Alex Tupper awakes in the early morning to a banging at his door. He hears a voice yell, “Alex, get up … we need your help!”
Tupper rushes frantically to the not-yet-open medical clinic to search for supplies. Little does he know, he is about to help deliver a baby.
A pregnant woman walks into the clinic and lies down on a piece of cardboard covered in sanitary cloth. Tupper and his colleagues scramble to find the right tools as the baby begins crowning and the woman starts screaming.
Tupper gathers the necessities, but one thing is missing: the syringe. Panic sets in as they realize that if they do not find this vital piece, the baby will die. At the last moment, the team finds the syringe and manages to get the baby breathing. They successfully brought life into the world.
“That was just crazy,” Tupper said. “I’m still trying to process it all.”
Such is a typical, or rather, an atypical day, in the life of Alex Tupper, who has devoted his free time to helping those less fortunate in Haiti.
Tupper, an agricultural business senior, founded Love Your Neighbor, which teaches sustainable farming techniques in Gressier, located 20 miles from Port-au-Prince in Haiti. The planting project is not only for their profit but also to supplement their diets.
“This is just an opportunity to literally love your neighbor,” Tupper said. “We have a chance to use what we have to give back.”
According to a Ted Case Study in 2004, many of Haiti’s problems are rooted in rice production. Since the 1980s, Haiti has increasingly imported more rice than it produces. A combination of environmental problems and the lowering of taxes on rice imports have resulted in the decrease of employment opportunities in the country.
These issues, along with continuous political upheaval, contribute to Haiti’s rank as the poorest country in the Americas.
Tupper emphasized LYN aims to help the people of Haiti help themselves. Instead of simply donating money or supplies to the cause, LYN takes an approach that goes beyond a handout, he said. The organization, he said, embodies the proverb, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” And at the age of 21, Tupper intends to help feed Haiti for a lifetime.
MORE THAN RICE
LYN isn’t just about rice production. Poverty goes hand-in-hand with poor diet, and Tupper said he has plans to battle malnutrition in Haiti. In addition to rice, Tupper and his team help teach locals to plant vegetables and fruits such as beans, corn, bananas, tomatoes, onions, eggplants, cabbage, lettuce, papaya, mangoes and peppers to supplement their diets. Since its inception in May, LYN has provided nearly 11,000 meals per month. Along with providing nutrition, LYN provides jobs, Tupper said.
With the help of a trilingual Haitian agronomist, Alex and his volunteers — mostly LSU students — participate in teaching farming techniques with the hope that eventually they can hand the whole project over to the Haitians to upkeep. So far they have consistently employed three farmers, but at times they have employed up to six. Those he’s employed and the locals he has encountered have been supportive of the organization’s work, he said. “I feel as though they treat us like family,” Tupper said. “They love us, and we love them.”
GETTING STARTED
Tupper founded LYN after visiting Haiti for the first time this February.
Tupper learned of a community development project in northern Haiti headed by Respire Haiti, a non-profit organization
designed to educate vulnerable children. Inspired by Respire’s work, Tupper said he felt called to contribute to the efforts in Haiti.
“I just knew it was where God wanted me to be,” Tupper said.
But helping those in need wasn’t new to Tupper. His passion for working with the poor began his sophomore year studying business management.
After encountering extreme poverty on a mission trip to the Amazon River in Brazil, he saw an opportunity to help people. Soon after, he changed his major to agricultural business.
“… Just seeing poverty for the first time really placed in my heart using my education … [as] an opportunity for helping people throughout the world,” Tupper said. Thus began LYN.
But Tupper started the organization with little besides a vision and a Google search.
“It just started on the Internet, literally just Googling ‘how to start a nonprofit corporation,’” Tupper said.
Then came the paperwork. Tupper said he had to file articles of incorporation and bylaws with the Louisiana secretary of state, and then he had to receive a tax ID number with the IRS, as well as file a 501c3 application, a form charitable organizations must fill out to remain exempt from taxes, which takes a substantial amount of time to go through.
Tupper also made use of his social connections in forming LYN. He spoke with friends who were lawyers, accountants and others who had experience in nonprofit work. With their advice and support, Love Your Neighbor was born.
LYN TODAY
“I feel like my job primarily is to enable and empower the people who are working on the mountain to get the work done,” Tupper said.
And part of that empowerment requires not taking things too seriously.
“We bring the jambox up on the mountain and watch everyone dancing while they work,” Tupper said.
While Tupper keeps a handle on the goings on in Haiti, his connection to the States is Laura Davidson.
Davidson, kinesiology senior, met Tupper through school and mutual friends, but their friendship was solidified when they went on a mission trip to Uganda last summer. When Davidson learned about Tupper’s organization, she offered to assist in any way she could. She began by extending her grammar and editing skills, and her role in the organization grew over time.
“Alex said, ‘I want you to be my right hand man, or woman,’” Davidson said. “A lot of prayer went into it.”
A year later, Davidson carries the titles of secretary and board member for LYN. As secretary, Davidson handles the majority of the paperwork involved with running a nonprofit. She keeps the board members in contact with each other, and she simply helps Alex get things done, she said.
“The reason he wanted me to kind of step up next to him is because I’m a person that says, ‘That is such a great idea. Now, how do we make that happen?’” Davidson said.
While she has yet to visit Haiti herself, she said she looks forward to meeting with Tupper in Gressier this winter, as she shares Tupper’s vision for helping those in need. “[Tupper’s] passion for this organization really does blow me away,” Davidson said.
LESSONS FROM THE FIELD
Working in a third world country with the severely impoverished is a perspective-changer for both Tupper and Davidson, they said. Tupper’s experiences with mission work in places like Brazil and Uganda along with his work through LYN have shaped the way he behaves when he returns home.“I complain a lot less,” Tupper said. “And I guess just how I steward my money, how I treasure my education.”
Davidson said her involvement with LYN and her previous work in other countries have also changed the way she thinks. She said she wishes it were possible for everyone born into a first world country to visit a third world country for a minimum of two weeks.
“It really does change your perspective on everything,” she said.
LOOKING AHEAD
As for the future, LYN is thinking big, Tupper said. And while he joked delivering babies is not on their agenda — for now — they still plan to make a difference in Haiti anyway they can.
In addition to its planting project, he said LYN is starting a project in Cité Soleil, one of the worst slums in the world with a population nearing 400,000 mainly comprised of children and young adults. This project would address the ongoing hunger and slavery found in this neighborhood.
Furthermore, LYN intends to continue work in Haiti and dreams of branching out to other nations in need, such as Africa and China, he said.
Tupper and his volunteers hope the organization will run out of their hands, and they will no longer be needed as those they helped will be able to help themselves. But LYN won’t stop there, Davidson said.
“Eventually, our vision is to alleviate poverty in the world,” Davidson said. “This is our first step.”
