Haiti came to Colorado in late September, as two Littleton-area schools welcomed talents young visitors from the island nation. Together they collected over $3,200 to immunize poor Haitian children. And they got a new and surprisingly hopeful view of real kids from Haiti and their lives there.
The week of Sept 17, West and Falcon Bluffs Middle Schools have been participating in "Give A Kid A Shot," a campaign seeking to inoculate the nearly 1 million children in Haiti who have little or no access to vaccines. Only two dollars is enough to provide basic immunity for one child.
"These middle schoolers really got the picture," says Nicole Hoffman, one of the local sponsors and a medical advisor for the campaign. "They know the money they collected this week will mean life to 1,800 kids in Haiti."
Those 1,800 Haitian children became real through the appearance and the art of the RESURRECTION DANCE THEATER OF HAITI - the celebrated troupe of young dancers, drummers and story-tellers who were once orphans living on the streets of Port-Au-Prince, the Haitian capital. These nine boys and young men, ages 12-27, gave four performances 
over two days at the two schools.
"These boys gave us the best assembly I have ever seen in my career as an educator," says Wendy Rubin, principal of Falcon Bluffs. "It was moving, inspiring, so much fun. Our kids can't stop talking about it - that's always a good sign! Best of all, it helped them to think more globally, and really connect with people from another country and culture. This is the kind of learning and awareness that we really want to foster in our schools and with our kids."
Falcon Bluffs science teacher Carolyn Brewer, who also helped organize the event, was thrilled to see and hear the reaction for students, teachers and parents. "You should have seen everyone's faces. They were mesmerized. And a really appreciate the fact that the performers stayed and spent the day with them." The older members of the Dance Theater troupe accompanied students to social studies, art, and music classes, where they shared their perspectives and expertise. 
Lead Drummer Bill Nathan (left) is a world-class percussionist who has studied with the best on three continents. "He gave an entire music class a Haitian drumming lesson," recalls Ms. Brewer. "Everyone was getting into it. It was one period they're never forget."
The 768 students at Falcon Bluffs raised over $1,536 in just a few days. A giant tote board in the shape of a syringe registered the contributions. West Middle School sixth graders had been at work since the previous week to "give a kid a shot." They had a similar "syringe" to measure their success: over 400 West students collected $1,636. The totals are still rising, as final amounts trickle in. One parent at Falcon Bluffs felt so inpsired by these boys and their cause that she wrote a check on the spot for $100.
The campaign "Give A Kid A Shot" is sponsored by the Haitian Timoun Foundation (HTF), a Colorado-based non-profit that focuses on improving the lives of Haitian children ("timoun" in Haitian Creole). HTF works directly with other Haitian organizations that can prove they are making a measurable difference in their country. For this campaign, HTF is partnering with Grace Children's Hospital in Port-Au-Prince. This initial effort in the campaign is starting small - again, with a few thousand kids - but the vision of HTF is to vaccinate one million Haitian children.
Just as importantly, none of these Colorado kids will ever think of Haiti as some downtrodden nation, or as a hopeless cause. Instead, they will remember the hope-filled smiles, stories and art of these boys - and the special time when they got to help "give a kid a shot."
