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Hope for Haiti

Bruce Speaks to 7th/8th Graders on Haiti's Struggles & Humanitarian Efforts

by WMS 7th Grader Savanna Bruce on October 02, 2012

Amy Bruce, Wahoo resident and founder of the non-profit organization "The Root Cause," a humanitarian effort to help the people of Haiti.

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Amy Bruce, Wahoo resident and founder of the non-profit organization "The Root Cause," a humanitarian effort to help the people of Haiti.

On September 19 and 28, Amy Bruce came to Wahoo Middle School with a presentation for the seventh and eighth graders about Haiti.  

Bruce has a non-profit organization called “The Root Cause.” She visits Haiti two to six times a year, trying to reforest the country. The Haitians cut down all their trees to make charcoal. Because of that they have no root system to help their crops.  

To make matters worse, the rocky soil goes down half a foot before it gets to bedrock, and even that isn’t very fertile. In Haiti many people suffer from malnutrition. They don’t even have McDonalds, but even if they did, they couldn’t afford it; therefore, they eat cats and goats, if they eat at all.

“Before this presentation I thought Haiti was just an island. It wasn’t until afterwards that I realized it’s a horrible place! They need food, money, clothes and even toilets!” said WMS seventh grader Payton Styskal. “I really liked this presentation. It was very interesting. Haiti is a cool place, even though they need help and Amy takes great pictures too.”

Colton Bass, another seventh grade student, also commented: “I always thought that Haiti was a beautiful country. Afterwards, I realized Haiti has many problems like malnutrition and deforestation. I really enjoyed the beautiful pictures, but I think Haiti should do more to solve their problems.”

“I know Haiti is severely poor, with a lot of destruction and devastation year after year. I feel Mrs. Bruce’s work is a wonderful contribution to this area of the world. You can see that she is passionate about helping Haitians and committed to making our world a better place,” commented WMS World Geography Instructor Linda Walker.

Finally, WMS Principal John Harris shared his thoughts: “I knew it was bad in Haiti, and Mrs. Bruce just confirmed what I thought. I enjoyed the presentation and I like the idea of informing our youth, because in our world, this type of thing is easy to forget.”