Step One

Have I ever mentioned how RIDUNCULOUS I think this whole "beef" DR has with Haiti is? I'm sure I have, but in case you missed it, I think it's RIDUNCULOUS.

I really saw just how DUMB the animosity with the two were when, the summer before my freshman year of college, I got a job in Elizabeth at a family-owned used furniture store. The owners were Haitian. Papi was livid.

He kept asking me if the owner tried anything fresh with me, or if they offered me anything strange to eat or drink, just silliness like that. Papi really did not want me to work there, but what could I do? I needed the money and no one else was hiring in that one-horse town!

Since then this something has been brewing in me, this desire to squash all the drama on that island. The hateration and scapegoating has GOT TO stop, I'm not playing! Enough is enough. It's a lofty goal but I'm going ahead with it and no one can stop me.

But... baby steps... I can't just stroll up into both countries and demand peace. I realized that it might help to attack the little things first, in small bunches, and eventually jump out from behind the bushes with a kamikaze maneuver the likes of which no one has ever seen, and then help unite the countries on the sly. They'll never know what hit 'em! HA!

Fast forward to today (or rather last month) when I was introduced to this awesome fledgling organization, Global Potential. Their mission- "to create positive socio-economic change for underserved youth and their communities in low-income urban neighborhoods, and for marginalized rural communities in the Dominican Republic."

Not a hand out but a hand up, as the saying goes, for both the Dominican youth and the group going there to help. A mutually beneficial arrangement geared at empowerment. What isn't there to love about that? How much easier will it be to mend the fences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic once the younger generation have been infused with the tools and opportunities to enable them to succeed in life? My plan is PURE GENIUS!

After visiting their site and reading up on what they're working towards I was like SIGN ME UP! "Whatever I can help with, let me know."

They are currently in DR, Batey #8, and reports from the road sound good so far. You can read their blog here. The report from Keisha... when she mentions that the kids have no shoes, man, right away I was like, "fuck the BMW..." It's a NICE car, I loved it, I'm over it. Because kids in DR have no shoes and that bothers me.

What Global Potential needs right this minute, right at this millisecond, is more exposure. More people to know about them and their mission which can then, in turn, generate more support, especially financial support.

So here I am, hoping that among my 20 loyal readers, some, if not all, will feel compelled to spread the word, maybe even offer up their skills and volunteer. They are based in New York but I'm certain they wouldn't turn down out-of-town help.

Maybe you know someone who could help, or have connections somewhere that could benefit the group. Not saying you have to, but if you do, that'd be super cool of you, and you'd be my best friend forever and ever! How's that for incentive?

Seriously, though, take a minute to visit Global Potential's website and really truly read over the available literature. Then let me know if you're down for the cause; although she'd like to fancy herself Super Woman, even The Jaded NYer cannot take on Haiti and DR all by herself.

Just imagine all the good we could do...

*smooches...loving this new sense of purpose*
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lookit me, all philanthropic and shit... who'd a thunk it?