Why Haiti?

Just this last week, my husband and I had the privilege of taking our youth kids from our church to Haiti for a missions trip.  Along with us we had our youth pastor, and a few other leaders to help us out!

I have been once before and fell in love with it immediately!  The other 17 people in our group had never been, didn't know what to expect, didn't know just how bad it would smell, or how heartbreaking it would be to experience what daily lives as a haitian is like.  And might I add, I really didn't get this raw of an experience the first time I went.

As soon as we landed in the Port-Au-Prince airport the humidity, heat, and smell of Haiti hits you like a brick wall! You are instantly sweating, sticky, and most of all shocked at the amount of garbage, burning garbage, pollution, dirty water and people that surround you. Now, keep in mind this is just the "lovely" greeting that haiti provides for you!  Pastor Gilbert, who runs a sister church of our church there in haiti, waited for our arrival! He also had a couple friends with him to help pick up our luggage, and all 19 of us! Haiti has what's called a TapTap--our version of a taxi. Only this one is a little more unique, you fit about as many people as you can in the back of a pick-up truck and go! No seat belts, no need to be comfortable, just go! Driving through Port-Au-Prince (PAP), you really got to see how people live. Between watching people of all ages dig through trash on the side of the road for food, animals that are clearly diseased running around everywhere, chickens hanging off the side of a TapTap that are 100% alive, Hogs tied to the top of a truck, people running in and through traffic, no organized driving, big huge Mac trucks that come up so close to your TapTap you feel like you're going to die, and no road signs, stop signs or lights...you really get a feel for Haiti and all its glory!

Once we arrived to the orphanage that we would be staying at for the week, we all were shocked at the difference of being within the gates of the orphanage and out where all the "crazy stuff" is. Our mission this week was to visit four different sights and do Vacation Bible Schools (VBS), feed the kids and tell them about the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This meant going out of the secured walls of the orphanage, into the chaos and reaching out to strangers.  Now, when I went to Haiti the first time a couple years ago, I stayed at an orphanage that had secured walls, a 24-hour guard that walked around with a loaded shotgun and got to work with the same people everyday, so I really didn't know what to expect!
So this experience was a little nerve wracking, and exciting for all of us!

Starting Monday we did our first VBS and it was a complete success! We were able to feed all the kids a whole sandwich and give them a drink.  This was a HUGE deal for them! All of these children are starving, or if they aren't starving they get maybe one meal a day. Towards the end of handing out the food, a little Girl maybe 4 years old holding her food and drink looked up to me and said "you...you....you have!" She kept pointing to my tummy and then her food and tried to get me to take hers.  As a large lump sat in my throat and tears came to my eyes I knelt down and told her "thats for you! You eat it!" Her whole face lit up!  I was humbled by a 4 year old! She already has nothing, clearly dehydrated and hungry, yet she was more concerned about me eating.

The rest of the week was a complete success! 1,000 sandwiches, 200 cheese crackers and 4 successful VBS's later, all of us were worn out, hot, happy, but also very heartbroken.  We watched children dig through trash and eat it, we had mothers trying to give us their babies because they know that they can't give them the health, or nutrition they need to live a healthy life, we witnessed fights break out between kids over a sandwich, we held children who don't get held, we shared the love of our Savior and gave hope to those who are hopeless.
So, why Haiti? Because in this poverty stricken, 3rd-world country there is beauty. Within this country there is hope, laughter, and love.  These people have to work, fight, sweat, be uncomfortable just to live.  But by us going, sharing the love of Jesus and showing them compassion, they have hope.  Hope knowing that their body is only temporary, their pain is only temporary, their hunger is only temporary, their sickness is only temporary.  What a humbling experience and reality it was to be able to share that hope with those who have nothing. Being able to give them something more than they will ever have leaves you feeling blessed.

Now, does going to Haiti give you a sense of guilt? absolutely. Should we feel this way? NO! why? Because God places each and every individual in the places that they are for a reason. I didn't ask to be born in the US, that's just where God choose for me to live, those innocent haitian babies didn't ask to be born into a 3rd-world country, that's just where God choose for them to live. Does this mean that we should be guilt ridden because we have everything we could possibly need or think of easily accessible and the haitians don't? NO! God has a plan and purpose for all things.  Us Americans are blessed with pretty much everything we could think of, we are blessed with the means to be able to GO and SHARE the love of Jesus with those who have nothing.  In turn, by going there we are BLESSED by those who have nothing. Is this an easy thing to realize and feel "okay" with? no, in fact as I'm sitting here in this Air-Conditioned room writing, the lump in my throat has come back. I hate that I can't do more for those people, but I am satisfied knowing that what our team did, gave them more than any american thing, dollar, or food will give them.  Which is love of Jesus.

Haiti, the place that has trash everywhere, burns garbage everywhere, drives vehicles that make you gag from the fumes, rives that are filled with trash, a slum, water that smells and is like poison to your body, food that makes you wonder what you're really eating after seeing what their animals eat, animals that wander around that look like the one's you would see on an ASPCA commercial, naked kids running around with bellies that protrude out due to parasites, kids that look worse than the ones you see on the 3rd-world country commercials, the place that has NOTHING...is BEAUTIFUL.
Believe me Haiti isn't beautiful to the eye, its beautiful to the soul.  I am overwhelmed and honored that our team was able to have this experience and see a small glimpse of what it's like to live in Haiti.
This place will teach you a lot about yourself, what you have and what you complain about.  It's left my heart with a small flutter that is anxious to go back, to get another small glimpse of life in Haiti and to give hope to the hopeless.