2012 Wrestlers - St. Mary's Central High School

FEATUREHaitiBy:Mary MaguireArmstrongMatt Cleary recently had the opportunity to travel to Haiti with his father and aid in the disaster relief taking place there. Uponhis return, I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his experiences.FEATURESM: Why did you end up going to Haiti in the first place?Matt: My dad was going down with a team, and he asked me if I wanted to go along. Obviously, I said, “yes!”SM: What were you expecting prior to getting there?Matt: I really didn’t know what to expect. I was kind of just waiting to get there to see what is was like.SM: What was your initial impression of Haiti? What were you thinking when you got off the plane and saw it for the first time?Matt: It was so different than the place I had left. That’s probably the first thing I thought. It was so weird. I definitely experiencedculture shock.SM: What did you do while you were down there?Matt: I pretty much just helped out with whatever I could. My dad and his team were doing medical stuff, so I ran errands for them,talked to people, and pretty much just waited for someone to tell me what to do next.SM: Did anything unusual happen while you were down there?Matt: Well, the people down there had never seen contact lenses. One of my contacts fell out, and they freaked out because they thoughtmy eye had fallen out.SM: What’s the biggest thing you’ll take away from your time there?Matt: Probably how simply they live, but how happy they are. They don’t really need anything to be happy. They’re satisfied just to bearound each other. They aren’t stressed or worried like we usually are. The people there just know how to really appreciate life.Matt ClearyPhoto by: Becky Mastel