Summer 2015. L’Union Fait La Force.

A beautiful beach behind one of my fathers friends house.

“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”

These are words that I try to live by every day. So simple, but so true. It really shouldn’t be that hard to be yourself, sometimes it is because of everything or everyone around you, but just don’t let it be hard. For example, my parents gave me the name Ruben; full name Ruben Charmelus. I don’t want to be Reuben. That’s a sandwich, that I haven’t tried yet. I might have one before the year is over, but I don’t know. The name of the sandwich is not even spelled like mine, so it might not be good. Anyways, I’m a student here at Manor. If I’m not in class, I’m either home, working, or at church. I’m Haitian American that loves his country. Born in New York, but my heart’s in Haiti.

I had a wonderful summer. First, I spent about a week in Florida going to beaches and enjoying the sun. Also, I spent a lot of quality time with my family that lives in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. The best part of my summer was when I visited Haiti in July for about three weeks. My reasoning for going to Haiti was for a mission trip with the church that I attend, and for vacation! I’m going to stick to the missionary side because I don’t want to be that blogger that brags about his beautiful vacation in the beautiful country of Haiti. For the first two out of three weeks I was on the mission trip with my church. The area where we, about 10 or 11 missionaries stayed, was at the top of a mountain. A place called Anse a veau, also the area where my father was born. At the beginning of the trip my father said it was going to be a 4 hour drive. I learned quickly that when someone gives you a time frame in Haiti, you’re probably not gonna get to your destination at that time. We ended up getting there in 6 hours, but it was great to be able to take in the breathtaking views Haiti has to offer as we drove up the mountain.

The mountains of Anse a Veau

We arrived and I was astonished at what my church built in Anse a veau ! Our church had the opportunity to build a church, a home for the missionaries and a school for those that are less fortunate in the area. We also were blessed to have someone donate up to date computers so some older kids can learn how to use those computers. When we arrived there the first thing I experienced was the unity between the people in the area, and the missionaries. This was the first time I’ve met them and the first time they’ve met me, but they greeted me as if I was their

A small amount of the kids of Anse a Veau and I.

neighbor. Being able to live with and around them for two weeks really helped me understand Haiti’s motto. L’Union Fait La Force, Unity makes strength. They didn’t have a lot, but as long as they had each other, they had everything.

Summer has been over for about two weeks now, and I’m definitely going to miss it, but I am also very excited for this semester. I am very grateful that I was able to land an internship with Manor working as their Marketing Communications Intern. Thank you Kelly, Steve and everyone involved that said ‘yes’. I have some big shoes to fill, but I’m confident I can continue the great lineage Sarah C. started 😉 This semester has been going really well so far, and I have a feeling that it will continue to go great.

If you’re reading this, have a great semester! Also, don’t be shy. We have two other great bloggers so make sure you comment on our posts to tell us how your summer went!