback, group members are feeling good about the trip.
"When I first saw postings online telling us not to go, I could not understand why people would not want us to go," Brodie said. "As a Christian, it just doesn't make sense to not help out and reach out to the people in Haiti."
