Haiti

In May of this year, I had an awesome opportunity to travel to Haiti for 2 weeks. I stayed and worked at God’s Littlest Angels orphanage. This trip pulled me out of my comfort zone in several ways. I am not comfortable with flying, and hadn’t been on a plane since I was 9 years old. I had never been out of the security and comfort of this country before, and now I was going to a country that had ‘travel warnings’ for Americans. I also had never left my 3 young children for any significant amount of time, who, in May, were 3 ½ years, 2 years, and 5 months old. I had people question me about why I was going, and still have people ask me why I went. I still have no answer to that question other than ‘because that is what I felt God calling me to do’. For people who don’t know God, this is impossible for them to understand. But, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

My first awesome experience during my trip was meeting a young Haitian man named Kesmy in the airport in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Since I had an overnight layover on the way down, I decided to just stay in the airport overnight, and so did he. Kesmy has the most amazing story I have ever heard. When he was 12 years old, he had a seizure and fell into a cooking fire. No one was around, so he was burned quite severely. His father took him to a witch doctor because his family believed in voodoo. His condition deteriorated quickly, and he said that he could feel his fingers start to rot away. He was finally taken to a hospital, but the doctors were afraid to touch him. Finally, a doctor told his mother that if he was going to live they had to amputate both of his arms. After sitting in a Haitian hospital for 6 months with no therapy, very few pain meds, and very little to eat, an American missionary visited the hospital, and ultimately lead Kesmy to Jesus. She was able to get him out of the hospital and to the US where he could get the help he needed. Today Kesmy is 24 years old and so full of life. He is attending Bible school in Michigan, and hopes to become a pastor. His ultimate goal is to return to Haiti and help children and young mothers. He does not let his handicap hold him back at all. In fact, when I asked him if they had ever talked about prosthetic arms, he told me that he actually had a pair, but it was easier for him not to wear them. I thank God for crossing my path with Kesmy’s.

Once I got to Haiti, through immigration, and out of the airport, we started the hour long drive to the orphanage. That was the saddest and most humbling hour of my life. I knew it would be bad by what I had seen on tv, but they tend to exaggerate things on tv a bit. Not so in this case. What they show on tv isn’t half of it. There were tents in every possible open area. There were children walking around either naked or with just a shirt on. Most people were barefoot and walking over mountains of trash and human waste. There was rubble everywhere. There were houses that were completely flat, and others that looked like nothing at all had happened. There were so many people with so much sadness in their eyes, but smiles on their faces. The sights and the smells were heartbreaking, but the sounds were amazing! People living in tents, almost no possessions, and no end in sight were singing praises. If I was living in a tent with my husband and 3 kids in 90+ degree weather and had to pick up everything every time it rained, would I be able to say “Thank you, Jesus, for all You have done”? The Haitian people do.

Once we got out of Port-Au-Prince, I was struck by the beauty of Haiti. I’m not sure what I was expecting the views of Haiti to look like, but I was not expecting so much beauty. It is a truly breathtaking country with gorgeous views. God’s handy work is clearly visible in the mountains of Haiti.

And then there were the children. I spent my days at the main house that houses the younger children from 0-2 ½ years old. I was there every day from 8am-5pm. I was assigned 4 children for my time there. I got each of “my 4 kids” out of the nursery and up to the balcony for one on one interaction for 2 hours every day. It was amazing to watch how much these children bloomed in just the 2 weeks I spent with them. They are beautiful children who have been through more in their 1-2 years of life than most of us could even imagine. These are the faces that will be with me for the rest of my life.

I had the opportunity to go with one of the missionaries down there into a tent city where he held a teen bible study every week. He took us through one of the most devastated parts of Port-Au-Prince. We drove past the tent city run by the French Red Cross. I will never forget the smell that was coming from that tent city. It was a smell that I can’t even begin to describe, and we were just on the outer edge. I can only imagine what it must be like in the middle. We drove past a school that had collapsed. Luckily there had not been anyone inside that particular school when it came down. Then we drove past what had been a 5 story apartment building now reduced to rubble. The knowledge that there were definitely people who had perished when that building came down was overwhelming.

We got to the tent city where Brandon held the bible study. He had about 15 teenagers in attendance that day. Even though I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I could tell that they were having a very deep discussion about God. They told me on the way back to the orphanage that they were talking about relationships with people who didn’t believe in God, and the teens were asking about ways to get their friends who don’t believe to come to bible study with them.
I got the opportunity to interact a little with some of the children in the tent city. It was no where near as much time as I would have liked though. The children that I met were so fun. They were in great spirits, and just absolutely loved having their pictures taken.

As we were leaving the tent city, there was an old woman sitting in a little wooden chair near where we had parked. She grabbed my hand as I walked past her and just held it for a minute. I will never forget the look of sadness in that woman’s eyes as she looked at me. It was a look of such sadness, but gratefulness at the same time. As I walked away, I heard Brandon ask her how she was in Creole, and she said simply, “Grangou.” Hungry. It broke my heart.

There really aren’t enough words or pictures to accurately describe my experience in Haiti. It changed me forever. It drew me closer to God. It helped me to appreciate the little things that we tend to take for granted in this country. Haiti has a spot in my heart that I never knew was there before. I had such as amazing experience. I cannot wait until the day that I can go back. If you have ever thought of going to Haiti, I would urge you to just do it. You will not regret it. I learned a lot about myself in those 2 weeks. It was an awesome bonding experience for me and God.