Haiti--a place that I'm not sure I can adequately describe in words. The reports you hear about poverty and corruption are true but it's not until you travel the roads that you understand to what extent. It was an adventure from the very beginning...
Four of us flew into the the coastal city of Cap Haitian on a 5-seater prop plane run by Missionary Flights International, a 4-hour flight from South Florida by way of the Bahamas for refueling. Our final destination was Pignon in the mountains. In miles it is only 39 but you do not measure distance in miles there but rather hours. It was a four-hour trip up the mountain on roads only a 4-wheel drive truck could traverse. Roads that easily produced two flat tires, a sparking battery from being knocked loose and a broken axle during our few weeks there. But miraculously there was always someone near to help with the situation.
We taught English in the morning and showed our "GodMan" film in the afternoons or evenings. It was hot and we lived without so many of the things we take for granted on a daily basis like running water, and electricity. We were staying in a facility that had hosted many Americans before us as was evident by the things they had left behind (liquid soap, hand sanitizer, screens on the windows etc..) Reality set in pretty quickly when my translator asked me to teach the kids the phrase, "I am hungry". They would beg everyday for money, food, candy, even the three sips of water I had left in my water bottle on the last day. I felt so ill-prepared with monetary things. Since we took a charter flight our cargo weight was extremely limited so we came with only the bare necessities. I honestly felt like Peter when he tells the people in Acts 3:6 "silver and gold I have none but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus" So, we gave them the hope found in the Word.
I had the elementary students who knew very little English. Fortunately, Creole has so many French words in it that I knew most of their vocabulary words and the few I did not know they taught me the Creole equivalent. Every lesson had a devotional and object lesson component to it. And then I taught them English words and phrases from their everyday life. At the end I gave a quiz. I wanted to know more about their life. The average students had eight siblings, they ate things like rice, chicken, goat, mango, pineapple, and avocado when they could get it. Going to the well to get water is an everyday chore as well as to the river to wash. One student named Kyle said if given the opportunity he would keep going to school to learn how to fix the roads and help his family.
Showing a film was a real treat as the only form of entertainment came by way of radio. We would drive to some very remote areas, set-up our equipment and the next thing we knew there would be a crowd. The response was priceless. We had 16 showings on hillsides, valleys and fields, in clinics, churches and schools. Approximately 2700 kids and adults came out to see the life of Jesus and the power he has to forgive and roughly 400 responded.
I experienced the power of prayer in a place where spiritual warfare is a daily battle. I observed the church and the battles they face outside and within with superstition and voodoo. I still struggle to grasp the desperation that lives there, to understand the hopelessness and daily struggle for survival. And yet I know there are those making a stand. I pray for their success.
I will have another opportunity to learn more as I return in a few weeks for a milestone distribution in the Port-au-Prince area. Pray for safety and the message that we bring.
