Members of the Haven house building team, including Noel Ryan, pictured in front of one of the houses they constructed in Leogane, Haiti in 2011.

It’s a long way from Belmont to Haiti!

“Why do I keep going back to Haiti? That's a good question....I suppose it is the kind of place that gets under your skin.”

These are the words of Belmont man, Noel Ryan, who is preparing to embark on his 10th trip to one of the poorest countries in the world as part of a volunteer-led programme operated by Irish NGO, the Haven Partnership.
For the first time since he started going to Haiti in 2011, Noel will be accompanied on this trip by his wife, Maureen Feerick-Ryan, who is looking forward to “rolling up her sleeves and getting stuck into whatever work needs to be done” according to her husband.

In Haiti, the needs are great, and “the poverty is endless” according to Noel Ryan “it is the epitome of poor.” Having been devastated by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in January 2010, which killed more than 200,000 people, the rate of recovery for the native population of the already-impoverished nation has been ”extremely slow” he says and the capital city of Port-au-Prince is still strewn with “rivers of debris and refuse everywhere.”

Noel Ryan's route to becoming involved in charity work in Haiti was born out of a harrowing tragedy which befell his family in 2008 when his beloved only daughter, 19-year old Caoimhe, lost her life in a horrific car accident in the early hours of July 19th, alongside her friend, Patrick Kenny, also from Belmont.

“I couldn't speak more highly of the local community here in Belmont and surrounding areas, they were so good and supportive to us around that time, and ever since,” says Noel,“I think they practically carried myself and Maureen and our son, Thady, along on a wave of support and love, and I suppose I was always on the lookout for some way in which I could repay or give back some of the great support and kindness that had been shown to us.”

It was while he was looking around for some charity to volunteer with that Noel Ryan got a phone call from his cousin, who had been to Haiti as a volunteer with Haven, asking him if he would like to go on one of their trips. “I suppose you could say that phone call was like a bit of divine intervention,” he admits,“and I knew straight away that I was going to go to Haiti and I have been going ever since.”

On his first trip to Haiti, Noel Ryan was one of over 300 volunteers who embarked on a major house building programme, but subsequent trips have been confined to around 30 volunteers. Each volunteer must raise a total of €4,500, half of which covers the cost of flights, food and accommodation with the remainder being donated directly to Haven.

“I have always done fundraising for my trips around the village of Belmont and people have been amazingly supportive and generous, but because I have been going so often I now fund my own flight and accommodation costs,” he says, adding that his wife, Maureen, has set up a Go Fund Me page called 'Building Hope Through Education in Haiti' to fund the cost of her own trip to the Caribbean country this year.

While housebuilding was the focus of Haven's earlier trips to Haiti, Noel Ryan says the focus now is on providing educational opportunity for the local population and building sustainable communities. “Haitians see education as being their only route out of poverty so they are extremely eager to learn, they value education above everything else.,” says Noel. “And on our upcoming trip in April we are planning to complete the building and upgrade the resources of a secondary school on the island of Ile a Vache which will accommodate up to 800 students.”

The school, which is “like a cowshed, with a galvanised roof, no doors and not a scrap of furniture” is to be completely rebuilt, and among the many jobs the volunteers will be undertaking, while working in sweltering temperatures of up to 40 degrees, will be construction work, painting, making and installing furniture, laying a basketball court and building a playground. “We have volunteers who have specific skills, and those with no particular skills, but everyone is needed” says Noel “if you can hold a shovel and dig with it, then you will be needed in Haiti.”

Although he is a chef by profession, Noel Ryan says he does not utilise his culinary skills in Haiti, as the volunteers work in teams and everyone is assigned a specific job. “The Haitians are extremely resilient and we are only scratching the tip of the iceberg with our work out there, but every little bit of effort makes a big difference to their lives and that is very satisfying.”

As part of their ongoing mission in Haiti, Haven have set up a number of projects around the country which are modelled along the lines of cottage-industry enterprises, which are designed to create sustainable communities, and they also employ huge numbers of local people on year-round projects.

Noel Ryan is very excited that his wife, Maureen, will experience “first-hand” the warmth and hospitality of the Haitian people on their upcoming trip, which will see them depart Ireland on April 17th next for 10 days. They will also be accompanied on this trip by Noel's sister, Margaret.

As part of their fundraising drive for the people of Haiti, a church gate collection will take place in Belmont on the weekend of March 8th and 9th next, and Noel would like to reiterate his thanks and appreciation for the “wonderful support” he has received to date from the local area of Belmont, Cloghan, Ferbane and surrounding areas.

He is also loud in his praise of Banagher nun, Sr Helen Ryder, who has spent a lifetime working at the coalface of the impoverished communities in the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. “She is just an amazing person who has made a real difference” he says.