My Recent Trip to Haiti

I recently got back from a mission trip to Haiti. My overall impression is that Haiti is a spiritually dark country (with voodoo, poverty, a corrupt government, and a complex relationship with international aid) BUT that the Gospel is creating new hope. In other words, we saw a lot of heartbreaking challenges but God's love is bigger than our brokenness.

Here is a picture of an orphan, Bebi, after she taught me how to count in Creole. I had a really fun time trying to communicate with the girls at the orphanage. Though I quickly realized how little French I could remember from my studies. During soccer games I would joke around and so the kids starting calling me kokay, little rascal.

These metal houses are made out of grain bin materials. Our team built two of them while we were there. When people see these pictures they wonder if the houses are hot inside. Surprisingly, the temperature is cooler inside the houses than outside, due to the double-layer heat shield on the roof and the hot air escaping through a vent on the top of the house. Plus, these houses are earthquake-proof, fire-proof, termite-proof, and will last for decades.

Global Compassion Network builds these homes so that needy families will have a new, safe, free place to live. The picture above is of a new GCN project, the Widows and Orphans project. Basically, widows are going to live in the homes and look after newborns who were abandoned by their parents. These babies will hopefully be adopted before the age of three but if not, they will then be moved into one of the nearby orphanages.

Three babies had recently been rescued and brought into the orphanage. Our team got to bond with them during our 10 day stay. Tragically, the day after we left, one of the babies passed away. His name was Levi and he was a little over a year old and by the time he was dropped off at the orphanage. The missionaries did what they could but it was too little too late, he had too many health issues. His death is a sober reminder of the high stakes, and that we need to keep these missionaries in our prayers.

On the bright side, our team was able to bring hundreds of pounds of baby items with us in our luggage. Praise God for generous donations from the Algona community. This baby formula, diapers, and clothes will make a real difference. Oh, and it also allowed us to have the strange/fun experience of checking a completely empty bag on the trip home. The airline ticket counter probably doesn't see a lot of empty bags like that.

So whew, I'm back in the United States again. Back to the convenience of putting toilet paper straight into the toilet, of speaking my own language, of walking down the street without hearing people yell "blanc!" meaning 'white person.'

And I can't wait to tell people about my journey. Why? Because my trip shows how God is at work, both in the hearts of Haiti and in the hearts of those team members who went.