🚰 Team 1 = Texasabetes - Day 5 👪
This morning the team was lucky enough to be able to attend a Haitian church service, at least part of one. They are rumored to be about 12 hours long. The gratefulness of the Haitian heart is something to be applauded. They arrive at church early and walk through the aisles thanking God for all the things they have; they say "merci Jezi" for my house, "merci Jezi" for my clothes, for the pot I cook in, for my family's health. Can you imagine this kind of thing happeing in the States? Or people even getting to church on time? One of our team members (who is originally from Texas but now lives in Ohio) has been in Haiti for two weeks. She said last week at the Friday church service, they specifically prayed for peace in America. This gives a little more insight into our Haitian brothers' hearts. Their country is full of corruption. Most people are just trying to feed their families. Many have no running water.... and yet they still pray for peace in America. Now I know that not all churches are alike but I would venture to say that most American church services do not specifically thank God for their clothes or pots to cook in. It's not that we are not thankful for these things... we tend to blanket all these things under "thank you for my blessing". But is that specific enough? Someting to ponder I think.
Next we attended another area in Port-au-Prince and delivered water. It was more organized than the day before because we had more experience. The water was still precious but people seemed to be less angry and frantic when the water ran out. The kids were playing in the large buckets of water until they were towed off or corrected by an adult. Kids are still kids, even in Haiti. There is definitely a silent pecking order, some people were allowed by others to cut in line or dip into other people's buckets. I assume they had some kind of presence there that allowed them to break these "rules". We were not there to question things, we were just there to serve.
Towards the end of the day, we were able to attend Mother Theresa's, a home for children that needed additional nourishment or medical care outside of what their families could provide them. When we asked one of the workers for the name of a child, she said that they didn't have one because they were just dropped off there. I can't imagine not having a name, it's the most precious word that ever belongs to us. We were able to hold babies and play with them. I will never forget the sound of the room when we all left. They were screaming and crying and general angriness at us for leaving them. It's very difficult to walk away from a bunch of small children sitting on the floor with only one person in the room. The babies coveted the one on one time, especially with one team member who was a daddy and a master at calming children with butt pats and head rubs. The kids were just little people at their core, just wanting to be loved by someone else, but without a voice to say it.
None of the locations we visited today allowed pictures. So we are including some that are outside of the people we were blessed to encounter.
The more time we spend in Haiti, the more time we want to spend in Haiti. Our perspectives are changing and all of our experiences have been arranged by God. Little things seem to be just not as big, here in Haiti, the big things are the big deal, providing food, water and shelter for your family are what's most important. We already have those things in the States, so why are we so stressed out all the time?
Words of the Day: babies, Lu-Lu, switch, embrace, nap time, name, struggling, interaction, blue stone tree, joyous, Haitians young and old
