Wednesday, August 10, 2016

More Cite Soleil reflections from another team member

Yesterday was water truck day! I have so much to tell you guys. So many feelings... too many feelings actually.

My first thought arriving in Cite Soleil was "Wow, these people are really thirsty." Children everywhere. Some with clothes, some not. Some with noticeable Kwashiorkor, but all smiling. I found myself getting caught up in the moment of filling buckets and carrying buckets, I didn't notice I was hyperventilating... I decided I needed to step away; took two steps then Sue yelled "We need more help!" So I jumped back in. Filling buckets, moving buckets, putting buckets on people’s head. (my fish tank filling experience was really helpful) Nonstop, I didn't have time to freak out, and when I was, I had no choice but to ignore it.

One thing that affected me greatly today was when I was placing the buckets on their heads, I would spill some and it would run all down my clothes. As I looked around, hardly any of the other team members and people had wet clothes like I did. It was almost embarrassing how obvious it was that I was spilling this precious water that they need to survive. I was very concerned with the image I was portraying to these people, I'm helping, but I'm spilling their water all over myself.

When I was so engulfed in the heat of the moment, a sweet girl pulled me to the side, (I was expecting her to lead me to a bucket she wanted me to carry) but rather than that, she asked me my name. In that instant it was as if nothing else mattered other than talking to this sweet child named Bianca. Another time a child climbed up me, I patted him for a second then said "no no" prying him off, he snuck the quickest kiss on my cheek! I laughed and sat this happy little child down who was squirming with joy, as was I.

"The Lord's hand was breaking my heart." I was feeling such defeat. When we got back to the guest house, I spoke to one of my team members named, Marlo. She really helped me as I was struggling with thoughts of "Am I strong enough for this? Will I get stronger? Is this something I could do again?" I'm very thankful for her talking me through the events of the day and her experiences with water truck day. She gave me a new wave of hope and perseverance to continue to carry on.


I love my life, my family, my country, and my opportunity to help others. My word of the day today was "Thirsty" Our thirst for water, their thirst for water, and everyone's thirst for God's grace and love. I am feeling a thirst to keep going, keep helping, keep giving, keep sharing; and I pray that my thirst for those things to never be quenched.

Love
Honnah

Day two, reflections from Cite Soleil

What an awesome, emotional, joyous, heart-breaking and hopeful day! After our first morning breakfast at the guest house, our crew of seventeen crammed into the taptap (a truck with bench seating in a caged back) and drove 45 minutes to Cite Soleil. The drive was fun as we talked and laughed most of the time. We had to remind ourselves to stop and look around at how life works in the poorest city within the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Whether it's your first time to Haiti or your fifth, the view is shocking. 

We met up with the water truck half way and ultimately arrived deep in the city. I don't know quite how to describe the scene. In America, a poor neighborhood has run-down apartments and rusted out old cars. Here, no such luxuries exist. Frankly, it feels much like driving into a dump, with a line of tin shacks and narrow roads or walkways. As the taptap slowly crept into the neighborhood, the "dump" changed. Children emerged from everywhere, smiling and yelling "hey you" to the caged Americans arriving. They knew what was coming.

In this neighborhood, there is no fresh water without someone bringing it in from the outside. One would think the children were running toward us in celebration of the water arriving. They weren't. When the doors of the taptap opened, hundreds of kids -- many undressed -- were standing with their arms held high. They just wanted us to pick them up and hold them. These kids aren't often held. They aren't played with. In fact, many of them are essentially abused slaves, obtained through child trafficking. They are called Restaveks. 

More than anything, this scene showed us how desperate we humans are for love. Feeling loved was more important than water. It was more important than anything else we could give them. Almost immediately, every member of our team was holding two or three children in excruciating heat. If we held two in our arms, a third was climbing up our back. 

Then we opened up the water hose and the scene became mayhem. Hundreds of people came running to the truck with anything that held water -- five gallon buckets, barrels, pots and pans. The water was streaming so fast it filled a five gallon bucket in about a second. We needed one person controlling the hose, a team pulling away the heavy water buckets, and a team maintaining order for the crowd struggling to get to the front of the line. Amazingly, although it got heated at times, there were no fights or significant pushing. It was exhausting. The water poured for 30 to 45 minutes. Those not working the water truck were holding children, playing, dancing and singing. But we all rotated through because it was too exhausting to do any one job too long.

The most heart-breaking moment came as the last drops came out of the truck. Many empty buckets remained as people begged for a bit of the remaining water. But then it was gone. It's hard to describe the looks on their faces or the anguish in our hearts. So we turned our energy to something positive: the kids. 

We all walked down the streets with the kids, holding hands, carrying them, skipping and dancing. Similar to the feeling we had when water ran out, each of us was carrying multiple children while others pulled at our legs asking to be held. We simply couldn't hold everyone, which was also heart-breaking.

At the end of the road, we came upon an oasis. It was a wonderful new building -- the only quality building we had seen since boarding the taptap that morning. It was Hope Church. It is brand new and open to the community. Last year when we were here, Hope Church was under construction, built on top of nearly thirty feet of trash. What an incredible construction project, built by local Haitians, who were thankful for the blessing of having a job and learning a skill. But, last year, we wondered whether it would ever finish. Now, here it was, paid for through donations of people from around the world -- and many supporting Churches in America. This incredible building is not only the first of its kind in the neighborhood, but we estimate that it is perhaps the only real building many of these people have ever stepped in. It is a refuge from the craziness, the danger, and the heat. And it's a place where the neighborhood can learn about the one who loves them. It's also a place to learn... because the church is also a school with quality classrooms, desks and chalkboards. You can't imagine how valuable this simple building is to the neighborhood until you walk through it. Absolutely amazing! 

Around noon, we boarded the taptap and traveled back to the guest house to clean up. We were a mess!

After cleaning up and a quick snack, we re-boarded the taptap and were on our way to Grace Village in Titanyen... another miracle. We went there to prepare for the service we will do this morning. We can't wait to share more about this. But I'm going to let another team member do that. There's so much to tell. There aren't enough words :)

Please pray for us to be effective today at Grace Village, that we will connect with the kids and help accomplish Healing Haiti's mission to strengthen families :)