Photo by Sebastien Roche-Lochen
When we started receiving costume donations from some amazing supporters of the project, we mentioned them to some of the people who were already working with organizations in Haiti. We had a few contacts before going to Haiti, and since we had never been there before, we listened to every tip and critique we had about the project. One of our contacts, who worked with an organization helping kids, told me that she didn't think it was a good idea to bring costumes such as the astronaut or the pilot because the kids would never think of it if they didn't see the costumes and it would be unreachabe for them. Since I agreed that we wanted the kids to set a goal they could reach, I listened to her and left these costumes at home. So it broke my heart when one of the kids said he wanted to be an airplane pilot when he grows up.
We made the best of it and he drew a plane on the blackboard. This kid had so much charisma that the pilot hat would have been perfect on him but he made it work with his big smile. I guess he reminded us of what this project was about: hope for a brighter future. The higher these kids will set the bar, the more they can accomplish. So next time I will bring along every single costume that we acquired, because every kid deserves to dream big.
