Haiti One

Today I had the privilege of going with Pastor Leon (the founder of HOM) to a conference called Haiti One. This is a new organization with a mission to unite the Christian NGO’s in Haiti. It was very interesting to hear the discussion between representatives from all around Haiti share their experience and their ideas. It was an added bonus that the conference was at a really nice hotel called the Karibe. When we pulled up, I felt as if I were no longer I Haiti. It was air conditioned, had multiple restaurants with a wide variety of food (not just rice and beans), had a spa, tennis courts, swimming pools and basketball courts. I was lucky enough to get a delicious breakfast and a lunch at out of the trip. I’m inspired by these people and their commitment to unifying their organizations and working as one to achieve their goal of restoring the nation of Haiti. I am thankful to have had this opportunity and to have been able to spend the day with Pastor Leon. He is truly inspiring and has so much information to share about Haiti. 

 

After my four star experience at this hotel, I was quickly brought back to reality when I went with 4 of the other HOM volunteers and staff members to take the trash. This is something they do weekly and it is unlike anything I have seen in my life. We pulled up to the dump area in a large white truck filled with trash in the back. I was shocked when a few Haitian children jumped on the back of the moving truck and started going through the trash. I soon learned there is an entire community of nearly 1,000 people who live in and around this dump area. They dig through the trash hoping to find anything of value that they could sell; aluminum, plastic, metal, cans, really anything. My heart broke for the people who lived in this “dump community” because I felt so incredibly helpless. I was so shocked throughout the entire ordeal I couldn’t speak or even think about taking a picture. I felt like I was in Slumdog Millionaire, but worse. 

 

I know previously in the post I had mentioned how inspiring the Haitian’s commitment is to pretty much anything they set their mind to, but I can’t not mention what I experienced this last Sunday. I will run through a typical Sunday here in Port Au Prince. We were awake by 5:00 to get dressed and ready for church, which began at 6:00 am. I walked into the church about 5:55 and saw nearly 200 people already worshipping and praying dressed in their very best and nicest clothes. The service was about 2 ½ hours long and consisted of the most heartfelt prayers and worship I have ever experienced. Although I was fortunate to have a man in front of me who spoke a little English and was able to help with some, I pretty much missed about 90% of what they were actually saying. Despite the language barrier, there are few times where I have been in a church in the United States and experienced such a thing; the Holy Spirit was for sure at work in that church Sunday morning. After this service, there were two more services throughout the day, children’s church, Sunday school and youth group. There was something going on from 5:30 am to 10:30 at night… talk about commitment. Something else that stuck out to me is the pastors consider it a failure if they do not have at least one visitor or new member each week. Rarely does that happen because they really do reach out to every single person in their community and invite them to their services. 

 

After our service had finished around 8:30, I walked with a group to the orphanage right down the block. This orphanage has 11 girls: 8 of them are between the ages of three and five, one is in first grade, one in third grade, and one is in seventh grade. All of them are sponsored by HOM and attend the school at  Terre Noire. While there, we did arts and crafts, played games, colored and then helped them get ready for lunch. They were the happiest and most energetic group of girls I have ever met. I don’t know how the housemother and her staff of just 2 others keep up with them all the time. I do hope that during my time here, I will be able to spend more time with them at the orphanage. But I ask that you pray for 2 of the girls, Dafca and Clarafina, they are both 4 years old and have been very sick since Saturday. Yesterday they were taken to the hospital for more treatment because one of them was having seizures and the other had such a high fever that she was delirious and not making any sense. They are already very small, and so pray for strength and for healing for these sweet little girls!

 

Sorry I know that was a long one and unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of them but I’ll share some others from the week so far!!! 

The Karibe Hotel:

The sunset tonight at Terre Noire: 

Happy Last Day of School to the kids of all 4 HOM schools:

And a very happy birthday to my very best friend!! Miss you so much and wish I was there to celebrate with you!! xoxox