Ray Team 1 Day 3 Water Truck

Today, our team faced one of the most emotionally, exhausting and rewarding part of our mission trip, which involved water deliveries to the slums of Port-au-Prince.  My heart has been anticipating this day, since we arrived in Haiti, I been aching to meet the children and families of Port-au-Prince. One of our team leader's Ray stated that our water delivery represented, "the living water." All morning those words echoed in my mind, "the living water." I kept praying for God to reveal himself to the helpless people in Haiti. I prayed for God to guide our team and to strengthened us through His holy word.

Upon arrival at our first water delivery, my eyes met the eyes of the children. Their eyes lit up when they saw us. I looked into one little boy' eyes and saw that they were bright yellow, but yet his eyes were able to spark a smile towards mine. The children jumped into our arms and onto our backs. I felt weighted down, but yet overcome with joy by their contagious smiles and joyful laughter. 

These children had a sense of hope in their eyes and it gave me hope in seeing that they were able to smile in the midst of their poverty stricken lives. I looked around on the ground and saw the children's bare feet running by fecal matter and trails of dirty water. Along the streets and rivers there was mountains of trash. I kept thinking to myself these children and their families do not deserve to live this way. However, something about our water deliveries gave these people the courage to move forward and keep living. I could never imagined living in a house made out of cardboard, deteriorating bricks, and pieces of metal. The Haitian people of Port-au-Prince, have nothing, but yet their love for one another and their country overpowers the enemy of poverty. As my team was helping the children carry buckets of water back to their houses, I had to remind myself that God is in control. There were endless lines of people carrying empty buckets, barrels and large bowls. I smiled as I saw children refreshed their hot and sticky bodies with fresh water. Children danced as they took buckets of water and dumped it all over their tiny bodies. One child, dumped his face into a bucket of water as if it were his first time tasting water. A few women were throwing elbows and having a exchange of words as they fought to get to the head of the line. I was praying that each bucket would get filled, but deep down, I knew that we would run out of water. Once again,  I had to remind myself that God fills us up with his goodness and love, and HIs well never runs dry.

 I witnessed small girls and elderly women carry buckets of water on their heads, with some much strength and grace. I helped a few children carry their buckets back to their houses, and I recalled my hands beginning to ache, but I reminded myself these children complete this journey everyday, my privilege self only has to complete this journey once. I wanted to be strong for them. Although, many of these children may be independent, they still need encouragement and love from an adult. Most of these children only spoke Creole, but yet we were able to bond through physical interactions and kind gestures. These children gave me more than what I could ever give them. These children were the eyes of God and they shared God's unconditionally love through their laughter, hugs and touches. Before I board the Healing Haiti truck for the last time, a little girl held onto me tightly and did not want to let me go. I told her that it is going to be okay and that God is watching over her from Heaven. She nodded her head and smile, her response reminded me, why God placed our team in Haiti, which is to spread the love Christ to all of His children with compassion and grace.