January 1st
Friday
I think this day was a day of typical missions frustration. We had hoped to buy paint to start painting the bedrooms of Jan's new house, but there were no stores open. January 1st is Haiti's Independence Day, so everything was shut down. Here's a little history lesson. In 1791 the Haitian slaves rebelled against their French slave owners and gained their independence. However, as the story goes, they were able to do so because they promised Satan their devotion if he would free them from the French. Now I don't want to get into a debate, I'm just relating what I was told. I know there are conflicting reports on if this is just fable or real. But here is what I challenge you to do with this information - meditate on it. Our own American history books are being rewritten to take God out of the equation. We were truly founded as one nation under God, but here 200+ years later many in our society are trying to hide or deny that fact. The same is true for Haiti. I wasn't there in 1791 so I don't know 100% what happened. What I do know is that I have never been in a darker more desolate place. I have never seen so much pain and uffering. I have never felt such overwhelming oppression as I did in Haiti. If Haiti isn't a nation under Satan's control, then it, at the very least, is a nation without God.
Here is where you need to search for more than the media tells you. Yes, there are a lot of "Christians" in Haiti, but there are also a lot of "Christians" that practice voodoo. While they were still slaves, they weren't allowed to practice voodoo, but were expected to take on the religion of their owners. In many cases, the slaves hid their voodoo practices by renaming their spirits with Catholic Saint names. As far as their owners knew, they were practicing Catholicism, but in reality they were still worshiping the dead. Those traditions have carried over into modern times. There are even reports of Priests who also practice voodoo.
So all of that is just to give you a better understanding of the environment we were in. Stephanie Ward (who was on the trip) has made the comment that it's hard to look at the pictures we took in Haiti to find one that really shows how things were. As she said, it's hard, because you don't feel it, you don't smell it, you just get a visual for what it is like. It smelled like bad exhaust, burning trash, and people. I really can't even begin to put into words what "it" feels like. It's one of those times where you truly had to be there to understand what the heck I'm talking about.
Okay, so since we had no paint and no hardware to start on some of the house projects we went to Bor Kanal to see the area where we would be having Kids Club on Monday. Bor Kanal is part of Gonaives and it is right on the coast. Hurricane Hannah did a lot of damage to Gonaives in 2008 (google it sometime - there are some amazing aerial photos of the flooded city). Bor Kanal looks like what I imagine parts of Port-au-Prince look like now. Houses there aren't really houses at all. Often the house was simply four sticks, roughly 4-5 inches in diameter, stuck into the ground with whatever they could find bound or just leaning against them. We got to see my adopted family's home. It was sticks with a blue tarp tied around it and a tarp for the roof. When I say tarp, I'm talking about the type you'd buy at Home Depot for helping tie down items in a truck bed. There was absolutely no ventilation, no windows, just a doorway. That was it. They did have the luxury of having a second room (again sticks w/tarps) in their house. I didn't enter the second room, but the first room was I'd say, 10'x10'. Their whole house could fit in my living room with room to spare. In this house lived the Mom & Dad, and five kids (the youngest was born just five days before we met him). There was also Grandma & Grandpa which I'm pretty sure lived there too, though I'm not 100% on that.
On our way to Bor Kanal, Judes and Lucson showed us their house. Theirs was made from cement. Again, it was a single room, roughly 10'x10'. Both men (who I'd guess are around 6' tall) slept on a twin mattress that was only 3" thick.
So, with only one room, the practical question is - where's the bathroom? There was a communal toilet. I didn't go look closely at it.... just didn't really feel the need to. But, from what I saw there was a cement structure with maybe three stalls. Not sure how it was plumbed or if it was more like an outhouse. I do remember seeing lots of trash piled around it (again - no city sanitation department). Honestly, I'm not sure how many people actually used the toilet and how many just went where they were.
As we walked along the coast line kids gathered around us. They LOVED having their picture taken with digital cameras. If they saw a camera in your hand they'd run up and say, "Photo! Photo!" And boy, could some of them pose! :) One of the first things I noticed where several kids with what I think were umbilical hernias. I asked Jan and she said it was very common. I have no idea what type of health risks that might pose, but I imagine it can't be pleasant. There was one boy who had one at least 3 inches in diameter and it stuck out a good inch or more. As we walked the kids followed us. I had one little guy named Jeffly that held my hand the whole time. If he let go and someone else took my hand, he'd go ahead and grab on too until the other kid got irritated and let go so Jeffly had me to himself again. Every day of Kids Club he made sure to come see me and say, "Hi Nah-omi!" I LOVE his smile. Our translators helped us tell all the kids that were following us that we would be having Kids Club next week so be sure to come. Nothing like advertising in Haiti. Just stick a group of white people in the slum and wait for the intended audience to follow them around to find out why they're there.
We stopped at the church so we could see where we'd be having Kids Club and then continued to the end of the shoreline. When we got there we all (kids included) got in a big circle and our faithful Jiffy (so nicknamed because he loves peanut butter) led the kids in some praise songs. I have to say this about Jiffy - God is using him in a mighty way. He was so quiet around us, but as soon as he was in front of those kids he'd get their attention and keep them focused on the lesson. I noticed the day before at kids club what an awesome translator he is. He didn't just translate, but he put excitement into it. I could have told the most exciting story, but if he translated it in monotone, it wouldn't have had the same impact on the kids. But he put everything he had into the story. And he's young! Nineteen I think.
We had another family over for dinner that night. It was Little Christopher's family. The girls that adopted them (Chelsea and Anna I think) had gotten his sisters baby dolls. The look on their faces when they opened their gifts was priceless. It would have been like if I had given my son every single toy he had ever wanted all at once. It had that much impact on them. A truly special moment.
Okay, I think that's all I have for today.
Until next time,
Naomi
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