In September 2007 I went to Haiti on a humanitarian trip with Healing Hands for Haiti. This experience taught me so much about love, compassion, and the courageousness of the human spirit. I met many people who touched my soul and influenced my mind for the better. The Haitians are beautiful people with contagious beautiful spirits. Their children brought so much laughter into the long hot days we spent there. The church members I met there are some of the most devoted and seem to understand the true beauty of the gospel. Haiti is a place that means so much to me, it's a place where I learned so much about myself and what matters most to me in life.
It breaks my heart to even imagine what they are going through right now. The are the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. When I was there, that was evident. Haitians struggle to make something from nothing. They struggle to care for their sick, their inflicted, the abandoned. They work relentlessly to better their lives and the situations of their children. They show compassion to their neighbors and a love for their culture. They thirst not only for clean water but knowledge from beyond their Caribbean shores. I loved Haiti, I long to go back now more than ever.
Even after reading article after article on the devastation left behind after a 7.0 earthquake, I still cannot believe it. How can Haiti take and more devastation than they have already suffered? How can buildings that were already falling to pieces be worse of than what they were? Where are the injured being cared for? Are they being cared for or just left in the streets amid chaos? Will they have access to clean water now when it was so hard to come by before? Are the people I met safe? Will they have food? Are they safe from the looters and those who will seek to take advantage of the desperate situation they find Haiti to be in?
When I went to Haiti, I learned a powerful lesson. It's sad how quick and easy it is to forget. In Haiti, we visited a small orphanage run by the Catholic church. While there, I went on rounds with the team doctor to the nursery. The sisters wanted us to look at some of the babies who had been sick for days. I had managed to hold back tears many times on my trip to Haiti, but in this nursery I couldn't hold back any longer. There were several cribs lining the walls of a dirty nursery. The first baby I looked at had a large stomach, black as could be, no bowel sounds. She was unconscious and hadn't taken in food for days. She was going to die soon, nothing could be done. The story was the same with the baby in the next crib. She was covered with small wounds. Most likely opportunistic infections, secondary to AIDS. The next a preemie, too small to eat on her own. However, the sisters had no IV fluids with any sort of sugar or nutrients in them. She would most likely starve to death. There were several other babies suffering from aliment after aliment. Others who weren't sick, were malnourished. One in particular stands out to me, I thought was 6-7 months old. She was 1 and 1/2 years old. How easily these children could be cared for back home! How easily their suffering could be cured! It was so frustrating to have the knowledge but to have my hands tied by lack of resources! Later in the evening, I was reflecting on what I saw that day. The children I saw, what a bleak and seemingly pointless existence? What is the purpose to their lives? What is the point of coming down here only to suffer and die alone? I gradually began to learn that the point of their lives and the point of my life is interwoven. The trials the people In Haiti suffer are also my trials. I have been blessed with opportunity, a comfortable home, an education, and a supportive family. Whereas they have not had the same luxuries provided. While their suffering physically is an obvious trial, mine is not so obvious. My trial is recognizing that I have been blessed with the
opportunity and resources to be able to help those less fortunate in their time of need. Reading back in my journal I wrote, "I don't want to die and have Heavenly Father ask me, "I gave you so much. Home, family, a roof over your head,
opportunities for education, monetary and physical comfort. What did you do with those blessing I provided?" How
disappointing would it be if all I had to show for myself in reply to that question was my
Nordstrom receipt?" I have not lived my life perfectly since then. Far less than perfect at that. I am grateful to be reminded though. I am grateful to be reminded of what I learned during my time in Haiti.
If you can (the few people who do read my blog) please donate to relief efforts. Your money and support will go further than you ever imagined. Healing Hands for Haiti is taking donations specifically for a relief fund. They are a trustworthy organization and I know that the mony donated will go exactly where it is needed most, to caring for the tired, injured, abandoned, homeless, and starving victims in Haiti. Please visit their website at
www.healinghandsforhaiti.org
