Joy.

I experienced a variety of conflicting emotions today. Shock turned to heartbreak, which turned to anger, which miraculously turned to joy. I've seen poverty. I've been to the developing world. But I've never seen this kind of poverty. This kind of poverty rocks your world. Haiti doesn't have "poor neighborhoods." Haiti is poor. Devastatingly poor. And today, our team ventured into the poorest neighborhood in our hemisphere...a slum so chaotic and seemingly overwhelming that few aid 
workers are willing to enter. But Healing Haiti delivers water to Cite Soleil...and I'm so thankful that I was able to be part of it today.

 

As our team pulled into Cite Soleil, water truck in tow, we entered an unending maze of tiny corrugated metal shacks built on feet of garbage. It smelled of sewage and charcoal, and went on as far as the eye could see. But in a place that appeared to be full of suffering and sadness, dozens of little children with huge smiles began running after us. As we slowed to a stop, they shouted, "Hey, YOU" over and over again, and we were nearly tackled by them as we climbed off of the truck! As some of our team filled countless buckets with water, others just played with these kids...ring-around-the-rosie, thumb wars...some games are universal. And you know what? They were so thrilled. The joy of a tiny smile and a full bucket of water in the midst of sadness and suffering...it's unspeakably wonderful. We also took some of the kids to the site of a church being built by Healing Haiti...where we all danced and sang, "God is so good." And He is.

Later in the day, 5 of us went with the Sisters of Charity to their clinic in the city to help with wound care. As someone who has never worked in the medical field, it was definitely outside of my comfort zone. I'll spare you the (gory) details, but after cleaning and dressing the wounds of Haitians of all ages, I was humbled. I was humbled by their strength and by their dignity. I was humbled by the Sisters, who love and serve like Jesus daily...without want of recognition or praise. And I was grateful to be in the presence of both.

As we left the clinic, one of the Sisters gently urged us to view those we serve as Jesus. When we are dressing the wounds, hugging the children, serving the least of these, we are doing it unto Jesus. She encouraged us to be praying for those we're serving while we're with them. What an incredible gift of wisdom from this dear woman!

For me, the big takeaway from today was twofold. First, I'm so thankful that we serve a God who identifies with suffering - who sent His Son to suffer - and who calls us to seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow. And we get to be His hands and feet in this work! And second, when Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, He was inviting us into joy that transcends sorrow and anger. It IS more blessed to give than to receive.

- Erika Paul

Water Truck Day

   

Hello this is Tanner Freeburg. Im a 16 year old on this trip for the first time with my whole family, and it has been amazing so far.
   Today we took water down to Cite Soleil for all of the people that needed it. When we got there the kids all saw our truck and just followed us down the street chanting "Hey you!". Seeing how happy they were just by seeing us was amazing. It got a little chaotic when we were giving out the water but for the most part they have a good system that they use. Some of the people help with the water hose and the rest of us just held the kids and played with them. They would literally climb us and swarm us, it was great. You could really tell that all of the kids just wanted to be loved by someone and I think all of us were happy to be that someone.
   After we got back from the water trucks some of us went to go play soccer with the neighborhood boys and some went to the wound clinic, I played soccer. We rode down to the soccer fields all crammed together, singing as loud as we could. It was amazing watching the boys lead us even though most of them were younger than us. My team lost the soccer game but we made a lot of new friends in the process.
   This trip had been great and Im looking forward to what else God had planned for us.

Working with Kids



Today was an amazing day. First we went to a school that kids went to. I was really suprised how nice the school actually was. We were the first group to ever go to that school which I thought was pretty cool. The kids weren't in school so we couldn't see them there. We helped sort books in the library.



Then after that we went to a ophanage called Gertrude's. When we first got there and the kid's saw us they had the biggest smiles. Some of the kid's needed more help than others. There was some disabled kids there and others were fine. It amazed me how much they want attention because they don't get it all the time. Even if you were holding a kid and you put him down he would want to jump back onto you. After that some people went swimming. We went to the pool with the other group that came down with us. It was nice to hear how their day went and to meet everybody. Today was a really cool day.

