Reflections on Haiti
Three days after I've returned home, I still find it difficult to process everything to make a coherent and cohesive account of my experiences. I discovered many things about myself that I didn't know existed. I watched as people who had literally lost everything they had wake up at 4AM every morning to worship and pray. The Haitian people rocked my understanding of clinging to the Lord and finding strength and joy in His presence.
On the flight to Haiti, I already began to get a feel for what the Haitian culture is like. The people are very passionate, in good ways and bad. A man on the plane got angry that someone had placed their carryon luggage in the space above his assigned seat, so he took it out and left it in the aisle as he proceeded to put his own bags into the compartment. The Americans around him sat wide-eyed at his boldness and his fierce determination to "get what's his". I met the girl who sat next to me. Her name was Desiree, and she lived in Long Island. She was adopted from Haiti when she was 7, but still kept in some contact with her biological family. Her mother had lost a leg in the earthquake, and she was going to see her for the first time in 16 years. She said to me, "No matter how long we've been gone, we all love our country. Almost everyone you see on this plane hasn't been to Haiti in a long time, but no matter what, we love it." During the flight, she kept talking and laughing with another Haitian man who sat a few seats away from us, and passed out Twizzlers to everyone around her (I was quite grateful..the two hour flight delay left me hungry). I asked her if that man was related to her, and she looked surprised. She had never met the man before the flight. To our left, four more strangers were engaged in a rambunctious conversation in Creole, laughing and pushing one another. They too had never met before the flight. The entire cabin buzzed with conversations, and I felt like I had been swept into a family reunion. When the plane hit the ground, the entire cabin cheered and clapped; some even uttered prayers of thanksgiving.
We stepped off the plane into the extreme heat and humidity of the island. Customs and baggage claim were held in a large warehouse. Baggage claim was quite the experience. It was a mob of people in a 95 degree room, pushing and shoving for luggage that's being thrown out of two openings in the side of the wall. It took us a good hour to find all our luggage (mind you, we had many medical supplies), before we were finally able to pass through the final checkout and leave. By God's grace no one stopped us to check our bags (we could have been taxed almost a thousand dollars for what we were bringing in).
I always describe my first images of Haiti as a mix of scenes from Hotel Rwanda, District 9, and Slumdog Millionaire. The only references I have in my life are to movies I've seen because there's nothing I could compare to what I saw. I was hit first by the noise. It put New York City to shame. The sirens, the yelling, the honking of the horns, made my head spin. Military trucks from the UN filled with armed soldiers drove by slowly, while trucks weaved by with people hanging off of every bar there was. We were met by quite aggressive baggage handlers who kept their hands on our luggage, wanting to help us with it so we'd tip them. We waved them away as firmly was we could, but a few still hung on. Since our flight was delayed, we didn't know when we would get picked up. We waited in the entrance of the airport for another hour before we finally saw our local from El Shaddai Ministries. When DouDou (his nickname hehe) showed up, the relief was unspeakable. We were hungry, tired, hot, and nervous, but he came and seemed to calm the seas. He spoke sternly to the baggage men who still had their hands on our things, and quickly ushered us to the vans. As we walked to the vans, teens and children followed us, begging for money. One of the women, Judithe, relented and gave a few dollars to some of the kids, who fought for the money and quickly a large group of kids began to swarm in our direction. DouDou told us to get in the car and not to open the door. We were fine with that. There was AC in the car too.
He took us on a short tour in the car. We drove around the city of Carrefour, and even got out to take pictures of the destroyed Presidential Palace. The damage from the earthquake is everywhere. Nearly all the buildings were completely or mostly in ruins. Houses were flattened, cathedrals crumbled. We passed by miles of tent cities, where most of the population live in due to the lack of housing. I was shocked by how many people I saw in the streets, and realized that they had nowhere else to be. Our driver was an expert at weaving around piles of rubble, people and animals, and other cars coming straight at us. Driving in Haiti was another entirely new experience. THere were virtually no stop signs or traffic lights, the smaller local areas had no lanes or directions. Cars simply went wherever they pleased and honked the entire way to let everyone know they were approaching. Many of the streets were unpaved, so it was like riding on a motocross course. The images from the streets flashed by you so quickly that it was difficult to process everything. It was sensory overload.
We finally arrived at the Oasis Recover Center owned by El Shaddai Ministries International around 7PM. We were starving and tired, but we were so happy to meet everyone else on the team and to be able to rest. We had a delicious meal of rice and beans, chicken, and a red sauce with onions. It was amazing. Then everyone introduced themselves and we got ready for church the next morning.
Church services start at 7AM, and go on for about 3 hours straight. When we arrived at the church at 7, the overflow section was already packed. There were over a thousand people there already. There were about 6 pastors on the stage, and the service was a bit confusing for us since we couldn't understand the language. But I really felt the presence of God in the place. I was in tears when the pastor asked for the young people who had been struggling with hopelessness and suicidal thoughts since the earthquake to come to the stage for prayer, telling them that there's hope in Christ. The stage was filled with young people crying out to God.
The rest of the week flew by. Every day of the week we set up a clinic in a different compound and saw over 150 people each day. It was exhausting and hot and sticky but it was amazing how quickly we bonded with the locals. I cried several times during the week by simply looking around, and feeling the love God was filling in my heart for the people, crying because I felt that the pain in my life was miniscule in comparison to theirs, crying because their countenances were still lit with the joy of the Lord. They are an amazing people. Each day before we started clinic, the pastor would lead the people in prayer and songs of thanksgiving to the Lord. Our whole team broke down in tears on the last day, just watching these people worship.
The team also bonded in ways we couldn't imagine. We became a family, and I still miss them! It really was the divine purpose of God to bring us all together from all over the nation (and the world!) to come together and have us all work so well together.
