Haiti - January 2012

It is with a big sigh that I begin my reflections about my recent trip to Haiti. 

Group Arriving in Port Au Prince, Haiti

I was very fortunate to travel with a group from my home congregation of Peace Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, SD.  Our hosting organization was Helping Hands for Haiti which also is based in South Dakota.  After flying into Port au Prince, we spent the night and then assembled ourselves and supplies to head for Jumelle, Haiti.  We traveled in an old but study yellow school bus.  Our driver named Blaze

really blazed through incredible challenges to get us to Jumelle to spend the next week.

As I have done and will continue to do in telling the story of my brothers and sisters in Palestine, I will tell the story of my brothers and sisters in Haiti.

January twelfth marks the second anniversary of the devastating 7.0 earthquake of 2010.  Although the clearly noticeable ruins in Port au Prince are still evident, the ripple effect from such a horrific natural disaster can be seen throughout the entire country. 

Capitol Building Still in Ruins

The earthquake awakened the entire world to the urgent needs of the Haitian people.  Many government agencies and NGOs came flooding into the country after the quake.  I noticed on a building wall in riding through Port Au Prince this three word statement:  WE NEED HELP.   There is no doubt in my mind that this is still true today.  I’m hopeful that the rest of the world will continue to share their resources.  Yes, Haiti needs help but what kind of help?  It is truly overwhelming to witness the daily struggle of all the Haitian people.

I am reminded of a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr:    “We must sometimes accept finite disappointments, but we must never lose infinite hope.”

Jill Callison of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader wrote an article for the paper on Sunday, Jan. 8^th entitled:  “Two years after Haiti quake: Progress.”  She outlined the specific encouraging health improvements for children at a school in Jumelle who are regularly given meals prepared from the Kids Against Hunger packets of a rice-soy meal containing 22 vitamins and minerals along with dried vegetable.

Preparing a Noon Meal at Jumelle School (notice Kids Against Hunger Box)

(The Sioux Falls chapter of the organization was established by a man from our church after visiting Haiti several years ago.  They have packed over a million meals in the past two years.  His name is Darrel Johnson and we both traveled to Africa on a mission trip fours ago).  Web address:      http://www.kidsagainsthungersiouxfalls.org/

We compared recent physical assessments with those conducted a year ago.  There is noticeable health improvement, 

better growth rate and improved mental capacity for the students attending the Jumelle school established in 2006.  That’s encouraging but there also needs to be continued consistent worldwide efforts to assist the Haitian people in building a sustainable infrastructure for themselves.

I would like to share a reflection from a poem by Ann Weems from her book Kneeling in Bethlehem.

Our God is the One who comes to us in a burning bush, in an angel’s song, in a newborn child.

Our God is the One who cannot be found locked in the church, not even in the sanctuary.

Our God will be where God will be with no constraints, no predictability.

When God is ready God will come even to a godforsaken place like a stable in Bethlehem.

Watch….for you know not when God comes.

Watch, that you might be found whenever wherever God comes.

Susanne