Damariscotta Native Volunteers in Haiti for a Year

Katie Williams displays her first-ever breadfruit in Haiti. The Damariscotta native is spending a year volunteering in Haiti with the Religious of Jesus and Mary Sisters. (Photo courtesy Katie Williams)

A Damariscotta native is spending a year as a volunteer in Gros Morne, Haiti, helping women start small businesses and working in a school.

Katie Williams left for Gros Morne, Haiti, in August 2014, and will return to Maine in August 2015.

Williams is volunteering with the organization Religious of Jesus and Mary, an international congregation of Catholic Sisters, as a Quest volunteer.

According to the Religious of Jesus and Mary website, “a Quest volunteer is committed to developing their spirituality, living simply, growing in community, and working for social justice that challenges unjust structures.”

The volunteers live with the Religious of Jesus and Mary Sisters in Gros Morne, Haiti.

“The Sisters have been in Haiti for 17 years. For 15 of those 17 years, they’ve brought young people for at least a year-long commitment to service,” Williams said.

According to Williams, what people think of Haiti is not completely accurate.

“People picture Haiti as poor and dirty,” Williams said. “Haiti is beautiful. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to.”

Williams said the mountains are expansive and the coastline and waters are tropical.

“The way people live, eat, talk, and interact, is different than in the United States,” she said.

“As it is with any new culture, adjusting to the way of life takes time,” Williams said in her blog.

Williams said learning about how Haitian men interact with women has been an interesting part of learning the culture.

“Marriage, in the sense of the word that we understand in the states, is less frequent and may occur long after a couple has been together or has had children together,” Williams said in her blog.

There’s no such thing as a typical day in Haiti as a Quest volunteer, according to Williams.

“The Sisters have fingers in a bunch of different areas,” Williams said. “When volunteers come, they try to match the skills we have with what they have available, or you can try something totally new.”

After graduating from Lincoln Academy, Williams attended and graduated from St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., with a bachelor’s degree in international relations and minors in French and environmental studies. She wrote her senior thesis on microfinance.

“I came to Haiti hoping to get as much experience in as many different areas as possible,” Williams said.

The main project Williams is working on is a microloan program.

“I am currently working with six women who are on their fourth months of loans,” she said.

The women began with a small loan, according to Williams. Most of the women are purchasing some kind of food and reselling it for a profit.

“The women buy food here in the market, from friends, family, or suppliers that come in with bulk items at a wholesale-type price, and then resell them in the market,” Williams said.

According to Williams, the first month’s loan was 500 gourdes, which is equivalent to around $10. After six months, the loan is around 1,900 gourdes, which is equivalent to around $40.

Each month, the participants are expected to repay the loan with a small amount of interest. The participants then receive the entire loan amount and the interest as the next month’s loan, so the amount of the loan increases every month.

In addition to the loan, women receive a small amount of money that can be used to support their family that does not need to be paid back, according to Williams.

“The goal of this is that the women can use the loan to increase their business instead of having to use the loan to pay for food or pay school fees,” she said.

It is expected that by the end of the six-month program the loans have allowed the women to expand their business so they can support themselves and cover their family expenses, according to Williams.

“The women will receive either a goat or chickens at the end of the six-month loan period,” Williams said. “This is to further diversify income and hopefully provide some security.”

The women in the program are attending workshops to help them effectively raise goats or chickens.

“In the beginning, women were complaining that the loans were too small and they could not do everything that they wanted,” She said. “Now that the loans are larger, the women seem to be more pleased, and able to do more.”

As of right now, the loan program has a 100 percent repayment rate, Williams said.

A separate project for Williams includes working in an area school supported by the Sisters in Fon Ibo, Haiti.

“I work with third-grade teachers to help introduce art into their curriculum,” Williams said. “The Sisters received a grant last year for lessons and art supplies, and I’ve been helping translate the lessons into Creole from English.”

Williams also spends her days supporting the teachers in any way she can.

The Quest volunteers recently passed out TOMS shoes, according to Williams.

The TOMS Company was created in 2006 after an American Traveler, Blake Mycoskie, visited a village in Argentina and found many of the children had no shoes to protect their feet, according to the TOMS website.

According to the TOMS website, with every purchase of a TOMS product, TOMS will help a person in need.

“Our school received a shipment of TOMS shoes from an organization called Food for the Poor,” Williams said. “We’ve had a lot of problems with the organization of the shoes. The sizing chart doesn’t match the shoes we’ve been given.”

Food for the Poor, according to their website, is one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the country.

Raised Catholic, Williams attends St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Newcastle when she is in the country.

Last year, Williams attended the annual Haiti benefit dinner at St. Patrick’s Church to learn about the Religious of Jesus and Mary Sisters.

Williams’ mother is on the planning committee for the fundraising dinner, and told her about the dinner. According to Williams, the Sisters receive some support from the church’s fundraising efforts.

This year’s dinner will take place at St. Patrick’s church in Newcastle at 6 p.m. Feb. 13. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children.

Tickets are available at Maine Coast Book Shop, Skidompha Library, and Treats, as well as St. Patrick’s, St. Andrew’s, St. Giles’, St. Denis’, St. Philip’s, First Congregational of Wiscasset, Second Congregational in Newcastle, and Bristol Congregational churches.

Williams said her volunteer work is technically considered a “mission trip,” but she does not consider it one.

“Some people come here as a mission trip, saying it’s God’s work,” Williams said. “I knew I wanted to volunteer for a year anywhere around the world, and learn about people, the environment, education, and art, and it just so happened that this was the place.”

Williams hopes to travel to other countries for work or for pleasure after her year in Haiti.

“I would love to spend a year or more in one place and work in community development,” Williams said.

Traveling to other countries can be tiring, as well as exciting, according to Williams.

“It’s tiring, speaking another language, and not being in a familiar place,” she said. “The people here need things, and they know that we have at least a bit more than they do.”

Williams is thankful for her parents’ support as she volunteers in Haiti.

“I have really great, supportive parents,” Williams said. “They are willing to help however they can. I couldn’t be here without them.”

Williams is the daughter of Kenneth Williams, a teacher at Nobleboro Central School; and Barbara Williams, a teacher in Hope.

After her year in Haiti, Williams will return home to Damariscotta.

“I am hopeful that after all the experiences I’ve had here in Haiti, I will have a better idea of where I see myself going,” Williams said. “I do not have any specific plans right now to what I’m going to do after I finish here, but I do know that I would like to continue in the field of development.”

Williams said she is looking at full-time jobs and internships with TOMS Shoes and AmeriCorps.

“I’ve also been looking at opportunities that would put me back in a classroom working with kids who need extra support,” Williams said.

To read Williams’ blog of her experiences in Haiti, visit http://questforhaiti2014to15.blogspot.com.