I feel like I spent our last trip to Haiti taking it all in. Looking out over Haiti as a whole, with eyes wide open, and seeing as much as I could. This trip was different. My eyes were able to focus more on the details: the people as individuals, remembering their names and their stories. I learned that, though it may look one way on the outside, the story on the inside is so much deeper.
These older boys were quite outgoing, repeating over and over “Hey you! Hey you!”. Pose after pose they wanted me to take their picture. There was so much laughter in this moment between the boys and me. We even got shushed because we were interrupting our team leader that was trying to talk to the group.
When we were told that we would be interviewing kids for the day I was excited thinking about how fun it would be to sit and talk with kids about their favorite foods, favorite color and favorite subject in school. Most of the kids, dressed in their very best for school, just stared at us like a deer in the headlights.
I was not prepared to have little ones tell me that they lived with “a relative” or “Miss Rosaline,” not even knowing how they were related to them, if at all. One little sweetheart told us point blank that her mom had died. Then her little face just crumpled and she cried and cried. I gently stroked her arm as giant tears rolled down her face and she moaned and moaned. She folded the tissue that I gave her so gently, like it was an antique handkerchief that had been handed down in her family.
We gathered around a woman that had lost her dad just 2 days before. An “old” man of only a little over 50 years of age that sat on the porch in the background, waving as the Heartline crew would drive by only days before.
As we prayed for the family as they mourned, Shad visited with a young man that said he had learned English by reading the Bible and listening to sermons in English. He recited scripture to Shad and asked Shad what his favorite verse in the Bible is. He said that he dreams of coming the America to go to college some day.
This village where we met all of these children is called Chambone. The church is called the Valley of Hope. And, amongst all the difficulty and pain, there is hope here. We had the honor of visiting the church on Sunday and worshipping the same God together. Two days later we were back visiting the school that was built a few years ago. The reason we were interviewing the kids was to gather information to help get the kids sponsored for school. Not that long ago, this area was desolate and the people were hungry and some naked. We heard the story of one family that had a set of twin girls and they had to choose which on they were going to feed, leaving the other sick and dying. Now both of those girls are about 6 years old, attend school and are thriving. This is the Valley of Hope.
It’s so hard to tell the story about these kids. I don’t want to sound like I am using their story to make Haiti look like a bad place. It’s not a bad place. It is a beautiful and complicated place. There are good people there. But, like anywhere else in the world, there are not so good people, too.
I, in no way, want to exploit these little ones anymore than they already are being exploited.
What I will say is this.
They are not getting the kind of care that they need or deserve.
They are innocent.
Being forced to grow up way too fast.
By a person that just uses them for his own gain. I cannot fathom what would make a person do such a thing. Evil is the only reason I can come up with to even begin to reconcile this in my mind.
These sweet kids NEED our prayers.
They NEED us banging on the doors of Heaven on their behalf.
Please join with me in doing this. Not just today, but each and every day. Pray for the kids of Haiti. Their lives are so complicated.
But it’s not hopeless.
Jesus is here.
Can’t you see it on the faces of these little ones?
Then Jesus came to them and said,
“All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Therefore go
and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the
very end of the age.
Matthew 28:18-20
No comments:
Post a Comment