Haiti Recap

When I heard about the earthquake just hours after it happened, I knew that I would be going. I knew that God would make a way for me to go and to help those that He has joined my heart to. It was a matter of getting there and what to do. I never expected that God would deliver into my hands a capable team and a divine invitation to reshape a nation. But that is what God is looking for right now. People to partner with Him to rebuild and to reshape. I want to be a part of that dream of His heart however I can.

When we first arrived in Haiti it was getting dark and as we where driving I was seeing glimpses of destroyed buildings. My heart sank as we passed some of these buildings and could smell death. Wednesday morning as we set out for Carrefoure I was crushed to see these glimpses full on. Every other building was collapsed on top of another. Piles of concrete, re-bar, and electrical wires lined the streets. Personal belongings like one shoe or a doll lay in the road, and people were walking around with blank stares on their faces. It was a sight that no one can prepare you for. I felt like I was on a Hollywood movie set and any minute someone would yell "cut", but no such luck is in store for the Haitian people. Instead they are rolling around huge boulders of concrete and chipping at remnants of their homes with simple hammers. Some of these people are aimlessly working because that is all they can do. Others are trying to get to their loved ones bodies that are still buried beneath. In many cases it is their children and wives that they are struggling to reclaim. Again and again the earth has quaked since that fateful Tuesday with after shocks and smaller earth quakes. Every time sealing fear and terror in their hearts of a people that already had to survive day by day. The blank look on the faces of Haiti speaks louder to my heart than the images of destruction.

The area that was hit hardest was of course the poorer areas. Downtown was almost unrecognizable to me. So many buildings, homes, and Churches were totally collapsed. I cannot imagine how this nation feels in he realization that to rebuild will take not months, but many, many years. Where will they live, what will they do for work, and on and on. Many people are seeking refuge in their home villages after loosing their homes and families. Some of these that are fleeing Port-au-Prince haven't been back to their villages for decades. This creates another problem for these smaller villages in having to house and provide for a growing number of poor and injured refugees. Hospitals are over run, clinics are under supplied and many just wait for the inevitable to happen. It is truly sad.

My team had the privilege of going into what are being termed as "tent cities". This is more like a refugee camp with make shift tents compiled of bed linens and twine. Some people are luck enough to have a tent, but most just pull together what ever they can find. These tent cities are springing up everywhere there is space. Soccer fields, school yards, even the medians of the highways. Most of these people have lost their homes or are afraid to re-enter them. So many people are paralyzed with fear that they will not even go back to their homes to check on them or to get their stuff. For many that have loved ones still buried in their homes, going back isn't an option. We saw many wounded that had not received any care since the initial medical care days after the quake. This meant that their dressings were dirty and their wounds infected. Our team decided to stay in Carrefoure for three days to make sure that these people received follow up care until the next team arrived. The needs were so great and the days were so long. We saw both adults and children with the occasional pregnant mother. The Lord prepared our team well in that we had nurses that were trained in the E.R, Pediatrics and Burns, Adult Med, and Labor and Delivery. I couldn't have picked a better mix of people to come. We worked from 8:30am -6pm with a 30 min lunch in between. We saw respitory illnesses in most everyone and lots of skin infections. So many people are troubled physically and emotionally and it was hard to differentiate the two. When you are emotionally troubled your physical bodies will display symptoms. We would see each patient treat the symptoms and then send them to our pastoral care people to pray with them and listen to their stories. You could see the relief on their faces as they talked and prayed. It was more important than the medical aspect in my opinion. We saw 14 people in 5 days come to the Lord and many left our clinic with a sense of peace that will help carry them through this ordeal. We were able to clean up a traumatic amputation of a hand on a 15 year old girl and debride a 9 year old boys ankle abscess so that he could walk again. We sutured a 5 year olds head laceration, and delivered a womans first baby on a storage room floor. We had in our hands enough antibiotics to treat almost everyone and were able to give the patients pain medicines while we worked on their injuries. All that was possible because of generous donations from those in our communities here that desired to help the people of Haiti. It was intense and sad and I will share more in another post, but I wanted to first express my heart of what I saw. There are so many images and sad sights to process through.

But there is hope in the midst of this sadness. I watched as Haitian helped Haitian clearing away rubble. This isn't something that you would normally see. In a world where you survive or die, there are not many "community sentiments." But when you ask a Haitian what he thinks will come of all this one of his answers will be "it will bring us together like never before." This is what I heard over and over. This is a new perspective. Suddenly this nation that is so consumed with living for the now must think forward and they realize that they cannot do this on their own. This is the opportunity for the church to shine. To offer your last meal and to pray in the next. To see your own lack and yet give with a cheerful heart. To lay your hand on the sick and to see God's wonder at work. This will be the bride in Haiti's finest hour. We as fellow heirs need to help lead them into glory. Praying for them, reaching out to their communities beyond just relief work. If we all put our heart and soul into helping these people see Jesus, then a nation once ruled by darkness can finally be restored to light.