Heading to the heart of Haiti

A 16-year-old Tuamgraney girl eager to do her bit to help those orphaned following Haiti’s largest earthquake will be travelling to the country’s capital for a month, where she will work with those directly affected by the natural disaster.
Bianca Szostak has always had an interest in helping those less fortunate and when given the option to experience firsthand the situation in Haiti with a family friend who works for the international NGO Amurtel, Bianca jumped at the chance.
Whitegate resident Didi O’Driscoll has been heavily involved with a school development run by Amurtel in Port Au Prince since a short time after the earthquake struck in January 2010 and when Bianca showed an interest in aid work, she invited her to come along and join her on her next trip to Haiti. 
“Didi was going in March and she was talking with my mom and gave her the idea that if I would like to go, I could go with her. I am excited and nervous about it… it’s a bit far away,” Bianca explains but says she is looking forward to the experience.
“There’s a children’s home that we are going to go to where they look after the ones who lost their parents in the earthquake. It is a sad situation. It might affect me a bit I think. Didi told me that the food is different from here and it is poorer and the houses aren’t as proper as they are here. This is my first time doing a big journey like this. I’ll be travelling with Didi from England, leaving on March 6 and I will spend a month there. I think it will help build my confidence and I really like helping people who need help or who don’t have as much as me,” she said.
Bianca says she admires Didi and the work she has been doing with Amurtel all over the world and in this instance, she has inspired Bianca to do something herself.
“I look up to Didi and I want to help more and do what she does. I’ll see how this goes and hopefully I’ll like it. I’m looking forward to leaving the country and seeing how other people live and the culture. I saw a film about Haiti and it was pretty sad, I got a bit upset watching it. This trip will open my eyes because I’ve never these type of things before, I’ve heard them on the news and that but I’ve never seen it,” she continued.
Bianca has been fundraising and working hard making St Bridget crosses to raise the necessary support to help her make a difference in Haiti and is very grateful to those who have supported her to date.
“I will be looking after the children between the ages of two and three and up to the age of seven. I’ll be playing games with them and cooking for them. I’m learning to cook because I can’t cook very well at the moment. I’m also learning French. They speak French and Creole there and I’m learning from a friend who is tutoring me. Creole is similar to French and it’s their native language,” she added.
Bianca knows that although it is two years since the earthquake devastated Port Au Prince, there is much work left to do and while some buildings have been rebuilt, the majority of the population continue to live in hut-like dwellings.
Bianca will fly out on March 6 where she will work and live at an Amurtel-run school in Port Au Prince and she returns the day of her 17th birthday on April 6 next.