BEC
FIRST-CLASS LINEMAN JAY RASBERRY
FIRST-CLASS LIN EMAN JOHN HERNANDEZ
BECause They Wanted to Help BEC LINEMEN JAY RASBERRY AND JOHN HERNANDEZ RETURN TO HAITI
“At the end of the day, it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished. It’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.” —Denzel Washington STORY BY RAFAEL AVILES BEC Staff Writer
HAITI IS, AT BEST, A DIFFICULT PLACE TO LIVE. THE POOREST country in the Western Hemisphere is still struggling to recover from the the earthquake it experienced in 2010 and, according to The New York Times, relies heavily on money its expatriates (those who escaped) send to relatives back home. Here are five facts about Haiti you may or may not know, according to the World Food Programme: 1. Two in 3 Haitians live on less than $2 a day. 2. Approximately 50 percent of Haitians are unemployed. 3. By the end of 2015, there were still 60,800 displaced individuals living in refugee camps because of the 2010 earthquake. 4. Three in 4 Haitian households do not have running water. 5. About 100,000 Haitian children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition.
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Texas Co-op Power BEC January 2019
It would be hard to blame those who leave Haiti for an opportunity to make a better life for themselves elsewhere. The world hears so much about all those in Haiti who have left or want to leave, but we rarely hear the stories about those who go there. Bandera Electric Cooperative is proud that we have individuals who have made Haiti their destination. They have no blood ties with anyone that they could call family there. They simply go for the opportunity to follow their heart. They go to give back. Three years ago, BEC linemen John Hernandez and Jay Rasberry volunteered to travel to Haiti to help build a power line to an orphanage that previously had no electricity. “It was life-changing,” said the two of their first trip, in 2015. This past October, the pair returned to Caracol, Haiti. This time, they went to help train the linemen who are tasked with delivering power from the country’s first electric transmission and distribution network. This was not an easy undertaking. This is an area where most of the city only has electricity eight hours of the day. The safety equipment you see BEC linemen wear daily is almost nonexistent for these workers in Haiti.
BanderaElectric.com