Chase

Shattered

Into a million pieces-my heart was shattered. Half the team started the day at the Home for the Sick and Dying Babies. Four large rooms with several rows of cribs lined up wall to wall.  I started by feeding a little baby boy what looked like cream of wheat. He could not get it fast enough. I then picked him up and rubbed his back but when it was time to feed another and put him down he was not happy! I think my tears may have mixed with his as I laid him down and went to the next one and the next one, etc., etc. All of them wanting to be held and none of them wanting to be put down. It was not hard work,  but definitely draining. We then went to Gertrude's, an orphanage with 30 special needs kids and 16 able bodied kids.  There was no school today because of the Carnival (Mardi Gras) celebration, so all kids were there and anxious to interact with all of us. We fed them their lunch, many of them (and us) wearing it. Played a little more and then got back on the tap tap to head back to the Guest House. Our day ran a little longer than expected so we were not able to visit the Apparent Project - maybe another day.

Christi Connelly

Gum and Goats

Day 1:  2/16/2015.
Red and blue dots lined the floor like a twister game to separate the lines into foreigners and native Haitians  Most of our team lined along the red dot floor, fresh off the plane from Atlanta.  My memory was still fresh of my 2010 arrival on the hot tarmac, staring at the jagged crack traversing the airport's main wall.  If the Port-Au-Prince airport was any indication, Haiti's healing was evident.

After a two hour flight delay, our fearless Miami cohorts arrived safely as well.  Glwa pou Bondye (Glory to God)!  While we settled into the guesthouse, a nice breeze cut the edge off the heat.  The neighboring lot looked sketchy at best from my perch on the balcony.  Would the mangy goat nuzzling through the rubble be a photo op or a victim of photo shop?

Two young teens in polo shirts and slides arrived on the scene, un-phased by the goats, let alone the chickens maneuvering the glass shards and mangled ribbons of metal.  Within 15 minutes, a 3 on 3 barefoot soccer game broke out.  Jean Simon wore red.  Long and lean his shots were sweeping;  dragging dry dust clouds as a hot rod out of the gates.  The first team to score "twa" (3) was awarded chiclets.  A better celebration was not had for a recent suburban basketball tournament trophy I had witnessed in suburbia last month.

Celebration:  Safe arrival for our team
Celebration:  A team united to serve
Celebration:  Happy hollers amid the squaller

Day 1.... Haiti is Healing.... us.

John Berge

We have successfully arrived in Haiti! We were blessed with uneventful flight, other than the American Airlines members having a 2 hour Miami delay. Coming in to this trip, I had no idea what to expect, it made me scared and stressed out. But, the second I got here I was so kindly treated and welcomed in like one of the local Haitian people. I was standing at the top of the guesthouse balcony and I just looked up and realized how beautiful Haiti truly is. I saw a boy while I was standing on the balcony playing with a beat up soccer ball and two cement blocks representing goal posts. It really touched me that he (soon joined by other people and I) can have such joy in having so little, I would get very sorrowful and bored if all I had was a beat up ball and a empty lot. I played soccer with them today and the boys changed how I thought. I am starting to become more thankful and joyful like them with what I have and not focusing on what I used to want that I don't need. I look forward to the week ahead! For more life changing experiences and learning opportunities! Thank you for your prayers and support! Luke Berge, age 14

Walk Humbly With Your God

Wow, what an incredible packing party we had last night with the majority of our team (Erika, we'll see you in Miami!) with packing, praying, and pizza!

One thing I encouraged the team members to find a Bible verse that would be their theme verse for the trip.  It may come this week to them through prayer and preparation or the verse may be revealed while we are serving down in Haiti.  We also talked about how much each team member will be taking in and that journaling is encouraged so they can look back in a few months to remember all the activities and people they will be encountering as well.

Here are some pictures from our evening:

 

When I returned home I was struck by the verse Micah 6:8 in my quiet time and this is the verse I've chosen for my theme verse this week, "...To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God".

 

Thank you all for following our journey!  We will be heading down Monday, February 16th - 23rd.  We appreciate all of your donations, prayers, love, and support as we allow God to work on our hearts as we set aside our lives up here in the states one week to serve the "least of these" in Haiti.