“They’re just livin’ life, and it’s amazing how simple their lives are, yet how happy they are,” Cooke said. “I come back here and there are just so many distractions. You have to get plugged right back in and that’s sometimes hard to adjust to. I love that one of the first things I noticed when I was down there was that these people who barely speak English just come up to you and ask you how your family is. One of the first English phrases they learn is ‘How is your family?’”
Cooke admires how community and friendship mean so much to the Haitian people he worked with.
“I think all of us would agree that engineering experience is probably at the bottom of the list as far as what this project gave us,” Cooke said. “But don’t tell our adviser that!”
After proving itself with the Ti Peligre bridge project, the group is now trying to focus on what its relationship with the Parent Bridges to Prosperity organization will be. It has also just received a $100,000 grant to keep working in Haiti.
“We’ve got a big commitment to Haiti, so we have to sift through how we will interface with Bridges to Prosperity, and how we will gain partnerships,” Cooke said.
“Right now we are working very hard to continue a relationship with Partners in Health, who is really a valuable partner in Haiti,” Cooke said.
“They have been working in Haiti for over 25 years and they are experts in the needs that Haiti has,” Cappelli said.
“They hire locals whenever possible, which is good because then they can be like ‘Hey my cousin lives here and they need this’” Lawler said.
The club also noted there are countless parties outside of the club who deserve thanks.
“There are so many people walking around this campus who allow and make it possible for students to do this type of work, and they’ll never even be recognized for it,” Cooke said.
“There’s people who have been supporting us all along the way, and they are not doing it for the recognition, but for the value of the work,” Cappelli said.
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A version of this article appeared in the Mar 29 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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