HOMECOMING: A REFLECTION BY LAUREN VAN DINE

It’s been about six years since I’ve been home.

Home to Haiti.

A place I love more deeply than I think I’ll ever be able to put into words. Recently, I finally got the chance to go back and spend a week with my dad, Neil Van Dine. And honestly, it was SO good to be home; being with family, eating the food/fruits I’ve missed, hearing the language all around me, and getting some much needed time with my dad. But somewhere in the middle of all of that, something really cool happened. I started seeing things in Haiti differently. I saw possibility. I saw hope.

I’ve always known my dad and his team at Haiti Outreach were doing meaningful work. I’ve heard about it for years and have always been proud of them. But being there in person made me realize just how incredible it really is. I went from thinking “Yeah, Dad, I know you guys are doing good work” to “WAIT… do you guys realize how cool this is?!”

I sat in on a staff meeting and listened to the team talk about what they are doing, the challenges they’re facing in the field and the communities they’re working alongside. One team member said something that has stuck with me: “For me, what drives me to keep doing this is the idea of wanting a better Haiti for my children, my children’s children, and my children’s children’s children. So even if I don’t get to see the Haiti that I really want to see in my lifetime, I’ll know that I contributed what I could for my family’s future generations.” I mean THAT is what it’s about. It’s about planting a tree knowing you may never get to sit in its shade. It’s about doing your part today so someone you may never meet can have a better tomorrow. That is legacy.

As I listened to the team and as I learned from team member Roge Michel, I couldn’t help but look at their work through the lens of my own journey. I’ve been a social worker for about five years and am now pursuing my Master’s in Social Work, with the hope of eventually becoming a licensed clinician. So naturally, my social worker brain kicked in. I started hearing pieces that reminded me of cognitive restructuring, and with a little more research I saw bits and pieces of Reality Therapy, Existential Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and even Gestalt Therapy woven into the way they work with communities.

And I remember thinking, “Wait… this is suspiciously like GROUP THERAPY!!” Maybe not literally, but in many ways, that’s what it felt like. They’ve found a way to take ideas and clinical concepts and translate them into language that people can actually understand and connect with (without even realizing they are clinical concepts!) They’re helping communities challenge old ways of thinking, recognize their own agency, build hope, and imagine something different. And they’re doing it because they believe Haiti can be better. That is powerful. This visit left me feeling incredibly grateful not only that I got to come home and spend time with my dad, but that I got to learn about the incredible work being done by/for people who are willing to work toward a future they may never personally see and people who are taking responsibility for the change they want to see. I mean, it’s genuinely so inspiring.

And as someone working toward becoming a clinician, I left reminded of why I chose this path: to help people see possibilities where they once saw limitations, and to contribute to something bigger than myself. Maybe I won’t get to see the full impact of everything I contribute, or see every tree grow from the seeds that I plant. And that’s okay. Maybe the point is simply to show up, do the work, plant the seeds, and trust that someone else will one day enjoy the shade.

For Haiti. For our children. For our children’s children. And for every generation after them. The future isn’t guaranteed. But it can be built.

And I’ve left this trip believing more than ever that it can be built with hope, hard work, personal responsibility, community, and a whole lot of heart.