Day 7: October 7, 2010
Today is our last full day in Haiti. We are in a routine now…up at 6—breakfast at 7—departure by 8 (well the departure time may vary a little). Today we were returning to the Baptist Mission. The Baptist Mission is what I would call a visitor’s center for Christians. It rests on a steep hillside which consequently offers a breathtaking view for its guests.
Today, our transportation offered a bit or relief for our fellas. Pastor Maxo was leading our crew, so we actually had TWO vehicles to get us to our destination. Shelly, Barbara, Adam and I rode with Thierry in his truck, while Sean, Scott, Tom and Randy took a seat with Pasto Maxo. As we drove up the long, twisting roadway, the temperature began to decline. We turned off our AC, rolled down our windows, and were able to breathe in the mountain air. We took notice of the local residents lining the streets selling their goods to anyone who would be brave enough to stop and shop. Per typical practice in Haiti, we were continually passed by motorbikes zipping around corners at a very fast speed. We could hear discussions of the riders fade in and fade out as they sped up and quickly passed. We could see the local pedestrians hop on the back of a tap tap as it slowly made its way around the curvy street.
We reached the Baptist Mission, and the first thing on everyone’s mind was BATHROOM!!! Yay! We had toilets that actually flushed! We were here to each lunch, so we quickly ordered our American meals, and waited at our tables overlooking the mountains. It truly looked like we were in a different place. We were at a high elevation, almost eye level with the surrounding clouds. The mountainside was decorated in patches of dark and light green, with the occasional dark brown plots that were used for gardening. We saw things from a distance, so the beauty of our surroundings was magnified. Although they were tiny, we could make out the figures of several farmers minding their gardens. You could see the rushing river miles below. It was brown, but it helped to define our surroundings. It was truly a beautiful place. A reminder that God made Haiti for His liking.
After lunch, we tooled around the complex looking at local art, reading books on Hatian proverbs, and inquiring about cookies and homemade bread. On our way down the mountain, we stopped at a guest house offered by Pastor Maxo to see if it would be appropriate accommodations for future mission teams. The house was beautiful.
When we arrived back in Port au Prince, Pastor Maxo took us into an area we had not been before. It felt like were driving into the heart of a community, where we could see and hear the heartbeat of this slum. We parked our cars, grabbed our belongings, and began to walk towards our destination. Unlike City Soleil, this slum was extremely wet. The moisture enhanced the smell of wilting garbage and soiled earth. The waste was our landscape. We did muddle through an occasional break in the muck to slide through grey sludge made of who knows what. There were people in every direction, dogs and goats muffling through debris. There was rotten food, single shoes, plastic bottles, food containers, paper shreddings…there was just litter everywhere. It was truly like walking on top of a garbage dump.
We hiked until we reached a small metal gate surrounded by a broken cement building. When we crossed through the gate, we were greeted by 19 adorable little children. It was hard to believe there could be an orphanage in the middle of this landfill. The beauty of these children was a complete contradiction to their backdrop. Much like the outside neighborhood, the smell of rubbish filled the air. Due to the enclosed quarters, the odor was overwhelming. It was obvious that these accommodations had no running water (aka-no septic system). The floors were very wet, and stained with childhood destitution. Even the children wreaked of sewage. It was very dark. Everything seemed to be the same color, almost like a black and white film.
As you entered the orphanage, you saw three of four laundry lines hanging over your head. Each one was covered with very dirty laundry that had just been cleaned There was a rectangular table off to the side encircled by the children...all 19 of them.
When we came inside, the keeper of the orphanage had the children sing songs for us. They sang “Jesus Love the Little children”. They sang it English, and they sang it with pride. It was very touching. The children were very well behaved, but it seemed to me that they were sad. Before the earthquake, there were only 12 kids living here.
My impression of our presence was that we brought color back into this room. Not just because our clothes were bright and clean, but also because our spirits were light and loving. We were wearing smiles that were genuine and had arms that were there to offer love of sincerity. We were also there to play, and a child at play is a child indeed. It was humbling to see these children light up simply because they got to play with us. We played Simon Says, River and Bank, and I told the story of the Little Nutbrown Hare (formal title: Guess How Much I Love You). We also gave out our “JEZI” bracelets, and you know any child loves to get a gift. The kids seemed to be a bit more contented than when we first arrived.
As ½ of our team continued to play, the rest of us took a tour of the orphanage. It was contained in the broken cement building I mentioned before. It was three levels. The top level had only a half of a roof, as it was destroyed in the earthquake. Pastor Williams, who started the orphanage, mad a makeshift roof out of scrap metal. This was torn apart in the tornado-like storms the weekend before we arrived. The kids slept in a room on this level in an area that was still protected by ceiling. Sean and I took a peek at this room. There were about 10 crib-size mattresses covering the floor. A couple of them had sheets, most of them were torn—stuffing coming out of the corners. There was a broken bookshelf on the far wall housing dirty piles of miscellaneous items. Sean picked up a huge piece of broken mirror off of one of the mattresses and set it on the bookshelf. The remainder of the building was much the same. The difference was that the space in the building was unusable…it acted as storage for donations. So really, the kids had only the main room and their bedroom to go between. They never left the orphanage, so that teeny tiny space is all they know.
On a positive note, Pastor Williams is in negotiations with a French non-profit engineering firm that has agreed to repair the school. Their agreement is to do the work for $10,000.00 which the Pastor can pay back, interest free, over a 4 year span. If the plan comes to fruition, the children just might get an education and be able to leave their slum. The Pastor works through NDI (New Directions International) and has high hopes of getting the $300/month he will need to complete this project. That is God at work.
We left the orphanage a changed team. This place just might have been the worst we have seen. The kids are so small. For me, it makes me think of home. I have two young children. When you think about your own family living in these circumstances, your outlook comes full circle and you change. I can’t explain it, you just change. Randy told us before we left on our trip, that we would all get to a place where the line was crossed. A place where you said to yourself, no more, my heart is broken. This was that place for me. When we returned to the car, I cried for these children. I cried for the people here, the poverty, the devastation, this uneducated and unprotected society. No one said a thing because they were all in the same place. Barbara lent me her shoulder and off we went.
We returned to the hotel, made ourselves clean, gathered, loaded ourselves back into the truck and headed into Delmas to have dinner with Pastor Diesel. This was an evening of grand enjoyment, as Pastor Maxo and his family joined us all for dinner. It was like everyone we had worked with during the week was gathered under one roof to celebrate what God is doing in Haiti. It offered reinforcement that our mission trip could get marked in the book as being successful. We gained a perspective on life here, and gained knowledge of plans to make Haiti grow as a Christian people. Simply put, “mission” accomplished.
-Fran
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