By Mary Romaniec
Grafton News Reporter –
It seemed that the cap and gown were barely put away before Molly Dewar, a 2016 Grafton High graduate, was boarding a plane for Haiti to volunteer in an orphanage.
For Dewar, it was more than an altruistic trip before starting college. It’s a calling she cannot entirely explain except that she feels pulled to serve others in some form.
In high school, she joined the Best Buddies club and eventually became the president. In that role, Dewar saw the difference ordinary kindness and caring could make on her classmates with special needs, which changed the trajectory of where she saw her future. She said her Best Buddies peers were her motivation. “I grew up helping people and I wanted to take it to the next level.”
She got that opportunity after hearing Cherylann Gengel speak at the high school about her daughter Britney, a college student who died in the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. On that trip to the impoverished country, Britney would text her parents about how moved she was by the love she witnessed in the Haitian people in the midst of poverty.
When Britney died, her parents wanted to honor her desire to start an orphanage in Haiti and created the Worcester-based Be Like Brit Foundation, Inc., a service organization that went on to build a 19,000 square foot earthquake proof orphanage in Grand Goave for the children whose parents died in the tragedy.
After hearing Cherylann speak, many Grafton High students were eager to head to Haiti to be a part of the service-driven solution. But of that initial group, only Dewar committed to raising the necessary $1,950 for the trip, plus the cost of her passport and background check.
She had to apply online and write an essay on why she wanted to participate in the trip. Asked what she wrote, she described her desire to one day go to a third-world country to be entrenched in service to those in dire poverty.
On July 8, Dewar boarded a plane with 14 others for Haiti to spend a week building a home for a Haitian family which Dewar said looked more like a large shed compared to American standards, but it was a palace to those who had nothing.
“We are so fortunate here,” said Dewar. “It’s sad [to us] but that’s their life and they are happy.”
That happiness in the midst of poverty left the deepest impression on Dewar. As she watched the Haitian people during Mass, she said she was mesmerized by their level of devotion to prayer and liturgy. “Everyone was so into their prayers. It shows how much hope and love they have there,” said Dewar on the elemental faith she witnessed. “I think the lesson is you can have so little, but have so much love. They are happy with each other and make the best out of what they have.”
It wasn’t just in liturgy that Dewar felt humbled. It was also in the everyday kindness they showed her and everyone on the trip. “Hate does not exist where I was,” Dewar said.
Asked about the experience of building the home for the local family, Dewar described the intense manual labor in equally intense heat. They were joined by local Haitian carpenters but Dewar was more than capable of hoisting and shoveling. As a state finalist in discus throw, Dewar said the joke in the group was that she was the “man” on the trip.
With the completion of the house, the group went to the marketplace to purchase some furniture and food for the family that would receive the house. “The family was extremely grateful,” said Dewar. But for all of the gratitude bestowed on her and the group, Dewar said she felt a keen humility and a kinship with the local population. “I would go down there every other week if I had the money,” said Dewar.
The ultimate goal of the orphanage at the Be Like Brit Foundation is to educate the children well enough that they can attend a college in the U.S. and then return back to Haiti. Right now none of the children are old enough to embark on the next phase of the program, but Dewar hopes to be a part of that too.
When Dewar heads to Bridgewater State University in the fall, she plans to major in criminal justice, which seems a far cry from the service-driven calling she is answering. “I might change it to special education or elementary education,” said Dewar. In the meantime, with support from her family, Dewar is heading back to Haiti during the Christmas break. She has already gotten started on raising the necessary funds.
Returning to the comforts of home in the U.S., Dewar reflected how she is less tolerant of those who complain of the petty annoyances in their lives, in sharp contrast to those who have less and complain little. “It makes me grateful for the things we have,” said Dewar.
For more information on the Be Like Brit Foundation, go to belikebrit.org. To contribute to Dewar’s campaign effort, visit tinyurl.com/j6g38sr.
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