Have Lord - Will Travel: Haiti

Working with NOMADS is not the only way I serve the Lord and helping others. After I returned from the NOMADS Annual Meeting in September 2010, I saw a notice for mission team going to Haiti in December. A tremendous earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 and leveled many buildings and homes. Thousands of people were homeless. I had never been to Haiti, it seemed like a good place to do a mission, and I had no reservations to joining the team. So, I signed up with the team. I cannot say the Lord was speaking to me about the trip, but I sensed He was. Usually, when considering a venture to a new place outside the US where I may not speak the language or understand the culture, I might have some degree of concern or question. This time, none of that.

The nine or so team members came from all sorts of places throughout New England, or the northeastern part of the United States, extending from New Hampshire to West Virginia. We had a great group of men and women of very different backgrounds. Our team planned to stay about a week. We did not expect what lay in store for us.

Arriving at the airport in Port au Prince a local guy who worked at the United Methodist Guest House greeted us. The Guest House was run by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR, and would house us for the week. The guy knew just how to lead us through the crowded airport to our transportation. We loaded the luggage in the back of a truck that looked a lot like the ones used to haul prisoners. The back of the truck had a large cage surrounded by heavy mesh on the upper third so we could see out. It had two metal benches along the sides. Aside from the jokes of traveling in style, we enjoyed our first glance at the nation’s capital.

Surprising to me was the extent of devastation. Crumbled buildings were everywhere. Most showed no signs of recovery from the earthquake. I presumed there might be bodies still buried by the rubble. I felt a certain sadness mixed with my curiosity and wonder of this country.

Haiti was about to have a political election. I heard there were about thirty candidates running for president. Candidate posters were everywhere, perhaps geographically to support the candidate of that particular area.

On my first day of work I rode by van to the work site across town. A new concrete structure stood in place of the previous building. I thought it was a simple construction and soon realized the entire structure was made of concrete, including decorative molding around the walls. The job that day was to sand the walls and ceiling to make them ready for painting. The quality of workmanship was very nice. The team joined a small group of local workers and made ourselves dirty and dusty.

The trek across town showed me more crumbled buildings and hoards of people on the streets. I soon noticed the tent ‘cities’ set up in every open space, sometimes the street. In sharp contrast were the children dressed in school uniforms walking to school. I heard that most of the schools in Haiti are private and to attend, the children must be dressed in clean uniforms. In spite of the poverty that plagued the country, parents insured their kids were clean, properly attired, and in school.

The United Methodist Guest House was a two-story building located inside an expansive walled compound. The compound also housed the Methodist church of Haiti, a private school, and apartments for local clergy, staff of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, and some workers. A gate into the compound was at the end of a short, narrow street off a busy main thoroughfare that bordered one side of the compound. Along that short street vendors would set up wares to sell to visitors.

The second day began very differently. We woke to sounds of crowds in the street about a block away from the Guest House. A few of our team climbed a ladder onto the roof to see across the treetops. The air hung with smoke from fires in the streets. Apparently, factions were demonstrating to express displeasure with the election.

The demonstrations lasted most of the week. Out of concern for our safety, the UMCOR staff kept our team within the compound.

To use our time wisely, we set about doing small projects. A few of us painted the inside of a large schoolroom. While painting I noticed very few wooden tables, and soon learned why wood was rarely used in Haiti. Termites are quite good at finding any wood; just about anywhere wood is used. I saw the tracks of earthen ‘tunnels’ stretching across the concrete floor from wall to table. Termites had eaten into all the tables, desks, and chairs, etching their unique designs into all the wood.

I found a group of local workers who were repairing a cistern. They were preparing to plaster the walls of the cistern and could use my help carrying debris and water. The workers stretched a long extension cord from another building so they would have light in the hole where they worked. The school closed due to the civil unrest, so there was no electricity available to the workers. I retrieved my headlamp from my bunk. While the battery lasted, they had a little light. I worked with them for two days and ended up leaving my headlamp with them when I left. One of the workers spoke a little English so he and I tried to teach the other our native language. I think he learned more English than I learned French Creole.