I have so many other things to say but I don't want to leave this draft sitting in my blog anymore so I'll update it when I think of more things!
Bon dieu ben ni! (God bless you!)
On the flight to Haiti, I already began to get a feel for what the Haitian culture is like. The people are very passionate, in good ways and bad. A man on the plane got angry that someone had placed their carryon luggage in the space above his assigned seat, so he took it out and left it in the aisle as he proceeded to put his own bags into the compartment. The Americans around him sat wide-eyed at his boldness and his fierce determination to "get what's his". I met the girl who sat next to me. Her name was Desiree, and she lived in Long Island. She was adopted from Haiti when she was 7, but still kept in some contact with her biological family. Her mother had lost a leg in the earthquake, and she was going to see her for the first time in 16 years. She said to me, "No matter how long we've been gone, we all love our country. Almost everyone you see on this plane hasn't been to Haiti in a long time, but no matter what, we love it." During the flight, she kept talking and laughing with another Haitian man who sat a few seats away from us, and passed out Twizzlers to everyone around her (I was quite grateful..the two hour flight delay left me hungry). I asked her if that man was related to her, and she looked surprised. She had never met the man before the flight. To our left, four more strangers were engaged in a rambunctious conversation in Creole, laughing and pushing one another. They too had never met before the flight. The entire cabin buzzed with conversations, and I felt like I had been swept into a family reunion. When the plane hit the ground, the entire cabin cheered and clapped; some even uttered prayers of thanksgiving.
We stepped off the plane into the extreme heat and humidity of the island. Customs and baggage claim were held in a large warehouse. Baggage claim was quite the experience. It was a mob of people in a 95 degree room, pushing and shoving for luggage that's being thrown out of two openings in the side of the wall. It took us a good hour to find all our luggage (mind you, we had many medical supplies), before we were finally able to pass through the final checkout and leave. By God's grace no one stopped us to check our bags (we could have been taxed almost a thousand dollars for what we were bringing in).
I always describe my first images of Haiti as a mix of scenes from Hotel Rwanda, District 9, and Slumdog Millionaire. The only references I have in my life are to movies I've seen because there's nothing I could compare to what I saw. I was hit first by the noise. It put New York City to shame. The sirens, the yelling, the honking of the horns, made my head spin. Military trucks from the UN filled with armed soldiers drove by slowly, while trucks weaved by with people hanging off of every bar there was. We were met by quite aggressive baggage handlers who kept their hands on our luggage, wanting to help us with it so we'd tip them. We waved them away as firmly was we could, but a few still hung on. Since our flight was delayed, we didn't know when we would get picked up. We waited in the entrance of the airport for another hour before we finally saw our local from El Shaddai Ministries. When DouDou (his nickname hehe) showed up, the relief was unspeakable. We were hungry, tired, hot, and nervous, but he came and seemed to calm the seas. He spoke sternly to the baggage men who still had their hands on our things, and quickly ushered us to the vans. As we walked to the vans, teens and children followed us, begging for money. One of the women, Judithe, relented and gave a few dollars to some of the kids, who fought for the money and quickly a large group of kids began to swarm in our direction. DouDou told us to get in the car and not to open the door. We were fine with that. There was AC in the car too.
He took us on a short tour in the car. We drove around the city of Carrefour, and even got out to take pictures of the destroyed Presidential Palace. The damage from the earthquake is everywhere. Nearly all the buildings were completely or mostly in ruins. Houses were flattened, cathedrals crumbled. We passed by miles of tent cities, where most of the population live in due to the lack of housing. I was shocked by how many people I saw in the streets, and realized that they had nowhere else to be. Our driver was an expert at weaving around piles of rubble, people and animals, and other cars coming straight at us. Driving in Haiti was another entirely new experience. THere were virtually no stop signs or traffic lights, the smaller local areas had no lanes or directions. Cars simply went wherever they pleased and honked the entire way to let everyone know they were approaching. Many of the streets were unpaved, so it was like riding on a motocross course. The images from the streets flashed by you so quickly that it was difficult to process everything. It was sensory overload.
We finally arrived at the Oasis Recover Center owned by El Shaddai Ministries International around 7PM. We were starving and tired, but we were so happy to meet everyone else on the team and to be able to rest. We had a delicious meal of rice and beans, chicken, and a red sauce with onions. It was amazing. Then everyone introduced themselves and we got ready for church the next morning.
Church services start at 7AM, and go on for about 3 hours straight. When we arrived at the church at 7, the overflow section was already packed. There were over a thousand people there already. There were about 6 pastors on the stage, and the service was a bit confusing for us since we couldn't understand the language. But I really felt the presence of God in the place. I was in tears when the pastor asked for the young people who had been struggling with hopelessness and suicidal thoughts since the earthquake to come to the stage for prayer, telling them that there's hope in Christ. The stage was filled with young people crying out to God.
The rest of the week flew by. Every day of the week we set up a clinic in a different compound and saw over 150 people each day. It was exhausting and hot and sticky but it was amazing how quickly we bonded with the locals. I cried several times during the week by simply looking around, and feeling the love God was filling in my heart for the people, crying because I felt that the pain in my life was miniscule in comparison to theirs, crying because their countenances were still lit with the joy of the Lord. They are an amazing people. Each day before we started clinic, the pastor would lead the people in prayer and songs of thanksgiving to the Lord. Our whole team broke down in tears on the last day, just watching these people worship.
The team also bonded in ways we couldn't imagine. We became a family, and I still miss them! It really was the divine purpose of God to bring us all together from all over the nation (and the world!) to come together and have us all work so well together.
I have so many other things to say but I don't want to leave this draft sitting in my blog anymore so I'll update it when I think of more things!
Bon dieu ben ni! (God bless you!)
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