A Tale of Three Camps

Port-au-Prince Haiti--I remember listening to a young man a few years back who grew-up in one of the largest townships in South Africa and the painful emotions that easily came to the surface as he recalled his youth living in a tin shack with over a million others. There were dangers and hazards from things that we don't think much about like rain, mud, fire, water, food, and disease... As we were working in the tent camps of Port-au-Prince, this young mans words often came to my mind.

This summer during the World Cup, OneHope has been hosting Soccer clinics in many places of the world; South Africa, Columbia and Haiti just to name a few. This particular week I found myself in Haiti as part of a media team from OneHopes office, also with us was a former soccer player from the Haitian National Team. The World Cup has been a huge diversion to the everyday realities of being homeless in PAP. Everywhere we went were Brazilian or Argentinian flags. Traffic seemed to lessen during their games. Cheers could be heard everywhere when one of those teams were playing. We were there to give the kids an outlet to be kids and to bring some hope. We gave out a special Champions edition of the Book of Hope as we interacted with many of them. Check out OneHopes video on the experience as told through Ricardo Pierre-Louis.



The first thing you notice when landing in PAP are the blue tarps that are everywhere throughout the city. In any available lot you will find tents and tarps, makeshift toilets and showering facilities and lines of people. At six months out from the earthquake and you will not see new construction but rather piles of rubble. Some buildings are slowly and carefully being taken down, piles of broken cement and trash are slowly being taken out, but that is all. The scars, the cracks, the pain all very evident. And yet there is still pockets of joy and hope for a better life.

We were in three different camps. Three camps that couldn't have been run so very differently. I hate to say the horrors we saw in the first camp. Pigs running around in the garbage, open sewage, a mishmash of tents one on top of the other as they went up and down the hillside.  A long line for buckets of water. I know a few phrases in Creole and my French helps a little bit here as well so I began asking the kids how they were. At this camp almost every answer was "mal" or "faim" (bad or hungry). There had been a recent Typhoid outbreak here and most kids came begging for anything that we could give them. Our clinic got under way in the only open space available with a few drainage trenches and trucks that would periodically come through. For a few hours these kids had smiles as they ran and jumped and played a game they all love with a passion.

The next camp was on the outskirts of town in a large empty field away from everything. The tents were uniform and large all stamped with World Visions Logos. The facilities were all according to standards. The kids did not beg but were all smiles as we led them through drills and games. The day ended with a double rainbow over the camp and a GodMan showing in one of the areas designated for such activities.

The next day we spent at the Petionville Golf Course. One of the larger camps in the city. This one was run mostly by several different American Groups. We saw tents with USAID logos as well as Compassion and Samaritans Purse. The medical area was run by Sean Penn's Aid organization J/P HRO. It seemed like a large city of tents running in and out of the trees and over hills. The grass was long gone but the trees remained providing some relief from the heat. There was drainage for the water and proper facilities but this place also had all the markings of a community: a church, stores, hair salons, medical clinics, and playground. We had a very small area for our soccer clinics but we made the best of it. Argentina had just won their game as we could hear cheers throughout the area. Immediately afterwards kids came from every direction eager to show their skills with the ball. And for a few hours we had a captive audience of not just the kids but many adults watching and listening with interest.

 

The good news about the young man from South Africa who grew up in the townships is that he found help, hope and a way out. In Haiti we had balls, nets, adults that were willing to spend time with them, some water, a snack, and a book about the greatest Champion of all time... these adults will go back and continue to work with the kids. Continue praying for this nation and do whatever you can as you are able.

Photos can be found on FB or Flickr.
Next up Peru...

Pay it Forward

Bolosse, Port-au-Prince, Haiti--The morning light was peaking over the tops of the buildings and down the cramped garbage strewn streets. Morning commerce especially the food vendors were off to an early start while the others were just setting up. Children in all different colors of uniforms were walking to school. Girls in yellow and grey uniforms walking one way, boys in green walking another direction, red checked, pink, and blue...children, parents, young ones, middle ones, and teens. The young girls all wearing over sized bows in their hair, the boys were in shorts. The day just starting to heat up in temperature and activity. It was a typical morning in the capital city.

We arrived in Haiti on a Monday and left on a Wednesday. Our job was to film and photograph a milestone event for OneHope...the distribution of our 600 millionth book. We were roaming the streets of one of the more difficult areas of town gathering footage and photos to tell our story. If we had been there at night the above scene would have been very different and safety would have been a huge concern.

Wednesday morning we pull up to the chosen school. It was a peaceful place on a hillside walled off from the slums below. However, it wasn't always so peaceful. Three years back for a period of two months the school found itself under demonic attack. Everyday a different child would manifest this evil: shouting obscenities, and words of violence and destruction. The message was loud and clear: that Satan meant to steal, kill and destroy the children of this nation. However the adults came together and fasted and prayed and things began to change. The children of the school are now a shining example of transformation. A young lady by the the name of Ruth Sara received the 600 millionth book. She was a bright and articulate 13 year old who wanted to be a Doctor, Lawyer and a Diplomat. She was so appreciative to be given this honor.

Onehope was founded twenty-two years ago when Bob Hoskins, had a vision of children and youth being destroyed by violence, disease, poverty and the evils of this world. Here we were in a place that embodied all of those things in such a visible way handing out the 600 millionth book world wide, knowing full well much had been done (600,000,000 is a big number and we have so many testimonies of transformation) but much more is still to be done as it is estimated that there are 2 billion children in the world.

Something I learned in Haiti this time around is that the people here are survivors. They know how to survive with nothing. True believers know how to combat the wiles of the devil. Prayer and the word of God in Haiti is a sharp sword. There are points of bright light shining in the darkness here. We realized that if God can transform this school in Haiti, he can transform the rest of the nation and the world. OneHope's goal is to reach every single child in the world with the Word. There is an ambitious plan in place and if we continue to tell the stories like the one of Ruth Sara's school in Haiti, hope will not be lost especially for Haiti and many more will be saved.

A Place Beyond Words

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.