The Guest House could accommodate maybe fifty people tops. One team was waiting to fly out while we were there. The airport closed because workers could not get to work through the clogged streets. Needless to say, the team was not going anywhere. Meanwhile, two other teams came in from remote areas of Haiti to await the next available flight. Somehow, the Guest House made room for everyone. Water supply and electricity are sometimes unavailable or in short supply. With the sudden high number of residents, we soon ran out of water for showers and toilet. To complicate things further, the electricity was intermittent. UMCOR had a generator for such times, which was nice. However, the diesel fuel had a bit too much water in it so, no generator. As they say, No problemo. We waited out repairs to the generator and applied the old adage, ‘If it’s brown, flush it down; if it’s yellow, let it mellow.’ We survived just fine.

By Saturday, we thought about venturing out to visit a Methodist Children’s Home. The kids ranged roughly in age from 7 to 17. Their parents were killed in the earthquake. I soon learned how starved the kids were for love and attention. I left my ‘comfort zone’ in the car and went to play with the kids. After a while I settled onto a concrete step to watch the older kids play soccer on a small slab. Though they played in such a small confined area, they were very good. Later the game turned to basketball with some of our team joining in. I think the kids had a great time.

The next day, Sunday, found our team attending a church service near the parsonage where we should have been working. This was another adventure. First, we walked a couple of blocks from the parsonage to the church. Along the way I saw collapsed buildings that appeared untouched since the earthquake. I wondered if any bodies remained under the huge concrete slabs. One of those buildings was across the street from the church. I questioned how one building could be flattened while the nearby church seemingly remained intact.

The church filled to capacity, and it was not a small church. Surprising to me, all the adults sat on one side and all the children on the other. Our team was asked to sit with the children, for some reason. Beside me sat a young sister and brother, about 4 and 6 years old, respectively. The girl kept looking up at me. She was shy but curious. After a while, I started making my hand like a spider, as I once did with my own children. The girl laughed. I soon learned that I started something that I should not have started. Hearing a sound, I glanced across the church and the mother was pointing her finger at her kids with the distinct sight and sound of ‘you children best behave or you are going to get what fer when you get home!’ Sheepishly, I put the spider away.

Like any curious child, the girl now began to poke her finger at my arm. She seemed intrigued with my skin color. She then pulled the hair on my arm and examined my skin more closely. My first thought was, ‘hey, watch out for mom over there. I don’t want to get you in trouble (again).’

The church service last about two hours, quite a bit longer than what I am used to. After church we said our goodbyes to the fine people of that small part of our world and headed to a Canadian-owned restaurant for lunch. The restaurant sat high on a hill overlooking an expanse of tropical trees and houses, most of which were covered with blue tarps. Lunch was native fare and very good. I had a chicken dish with the ubiquitous beans-and-rice (or rice-and-beans, which I understand is entirely different from the former) and plantains. Of course, I had to wash it down with a good-ole Coke in the old 16-ounce glass bottle. As we left, we were intrigued with the gate guard armed with a machine gun. Hmm.

Our driver took us away from the city, along curvy roads, up into the high country. Within minutes clouds and a fine mist surrounded us. It was cooler as we stepped out into the fresh air. Wow, was it ever beautiful! Lush green hills stretched in every direction. One of the sights was a building that one of our team members had worked on when she visited Haiti years earlier. Now, the building was inhabited due to the earthquake. I sensed a bit of sadness as she looked over the area.

Monday was a day of finishing our projects around the compound and sorting items received from UMCOR (disaster relief stuff). I should say that the sorting of UMCOR stuff is significant since I later participated in a mission to the disaster relief facility that UMCOR maintains in Baldwin, LA. It was good to make the connection between collecting and packaging disaster supplies in the US and then unpacking those supplies in Haiti.

Since our return flight was scheduled for Tuesday, we figured the airport would be back up and running by then. We checked our reservation occasionally and found that it remained intact. No worries. The Lord was watching over us as we headed out on Tuesday morning skirting the city to avoid debris-cluttered streets. Getting through the airport was relatively uneventful. All of us boarded our flight to Miami. Once there, we said our goodbyes to one another and headed to our respective flights home.

It was a good trip. I would return to Haiti, if given the chance and the Lord makes it possible.