I wrote this blog in August in Haiti
Bump, bump, ouch! Every time I get into a van, truck, or tap tap in Haiti, I feel like I’m 3 years old again and my mom is bouncing me around on her knee. At one point during one of our rides into town, I was bounced so high that I think I literally hit my head on the ceiling of the van. As we were riding down the Haitian roads one last time, I steadied myself as placidly as I could and reminisced on our journey through this fifth-world country called Haiti.
David Heady, our Haiti contact, was driving us down to the Port-A-Prince airport for our 1:00 p.m. flight to Dublin, Ireland for the Awakening Conference. Running through the reel of my life over the past month, I laughed and cried over the memories I was leaving behind in Haiti. One of the pictures I will always have engrained in my mind is when we went to a tent city for a feeding program. I will never forget the urgent look in their eyes as we stood on the truck and passed out bags of macaroni to the sea of outstretched hands. They were just bags of macaroni; not money or even steak for that matter. These people were standing on each other, climbing the truck tires, yelling to us, and basically doing whatever it took to get food.
This was my first glimpse at poverty. Driving along into the tent city, looking over the thousands of poorly made tents, I couldn’t help but think, “These people actually live here. It’s not a week stay until your house gets renovated, or 8 day mission trip; it’s their life.” It was quite a sobering moment for a Marietta native who never thirsts or hungers for nourishment.
After we handed out the food, I fell down on the bed of our truck into a puddle of my own tears and a broken heart. Yes I will risk sounding emo at that last statement, but in all honesty, that is truly how I felt. I opened a window to another world; a world that didn’t crave a tall white chocolate mocha for refreshment, but simple everyday bread for nourishment. The more I pondered this new revelation, the more my mind was peppered with thoughts of helplessness and ‘what could I possibly do to even help this problem?’ syndrome. How do we reinstall dignity into a nation that has lived the last 50 years through handouts? As I was thinking, all of the pieces of information that some very wise people had poured into me over the last month came together in a beautiful picture. From working with Samaritan’s Purse and Global Outreach, I saw what the church looked like. I saw a body of believers working together to bring education and water to a thirsty nation. Not only do they see the need, they’ve been working tirelessly to help rectify it. They’ve come in, educated the population, and then stood back to watch how they use their newly learned skills to create a life for themselves. They’ve poured back into a nation the sense of, “Yes, I do have a unique set of God-given skills that I can use to support myself and my family.” This is a notion that is slowly being chipped away with every handout given. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that giving out handouts is wrong; I’m just stating that in order for a nation to thrive in the midst of chaos, they need to know that they can. They can learn a trade and support themselves. The simply need the push and someone standing behind them saying, “I have faith in you.”
Imagine never being told that you can sing. Never being told that you can write well, or have a mind for chemistry. Imagine never being told that you can. That is what we are doing here. Working alongside these ministries who have given their lives instilling programs of aid and education. This livelihood comes with bumps, stumbles, and dream-killers, but I’ve seen the successes that come out of years of devotion to one community. I know I didn’t seem this happy-go-lucky at the start of this blog, but I have also met the Haitians here who have come out of poverty due to the programs implemented by the very organizations I have been working with, and let me just tell you, it’s a great feeling.
So to all of you who are now questioning how you can aid these impoverished countries, here is some advice I can give you. Find an organization who sets up long-term programs aimed to empower the people of that country to learn and work for themselves. If you feel led, go on a short-term mission trip and work alongside these organizations at any capacity you can. Donate to them, and invest long term in something that makes your heart beat or your eyes water. I promise you, your heart will be filled because you, my friend, are participating in Kingdom work. And it is a glorious thing to be a part of!
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