By Tia Bunz
I received a letter in the mail today. It was from a mom whose daughter wanted to donate some money she had been given by her grandfather to the Fond Blanc Orphanage. As simple as that is, it had a huge impact on me. It reminded me once again of the beauty of the symbiotic relationship, something I have seen time and time again with my own students and children. A relationship that provides a balance can only be achieved by working together.
The Fond Blanc Orphanage took ahold of my heart when we started doing mission trips down there a couple of years ago. Initially I believed the children in Fond Blanc were going to benefit from my students coming to hang and work with them. What I saw to be true was so much more than I could have ever imagined!
The truth is I learned first hand the critical importance of this symbiotic relationship. What was gained from the American student’s helping in Fond Blanc, was only surpassed by what these same students received in return from the children of Fond Blanc. The lessons the American students learned, the perspective that they gained, the hope and feeling of unconditional love that they felt was far more than what we could have ever done for them.
Since the Fond Blanc Foundation started, this same symbiotic relationship has spilled over to our community. Now we see people responding selflessly who haven’t even met these lovely Haitian children. At every age, our own young people ask how they can help. They pick up things that they think the children could use, and because they understand the privilege they live in, they are thinking about ways they can help provide for others.
The beauty of this symbiotic relationship also lives in a 12-year-old girl who thought first of these children in Fond Blanc before asking what she could do for herself. True unselfishness.
Through this experience with Fond Blanc, I now think I truly understand what God intended when he created symbiosis.