Lower Merion Students Embrace Haiti

On a trek to build a school, Main Line teens find warm welcome.

Eighteen students from Lower Merion High School, including myself, recently returned from our "trek" to a village in Haiti to build a school, and the experience changed me forever. After spending a year raising $66,000 for the project and brooding over my fears, I could not have been more fulfilled by the “trek."

The People of Haiti

Nothing could have prepared me for my first experience of Haiti, a land of contrasts. After landing in Port-au-Prince, we first drove past "tent villages," crowded slums where millions rendered homeless by the 2010 earthquake live. But our first night in Haiti was in a fancy hotel in Les Cayes. The next morning we drove through the beautiful countryside to a village called Taverne in southern Haiti.

Lower Merion High-School Students Trek to Haiti

Main Line student wonders what she will face.

Trek (n) - a difficult journey involving fundraising and building a school, typically made by high-school students. Trekkie (n) - [see TREK] a high-school student who goes on a trek. On May 12th, 18 students from the buildOn chapter of Lower Merion High School, including myself, are "trekking" to Haiti. Our journey is known to everyone as simply "Trek." The goal is to build a school in a village outside of Les Cayes, 95 miles from the capitol Port-au-Prince. We have already raised $66,000 for the school. I'm excited, but I must admit that I'm also somewhat apprehensive.