The camera crews and TV anchors may be gone, but that doesn’t mean devastation from Haiti’s 7.0 earthquake is over.  

Though it has been nearly a year since the earthquake struck, much of Haiti is still in shambles. Those who lost their homes live in tent cities and continue to rely on donations for basic necessities including water, first aid kits and clothes. Makeshift roads have been built to skirt around piles of rubble still on the ground, making travel difficult.

In spite of the destruction, citizens of the island nation are doing what they can to rebuild their lives—and Miami’s Local 769 is helping.

Since January, the local has been working with nonprofit groups to collect and distribute donations. Already, a number of shipping containers holding everything from bed sheets to diapers have made their way to Haiti, including a container shipped in June holding 50,000 pounds of supplies. Accompanying it was David Renshaw, Local 769’s HRC representative.

Completely committed to the people of Haiti, in June Renshaw traveled to Port-au-Prince with a nonprofit group called Life Impact. Together, Renshaw, translators and members of Life Impact reached out to Haitians with help, smiles and the shipped goods, which were donated by Teamsters, church groups and other organizations.

During a four-day trip, Renshaw visited tent cities, assisted Haitian children with new prosthetic limbs and served hot meals to those who were hungry. The experience is not one he will forget anytime soon.

“When I think about the things I saw, I sometimes still have to catch my breath,” Renshaw said. “I can show you photos or tell you stories, but nothing compares to experiencing the sites, the sounds, the smells of a nation living in rubble.”

In His Own Words

Below are excerpts taken from Teamster Magazine’s interview with Renshaw. These stories, we felt, were best told as they came to us—in Renshaw’s own words.

I went to Haiti with members of Life Impact and we stayed in a compound called World Harvest. The compound was an orphanage that doubled as a school. The school was almost self-sustaining. Adults were teaching the children farming techniques and how to raise fish and chickens. The children there had fresh chicken eggs for breakfast almost every day. The building was structurally sound, but we didn’t sleep with the doors locked in case we needed to get out in time.

The compound where we stayed had a church on its grounds. Every Wednesday, adults and orphans who are amputees are brought to the compound to attend church and work with a group called Hangers. Hangers members volunteer their time to adjust prosthetic limbs for the amputees. I was able to help by teaching some of the orphans how to walk in or use their new limbs. Afterwards, we gave each child a hot meal. It was quite moving.

There was one young girl, she must’ve been seven or eight. Her favorite color was pink and she was so happy because when she visited the compound, she was able to receive a prosthetic leg that matched her skin tone. Not only did it match her skin, but it also had a toe-like notch cut out of it so she could wear matching pink flip-flops.

During the trip, we drove all throughout Haiti and went to several tent cities. Upon arriving at these tent cities, you don’t just walk in—you’ll get mobbed. We had to deal with an elected mayor who was elected by the residents of that particular tent city as their leader or go-to person. It was through the elected officials that we were able to donate the goods we brought.

As we were driving through the city, I noticed kids that would pop out of tents in the middle of the road. They’d have a book bag with them and they were all in uniforms. These kids were in school uniforms walking through the rubble, still going to school. You can do a lot to these kids, but you can’t break their spirit. That, that was really inspiring.