Haiti: Out of a mess

I was in a vision clinic outside of Port-au-Prince helping people to find glasses that will help them see or read better and I was talking with a young lady who had a child with her.

I asked if she has ever decided to put her trust in Christ - whether she was able to become a Christian and she said that she was going to put it off until she paid someone back that she owes.  I was puzzled until I discovered that the person she owed was a voodoo priest.  I asked her why she connected the two and you could just see on her face that she wanted to wait until she was done owing the voodoo priest money before she turned herself to God in any way.  She felt like she was connected to something dark and needed to rid herself of that before she turned to the light.

I told her that she is free to turn to God at any time - in fact it would probably be best to turn to God when you are entangled in things that are dark.  In fact, none of us can hope to 'shape up' before we come to God - it is in the act of coming to God in the midst of wherever we are that God does the 'shaping up.'

Well she wasn't hearing it.  So for a $56 loan she was not interested in doing anything at the moment.  And to be honest I was glad to help her with her eye problems . . . but it reminded me of how sweet people can be made to feel in bondage to things that are not good for them.  It reminded me of last year sitting on a playground bench in Belize talking to a gang member after some basketball.  When I asked him if he went to church, he said that he was going to wait until he was done with selling drugs and being a gang member.  I remember telling him that now is the best time to get right with God, don't try to do it yourself.

Again - it fell on deaf ears.  We want to get ourselves out of our messes and then come to God.

If only we could see that the way to get out of the mess is to let God do the dirty work.

Rain's Blessings and Curses

We are halfway through our very short trip to Haiti with a group of great high school students and it is VERY hot here.  It is the kind of hot that doesn't hit you at first but then you start to feel the pulse in your neck and then you realize that you have a sheen of sweat on your arms and back that tell you to drink more water.  It is the kind of hot that leaves salt lines on your T-shirts from the sweat you produce.

So when it looked like a cloudy sunset we wondered if it might mean rain.  Rain it did.  It began with a cloudburst and some thunder.  The students ran out of the cafeteria tent and just danced in the deluge of rain.  I looked out at about 40 students jumping up and down in the soaking rain.  It was thrilling to join them running laps around the tents getting soaked.  Some of them brought out soap and shampoo and were taking showers (in their clothes of course) and trying to run up to anyone dry and give them hugs.

It disrupted our schedule and it was a fun diversion – the rain pelted us and lightning lit up the sky in large electric arcs.  And then it kept raining – very hard – so we had a few issues with rain coming into our tents.  So we worked hard to channel the water away from the dorm tents.

After all the buzz we settled down into some Bible study and a couple girls looked sad.  Asking them why they were sad they revealed that they had learned that the people who we were helping – those that live in mud huts – were probably having their house covering destroyed as we speak.  In the village of Chambrun, houses are made of a wicker type wood and covered with mud.  It is still raining as we speak and that probably means a very disastrous night and a tiring day ahead.

So tomorrow may bring a different routine as perhaps we can help them rebuild their houses.  How many times do they go through this?  Why do they do it? A lot of questions for one night.

One thing is sure – what I thought was an absolute blessing relieving my overheated body was an absolute nightmare just down the road.  And that is what makes understanding it all so difficult.

Haiti

We are in Haiti for a mission trip in partnership with GAIN and LCBC.  I have 44 people here in the hot Haitian sun - and I really mean it, it is HOT.

I have learned that the Haitians have been through a lot in their history.  Most notably the dictatorship of Duvalier or "papa Doc" who clear cut the rain forests that were here so that he could make a buck selling them around the world.  The richness of the country was in its natural resources and at one time it was very prosperous, but as they cut down the trees to sell it depleted the soil's richness and now things grow only with considerable effort.  

One woman said that when you look at a satellite image of the country you can see the outline of the country of Haiti because the Domincan Republic is lush with vegetation while Haiti is a moonscape.

It is very odd being here – the humidity on my skin makes me feel like I am at the beach but the dust in the back of my throat reminds me that I am in a dessert.  Haiti has been used up by selfish and small-minded people. 

This was particularly evident in my visit to CHambrun, a small village down the road . . .

The Haiti kids are rather nasty with their humor and some of the Haitian kids were making fun of a woman in the community whose head is shaved and has contracted some sort of dementia. One of our leaders on the trip is Wendy Stivers – a somewhat quiet person who has the knack for finding the person who is on the fringe and loving them.

The Haitian kids called this woman who was ill over and as she came there was teasing laughter.  Ignoring them, Wendy put her arm around this woman, asked her name and began speaking soothingly to her even though there was a Creole language barrier. You should have seen this woman accept the care, she leaned her head in to Wendy and like a child just felt tenderness when others were mean to her. Wendy then started praying for this woman and the woman closed her eyes and received it.

It was particularly touching when one of the kids who was mocking, came over and bowed her head in prayer as well. 

It was another in a series of lessons I am learning about caring for the neglected – from countries to people who are mentally ill.  Even though things seem to be ‘used up’ they still have value.

Haiti

I am going to Haiti tomorrow and I am mostly excited and a little nervous.

I work with High School students at a church named LCBC and we have had about 30 students go to Philly, 30 students go to NYC and now we have about 45 of us headed to a tiny town named Chambrun northeast of Port au Prince.

Here is why I am excited:  The whole purpose of these trips is to see lives changed - our students (in learning that they are very wealthy and have perhaps too much) and the people in Haiti (in finding a friend from the states that cared enough to come and try to do something to help).  I am excited to see students leave behind their ipods, Facebooks, Lady Gagas, soundbytes, sarcasm, cynicism and wealth.  I am excited to see them rocked by the abject poverty of a people . . . and to see them happy.

When a girl named Ericka returned from a trip to NYC I heard that she liked being a part of someone's life for a week but would like to continue that by becoming a big sister here in the states.

Score.

It seems like God always has neat little nuggets in store when we empty ourselves of everything we have and we go to just love people.  Isn't that interesting?  I mean, isn't that in a nutshell what Jesus did in coming to this Earth?  Funny how imitating Christ is the best way to experience His faith.  We talk about faith IN Christ, but what about the faith OF Christ?

So I will be (hopefully) sending some updates from Haiti in the next week or so!  Pray for us!