haiti

i wrote a post two years ago on Haiti. the country marked me as did my short time there. i was there in 1994, sixteen years ago now. the country and it's faces left their imprint on my heart. i remember pulling into the port at Gonaives and being greeted by fishermen. i remember the traps loaded with fresh lobster, lobsters larger than i had ever seen. i remember the UN soldier i spent some time talking to while on the shore; he died from a gunshot wound shortly after i left the country. he had a wife and a daughter back home he sorely missed.

it was very hard to get to shore during our time there, but there were a few opportunities presented to me. one was a bath. when we arrived to the country, the ship that was docked for a while before we came, took all the water saved for our time there. we had no water. the UN brought us treated water to drink but we couldn't wash dishes or bathe. we also had to conserve the water while we were sailing and did not have much left when we arrived at shore. i think it was about 12 days i had gone without bathing. also when we arrived in Haiti i found out that a friend had died unexpectedly. i was shocked and depressed, and worn out. cried a lot.

and then some kind of relief. a handful of us were aloud to go to shore to get... a bath! in a river, of course, but it was a bath none the less! some lovely faces greeted us to take us to this one area to bathe. two sweet hatian women, my age and a couple of young haitian men, part of the ministry there in haiti. they asked so many questions and wanted to know why i was sad. they did everything they could to cheer me up. they were joyful and loving. happy and kind. i would call them naive but i can't. the environment they grew up in would cause a boy to become a man within hours. i couldn't understand their joy. i couldn't understand their happiness.

the bath was the best bath i have ever had in my entire life. yes, it was in a bathing suit with about 10 other people. but it was cool, crisp water, water that lifted my spirits and washed the heaviness from my body. i sat there in the water contemplating it all, realizing how powerful the Love of God, the only I AM, truly is.

i flew out of Haiti on Christmas day and guess who showed up to take me on the four hour van ride to Gonaives? my sweet Haitian friends. Luc bought us all fresh juice and bananas for breakfast from a woman carrying a large bundle of bananas on her back like she had just picked them that morning. we watched the sunrise over the hills. saw the ebb and flow of the sea in shades of blue i cannot begin to describe. the Haiti i saw was beautiful.

we saw one Christmas tree but plenty of those begging on the streets. barefoot children and feral pigs playing in the same area. shanty towns. shacks barely standing. we saw an expanse of poverty.

Haiti 1937 LIFE Magazine

this is the Haiti of my four Haitian friends. this is their nation. their world. they knew only this; they probably saw many things that would horrify my worst memories and tragedies. but those four faces smiled. those four faces never ceased in finding the JOY OF THE LORD when their world was in abject poverty, in overwhelming pain.

to my four Haitian friends who showed love and hospitality and generosity and true joy, may God grant you His Peace. May the Lord of Creation supply ALL your needs. May He give you JOY in such immense tragedy. May He be your comforter. May you be His light to all around you as you so graciously were to me. May He bless and keep you.