Port-Au-Prince, Haiti — Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi, visited Haiti on a goodwill tour the last week of March 2012. He spent his five-day tour visiting a camp operated by Sean Penn’s J/P Haitian Relief Organization, leading a workshop with community leaders at Viva Rio, as well as talking with leaders from the United Nations and USAID.

While in Port-Au-Prince, Arun Gandhi also visited with Haiti’s First Lady, Premiere Dame Sophia Martelly to discuss the current situation in Haiti and begin a dialogue on how Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence can be implemented in the ongoing development work following the 2010 earthquake.

Arun Gandhi commented on his trip, “The media has been covering all the negative aspects of Haiti, and making it out to be a disaster since the earthquake, so you gather a picture of total hopelessness and that nothing is really happening. But because of my experience in this work all these years, I was sure there was something in the people that would be more positive.”

He continued, “So I came here with an open mind to see the country and learn from the people and share with them my experiences, understanding, and knowledge of my grandfather’s philosophy in the hope that it would make a difference in their lives and show them the way to get out of the mire they find themselves in because of these natural occurrences.”   [Read more…]