Schaumburg man visits Haiti in aftermath of hurricane

Jeff Nyquist has come to know Haiti and its struggles well over the past several years.

The Schaumburg man went back to the Caribbean nation this month to see firsthand the new challenges there caused by Hurricane Matthew's devastation.

Though the immediate loss of life was not as severe as that caused by an earthquake that struck the capital city Port-au-Prince in 2010, the hurricane's impact on the agricultural southern area of the island may be just as significant in the long term, Nyquist said.

Nevertheless, the characteristic resilience of the Haitian people has manifested itself strongly. In the 25 communities he visited over the past two weeks, Nyquist said he constantly saw people who had lost nearly everything but were still grateful for what little they had left.

"They really are a wonderful, caring people," he said. "In some ways, it impresses me what they're able to do with such poor infrastructure."

In fact, the building techniques and survival skills of Haitians are really quite good, he added. It's only the materials they're forced to work with that are poor.

Haiti was the first European colony to declare its independence after the U.S., but unfortunately was not blessed with the same resources, Nyquist said.

One of the first mistakes Americans and people of other countries make when they visit Haiti is to bring with them an ego that tells them the Haitians don't know what they're doing or that outsiders can do it better.

The real solutions in Haiti will come from within, though there probably is a right way for others to help, he said. While too much aid can do harm to a developing country, there's no such thing as too much education. People of any trade can probably help simply by sharing what they know.

Nyquist's involvement with Haiti began in 2012 when he was invited to help set up a computer trade school there. Now he and his wife Kim are typically there about 20 to 25 days each year.

His recent trip was unscheduled, however, as he accompanied two leaders of Lutheran disaster relief efforts.

"I'm the guy on the ground who has the relationships in the community," he said.

He intends to go back around Thanksgiving to do accountability checks on the disaster relief.

In order to best help Haiti, Americans should really understand the long-term intentions of any organization to which they might contribute, Nyquist said. He believes every such effort should end when it's accomplished a very specific goal.