There are days that fill you with pride and give meaning to the work we do. In Haiti, everything takes on another dimension, especially when you touch on more emotional topics. One of these days was the day we distributed toys, children’s clothes and gifts for the children of the Haitian workers at the Gonaives site. It was a fabulous day, which was attended by local UNOPS representatives and the Spanish ambassador himself, who honored us with his company and collaboration. Seeing the faces of excitement and joy on the workers’ children’s faces, proud that thanks to their father’s work they had obtained a gift, was priceless. A very good sign of health in an organization is that the origin of ideas and actions is not centralized in the management, but that initiatives are proposed and pushed from any point of it. And this was the case in question. The idea of ​​a manager of the structure, Jordi Martínez, to collect toys and gifts from the kindergarten where he took his son, spread to the rest of the company to turn it into a global and corporate initiative of the UTE. All the other workers from Cots i Claret and Abantia spread the word and began collecting material, they threw themselves into making the initiative a success. The Manresa offices became a collection and selection point for material, and a space was set up in the company’s warehouses to prepare toys and children’s clothes, often having to remember that we only needed summer clothes. Both company staff, family and friends kept bringing us children’s material: we soon had to say enough, as we quickly filled a large shipping container. Working for UNOPS made maritime traffic and port procedures much easier for us in both the Ports of Barcelona and Port-au-Prince. Once we had the material at the site, a selection was made and an event was prepared to give the material directly to the children, to the children of the workers. The objective of the event was not simply to give gifts and clothes to the children, but to highlight the importance of having a job and learning a trade. In a country like Haiti, you often get the feeling that many of its people live as if they believe that God has punished them to be born Haitian and poor, and therefore, to die Haitian and poor. This frustration with the life they have leads them to make zero effort to learn, to watch the days pass without any goal, to believe that it is not worth learning any trade and even less, to start a business. Breaking this dynamic should be the main objective of its leaders and international cooperation, starting from the universalization and mandatory nature of education and with the creation of a middle class that would allow the existing social structure to be balanced. Returning to the clothes and toys, we sent so many of them that we took advantage of the opportunity to extend the delivery to many schools and kindergartens in Gonaïves. As the saying goes, one flower does not make a summer and that country needs much more, but the emotions generated those days by the smiles and grateful looks of the children will be with us forever.

Part nine

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