Haiti 2012 -- A Hopeful Journey

Two years ago, I left Haiti humbled, heartbroken, and discouraged.  As part of a medical team working at a field hospital after the earthquake, I helped shut down the hospital due to eliminated funding.  Much of my job involved patient discharge and helping move the injured Haitians from one tent city to another.   My students and I created a documentary to raise awareness about the situation, and it drew some attention to the cause through film festivals.  But, the images of the devastation, the anger, pain, and heartache of the people, and the overall experience never left my mind.   

As I have shared on this blog, the two years since that trip have been personally challenging: six months of fighting lung infections (which I first feared were caused by my time in Haiti), a year of battling an adult-onset speech impediment including five months of speech therapy, then the solution found in Parkinson’s medication that has left me regularly drained and a little scared.

So, my trip to Haiti this summer was a chance for me to return to the country where I began to experience some of the saddest times of my life to help in a different way with a group from my home church, Flood. The last trip and my health struggles had drawn me closer to Christ and to my community, but it also left me battered and tired, so this Haiti venture trip in many ways was about me choosing hope, love, and joy, despite circumstances, for the sake of others.  It was also an opportunity for me to return to the mission work I feel called to do.   This venture was my ninth international mission trip. 

For one week, our team of fifteen men worked for Children of the Nations (COTN) Haiti.  COTN is the organization I traveled with in 2010 as part of a disaster relief team, but now they are in the early stages of setting up a permanent ministry in Haiti.  They already have established ministries in Sierra Leone, Malawi, Uganda, Dominican Republic, and Liberia.  COTN’s mission is to “partner with nationals to provide holistic, Christ-centered care for orphaned and destitute children, enabling them to create positive and lasting changes in their nations.”  

Our team’s primary goal was to help COTN Haiti develop relationships in the community they are now serving, as they prepare to begin child sponsorships, feeding programs, and eventually build a school and a clinic there.  We organized and held a vacation Bible school, a soccer camp, and a leadership conference for adults.  Here are some of my personal highlights:

·      My friend, Brian, the COTN Haiti Startup Consultant/Liaison, was our host.  He, two other men on our team, and myself were in a spiritual formation course, theodyssey, two years ago when Brian accepted the call to full-time ministry in Haiti, first for Samaritan’s Purse then COTN.  It was awesome to hear how God had prepared him for this opportunity and see in person the work he has been doing.   It was also great to work with Marc and Daniel, the Haitian men who will continue the ministry when Brian leaves this fall.

·     On our first day of VBS, a little boy named Roberson grabbed my hand when I first walked up.  He hung out with me throughout the VBS and loved playing with my camera and mugging for the camera.   His joy was infectious, and he and the other children reminded me of my continued desire to have children of my own one-day. 

 

·      In the spring, our church packed 150,000 meals during four services on a Sunday to ship to Haiti.  For four days on our trip, we had the opportunity to feed children the meals we as a church had packed in San Diego.  Handing those meals to the children, like Roberson, was such a blessing.  We were also able to see and hear firsthand how our church’s campaign to raise $200,000 for Haiti has been foundational to the beginning of COTN Haiti.

·     Watching the men on our team, many who had little to no experience working with small children, serve outside of their comfort zone -- singing songs, making crafts, and performing in skits all without knowing the local language -- was phenomenal.  Having positive male role models do these simple activities and coach on the soccer fields there is uncommon.  Check out this short video of the song, Making Melodies in My Heart, led by our team member SunMin that the kids loved, and apparently, we did too.

·      For the past two years, COTN has been caring for and supporting 12 children who were severely injured and/or lost family members in the earthquake.   Eleven of these children went to the beach with us on our last day in country.  Several of them lost arms in the earthquake.  Some of them watched as their family members were killed in their own homes.   Many of the kids cannot swim, so they would hang on to our necks in the water.  I played a good deal on the edge of the water with John, who has a hip replacement.  I also spent time with Luciano, who hung onto my neck as we swam together multiple times.  Having this one-armed Haitian boy hanging onto me in the ocean while he sang rap music is a life highlight.

·      Nightly, we had debriefs with our team to discuss the day, sometimes do a spiritual discipline together then plan for the next day’s activities.  An affirmation time for the whole team and the night each of my fourteen-team members prayed for my healing were uplifting and God-filled.   This group of guys is the best team I have ever traveled with.

COTN Story About Our Team

I videotaped three hours of footage on the trip. My high school cinema students and I will be creating another project from this experience.  This documentary project will tell the story of COTN Haiti and how they hope to transform this nation through its children.  I will also be editing a video to celebrate and highlight our team’s trip experience. 

I am so thankful I had the opportunity to return to Haiti to work with COTN.  There is still so much to be done there, and every time a storm hits like this past weekend it’s tougher to recover.  The conditions and devastation are still heartbreaking and overwhelming, but it was encouraging to see the mission of COTN Haiti in action and take part in the early stages of their ministry there.  The work they are doing has the potential of sustainability and the opportunity for major impact.  During the time the guys on our team prayed for me, one of my close friends prayed that God would also heal my heart.  I feel like this trip helped start that process.  This time, I left Haiti with a heart filled with a sense of hope, healing, and hosanna – exclamations of praise for a God who can redeem all things. 

For more information on how to help: COTN Haiti Child Sponsorship Program  

For More Photos From Our Trip: Haiti 2012 Photo Album

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
    and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.