Chloe Beyer is still recapturing her life after two tours in Haiti last month, from which she returned home with a crashed laptop, minus a stolen cell phone, and, later, with a bout of pneumonia.
But she doesn’t blame any of the above on her time in earthquake stricken Port-au-Prince.
"It’s just life," she says. "My experience in Haiti is forever. Maybe it’s divine intervention, coming from the heart."
Beyer is not easily put off by unwelcome turns of fate. In fact, she welcomes new adventures with the enthusiasm of a teenager. Her energy is nonstop.
"My mother never knew what to do with me," she remarks.
In fact, her one frustration while in Haiti, was her laptop crash, which prevented her from keeping up on her St. Thomas projects, namely the not-for-profit GrowVI, a project close to her heart.
Beyer is one of the dozens of volunteers who went to Haiti with USVIHaitianRelief, a mainly medical team organized by Carmen Partridge. While there Beyer made use of her organizational abilities.
"When I first got there the first of February," she says, "It wasn’t as chaotic as the earlier trips where no one knew what to expect. We had by then set up in the Haiti Community Hospital, which became our base of operations."
The groundwork was laid, she says, but by no means could it be said the living was easy.
"It was still a huge challenge," she says. "For the first few nights, I shared a cot on the roof with one of the nurses, whom I didn’t know. We all slept on the hospital roof."
Supplies were scattered all over the two floors of the hospital. "There were things from different countries in different languages – Moroccan, French, Korean, Saudi Arabian. What do they speak in Saudi Arabia? What were they? I worked on sorting. We took everything to the second floor, where there were no patients.
It was unbelievable," she says. "Work, work, work. Everyone worked about 20 hours a day. And I did what everyone did when I got back home, too," she says, "Eat, sleep, and shower and then do it all over again."
Beyer sentiments from her experience in Haiti, echo those of other volunteers.
"We were more accepted by the Haitians, than some of the teams from the states, whom they referred to as ‘Americans,’" she says. "They felt we ‘saw’ them, we knew them. It was wonderful to feel their compassion."
She remembers the orphans.
"There were three babies from a nearby orphanage who had been so neglected. When they first came to us, all they could do was rock back and forth. It’s a response to sensory deprivation," she says. "That was on a Thursday. By Saturday, with attention, holding them, playing with them, they were laughing, playing by themselves. These are things you don’t forget."
Beyer arrived on St. Thomas from northern California eight years ago, "on a whim," she says. That "whim" has grown roots, planting Beyer firmly in the island’s agriculture community, not something she had seen for herself when she moved to the Caribbean.
"I was working at Quality Foods and we’d get Shana James’ newsletters from Barefoot Buddha restaurant about her weekly specials, and one of them mentioned a need for volunteers for a ‘Slow Down’ Dinner.’ I really got excited about a restaurant owner here concerned about sustainable nourishment."
James, Beyer found,, had founded GrowVI, an organization whose focus is the support of production and distribution of locally grown, organic produce, to educate the community about sustain ability, and to encourage a partnership between local restaurants and farmers.
The organization seemed tailor-made for Beyer’s talents. Since James is currently living in the states, Beyer has become the organization’s president. Treasurer Swazi Clarity Elana Serrant and a small board make up the rest of the group’s structure.
If Beyer’s energy could be harnessed it likely could run the composting plant she sees in future; way in the future, even she will admit. Her e-mails are persistent reminders of opportunities for volunteers to help the farmers on weekends, and to attend markets.
Beyer also has extended the reach of GrowVI to the Addelita Junior High School garden, started last April under the direction of teacher Wendy Diaz, and with the help of University of the Virgin Islands extension program.
Beyer was there each week, digging with the kids. A garden rich with broccoli, cabbage and tomatoes bloomed late last spring
So, what is her philosophy? The green-eyed youthful looking grandmother, pauses. "That’s a hard one," she says. "I truly believe we are our brothers’ keeper, and if we extend ourselves just a little bit, the world would be a better place."
