Haiti - Matt's First Blog Post!

This is my first and potentially last blog posting ☺. I’m not a gifted writer when it comes to detailing what I’ve learned, experienced, or felt. I’ve tried to be concise, but know much has been left out. I do better in face to face conversation and would love to talk with anyone that is interested about my time in Haiti! It was an eye opening and life changing experience that I’m very thankful for. At the end of this post I’ve added a link to a blog for RHFH. I’ve also copied a comment from a blog visitor that explains in a much clearer and more concise way a lot of what I thought and felt during my time in Haiti.

My trip to Haiti was actually a very spontaneous decision for me as I decided on Thursday the 18th to go on a trip that started Monday the 22nd! The purpose of the trip was multi-fold. First, we were going to observe a children’s rescue center and clinic called “Real Hope for Haiti”, or “RHFH” and to vision cast possible future involvement of Austin Stone in Haiti. Second, we wanted to observe and document a water pipeline that was recently destroyed in Hurricane Ike that provided clean water to thousands of villagers where RHFH is located. Finally, one of the team members is in the process of adopting two Haitian children and needed to file paperwork with the US Embassy.

We flew into Port Au Prince, which is the capital city and home to approximately 2.5 million people. Port Au Prince was a little intimidating as it felt very chaotic. Streets are extremely crowded and full of activity from street vendors. It’s polite to honk your car horn to let other cars know you’re passing, that you’d like them to move faster, that you’re moving into the intersection, etc. so horns are constantly sounding. Traffic laws are virtually non-existent, though traffic lights were recently put into place. Adding to the intimidation factor was the fact that Haiti is very unstable politically, not considered a “safe” place for foreigners, no one looks like you and very few speak English.

While in Port Au Prince we visited the US Embassy so that our team member could file adoption paperwork. Adoption in Haiti is a difficult process due to the corruption of the government. Laws change regularly and timetables for adoption largely depend on whether government officials feel like signing paperwork and in many cases, whether cash is handed over under the table. This is just one example of excessive government corruption.

The embassy was very busy with Haitians hoping to get a visa to the US. Many Haitians try to leave the country in hopes of a better life in the US; however, fewer Haitians are granted access to the US these days as the US has become more cautious in giving out visas. Some of the US caution can be traced back to violence attributed to Haitians (mainly young men) in Miami in recent years and cases of Haitians not returning to Haiti when their visa expired.

The afternoon of day 2 we made the trip to Cazale, a village located north of Port Au Prince, to visit RHFH. The trip took 2.5 hours, 3 trucks (“tap-taps”), and lots of help from locals in carrying bags and food across washed out roads and collapsed bridges destroyed by recent hurricanes (namely Ike).

RHFH is run by two sisters (Lori & Licia) from Indiana and approximately 75 hired Haitians. Most of the Haitians are not educated past elementary school, but have been trained by Lori (a nurse) and Licia to care for mal-nutritioned children, provide medical assistance, and take care of administrative tasks.

One part of RHFH’s work in Cazale is taking care of mal-nutritioned children. Currently the center houses approximately 60 malnutritioned children. The children are typically dropped off by a parent or family member that is not able to care for the child. RHFH will care for and nurse the child back to health until they are strong enough to return to their home. In some cases, children will be left at the gate of RHFH and abandoned, in which case RHFH tries to find adoptive parents for the child. It’s heartbreaking to see children that are too weak to cry or children that have been abandoned because of a deformity, lack of want, or in some cases, the inability to provide adequate care or nourishment. What’s striking after so much trouble at their age is the smile on each of their faces. They just want to laugh and play and to be shown love and attention.

RHFH also provides medical services for those in Cazale and surrounding villages. Patients sometimes walk hours to get to the clinic and come to RHFH for things as minor as headaches and as major as AIDS, severe burns, pregnancy, machete wounds, etc. Typically people will start lining up outside the RHFH gate around 3am. By the time clinic opens at 7am, it’s not uncommon for there to be a line of 250-300 people waiting to be cared for. At 7am, clinic workers will go out to the people in the line, hand them a card with a number on it, and collect little cards containing medical information from prior visits. Patients are brought into the clinic in groups of 10-15. While waiting to be cared for, they sit on benches, take part in singing, and are presented with the Gospel.

This summer, Haiti was hit by multiple tropical storms or hurricanes, the most recent being Ike. Ike caused large scale flooding and massive damage throughout Haiti. In Cazale, houses were leveled, farms washed out and covered in boulders and rocks, and their clean water pipeline completely destroyed. Since the flooding, RHFH has been using filters to produce 600 gallons of clean water a day, which is distributed to the community. All 600 gallons were used each day. Within the last week and a half, Water Missions International installed a filter at RHFH that will pump 6,000 gallons of clean water a day!

RHFH is also involved in community development within Cazale. At some point in the past, Lori and Licia started a “community group” composed of villagers that are interested in serving their community. Members pay $5 a year and meet every Sunday for 2 hours to discuss the needs and current situations within the community. The group undertakes projects to meet the needs of villagers and better the community. Currently the group has approximately 30 members.

Part of our time at RHFH was also spent packaging and distributing food to villagers impacted by Hurricane Ike. We packaged and distributed beans, rice, peanut butter, soap, and other supplies to about 70 families. Most of the family representatives that picked up the supplies were women. They stuffed the supplies into large rice bags and carried them home on their heads!

One thing I learned first hand in Haiti is that showing mercy to those considered “undeserving” is not always popular or commended. Recently RHFH took in a man they found unconscious at their gate. This man had murdered multiple people in the village and the villagers had cut off his lips and left him to die. The man somehow made it to the RHFH gate. Lori & Licia knew the history of this man, but felt that if he still had life in him, they had to help him, both physically by caring for his wounds, and spiritually through prayer and sharing the Gospel. This display of mercy was not popular amongst the villagers as they felt justice for this man was death. The mercy showed by Lori & Licia is a great representation of the mercy God has shown me through Jesus.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved.” Ephesian 2:1,4-5

I also realized during my time in Haiti that I have grown very accustomed to the comforts of suburbia USA that much of the world does not have. There’s nothing wrong with these comforts God has blessed many Americans with; however, it’s my fear that comforts lull many to sleep. My prayer is that my heart would never be so attached to the comforts of the world that I’m hesitant to obey if/when God calls me to abandon them for the sake of his name and purpose.

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http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com/

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“It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve visited this site.
I forgot that as my hectic life continued, lives there continued to end.
It’s easier to not look, so you don’t have to feel the sadness. Just because I don’t look doesn’t mean that they don’t hurt.
I forget.
How can I forget about them?
Because my perfect, blessed life here in my own bubble continues.
I promise to look more.
When I do look, I find myself almost holding my breath. To see children the same ages as my own suffering.
Dying. To become almost in a way attached to a picture of a child, only to see the pictures of their lifeless feet at the end their beds, just days later. I can’t-not do anything about it.
It’s not right. It’s not fair. It doesn’t have to be this way.
I promise to remember more, and to be thankful for our health and the health of our children.
To do something more about what they are going through.
We all fall asleep under the same moon each night and wake to the same sun.
I wonder what the motherless and fatherless have to look forward to?
Do they know who Jesus is? Do they know that he suffers with them?
I wish that I could get my hands on them.
I plan to make that a reality.
Remember them tonight while you pray and seek within your hearts, to help these precious children.
Blessed are they to be within arms reach of these women and in the Hands of our Heavenly Father.”