i’m alive!!!!! and in Haiti. wild. immeasurably wild. i’m living in kay pawson (in english kay pawson means fish house) Unlike the name, it’s a baby pink house with 4 rooms the size of a master bathroom, and no fish!!! In this little house strung with warm twinkly lights lives 21 girls and myself. You got that right!!!!! Twenty-one; empowering, bold, strong, & unique WOMEN!!!!!! We are the ladies in Haiti. We’ve been here in Haiti for a whole week now, and our ministry for the week so far, has looked like house visits, chicken, rice, and chicken juice, with a little side of dancing with the gramoun (elderly), it’s looked like Bible club for whatever kids feel led to come and hear about our God. It’s looked like church services in creole and creole only. It’s looked like skits, and games, and lots of stickers. Haiti has been beautifully and intricately painted with color and evidence of our God, in everything from the mountains to the beaches, to the people. It’s been excitable and consisted of my favorite things like balloon animals, kiddos, and my most favorite; street soccer.
Soccer, yes. Street soccer, indoor soccer, soccer with an empty water bottle, soccer barefoot, soccer on turf, or dirt, inside the house, in the front yard, on the roof, or in a tournament, competitive soccer, or holiday soccer, you name it. I’ve played it. Anytime i’m given the opportunity to kick a ball around or anything remotely capable of kicking, you can count on me to be running wild with whoever it maybe that also, will kick anything around. Some of you may have read a blog of mine, titled “Oh His Love” from January of this year about how devastated I was when I hadn’t made Dunwoody High School’s varsity soccer team my senior year of high school. Rough stuff. There’s beauty in that story, and the Lord pulled me right out of that sadness so quickly, his love is redemptive and fulfilling and if you’d like to read more about where my heart was at that time in my life, you may have some better insight on how much this time in Haiti has impacted me; for now, i’ll continue.
School soccer. So when I didn’t make the varsity team my senior year, one of my dear friends Riley Parks, who had made the team, didn’t bask in the sunlight of soccer star, but instead talked with me about how there are much bigger things ahead and although soccer may have been APART of who I was for 12 whole years, soccer wasn’t WHO I was. Not making the team didn’t define me, it didn’t change who I was, and it didn’t change what I had ahead of me in 8 months from then; the world race. I saw her the next day in art class and she sat with me, listened to me talk about where my heart was, how upset i’d been that I hadn’t made the team and she said something that has effortlessly stuck with me since then. “Dasia, I’m sorry that you’re upset to have not made the team, and i wish there was something I could do to make you feel better, but honestly if you think about it, who needs high school soccer, when you’re literally about to be kicking the ball with kids around the world, not only kicking the ball with them, but tangibly showing them the love of OUR GOD. That’s so much better than a high school soccer team.” Right then, right there, it just made sense. I could almost see myself on dirt roads, in the middle of Africa kicking around a ball, in Haiti in schoolyards or alleyways, grassy parks or sandy beaches. My small little dream of kicking around a soccer ball with the kiddos of the world was so close, I could feel it. Becoming less and less of a dream and more of a reality. I’m doing this thing. It’s happening.
Riley Parks, if you’re reading this know I’ve held tightly onto those words of yours; and in the place I was in after not feeling good enough to play high school soccer, your words, those words were exactly what I needed to hear. I don’t think I thanked you enough for those words, so my lady, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for your beautiful mind, and that sliver of insight.
Tender publicly pronounced gratitude. My favorite, Oo la la.
As tightly as I clung to those words without even realizing that’s what I was doing, days passed by, and with each passing day it surprisingly became less and less real. That I was actually going to be leaving the COUNTRY for NINE WHOLE MONTHS. I chose to spend those last days with my closest friends and family. Celebrating with trips to the river, our favorite coffee shops, concerts, burgers in parking lots, rooftop hangouts, loud loud music, hanging out of sunroofs while driving in the rain, house church, and some of my last Sunday’s at Passion City Church or Grace Midtown, both in Atlanta. Whirlwinds of nostalgia clouded my mind thinking of all that had come with this year and how sweet it’d been to me. Of the people I’ve met, the experiences I’ve lived. In love with life as it was happening. It was easy to get swept up in the present, I couldn’t focus on anything other than right here, and right now. Everything ahead, was almost as far away as the closest in n out to Atlanta, GA or as distant as a relative you’ve heard the name of once before. It was beautiful to feel present, alive. Taking the most of every moment and running like the wind with it, because deep down I’d known right now was all I had. As I did anticipate the future, I channeled everything in me to remain in the present.
Out of nowhere, graduation was around the corner, grad parties were every single day and went on into the summer, people were meeting their college roomies and talking about rushing sororities. I was packing my all of my belongings into either moving boxes to be moved into a new house across the country, or my 70 L pack, in which I now use to travel the world with. I was going to Young Life camp for a month to serve some super stellar campers, and life. was. happening. It never slowed down, and surely never stopped. Next thing I knew it, all of the days between my day dreaming of street soccer around the world and the day I stepped foot on that plane to take me away for awhile collided; and that day, was no longer “months from now” that day was today. I said goodbye to my family, hugged my friends one last time for nine months, and life was beginning.
To put it into better perspective; Id been so blindsided by the reality of this season actually beginning for me that I was laying on the ground of the Punta Cana airport in Dominican Republic with my lady Taylor and it still didn’t resonate that this was life. That my feet are here. In this airport, or living on a mountain, walking the beaches of the D.R., swimming the seas of the Caribbean.
U N R E A L
Most times it still doesn’t actually feel real. AND IM ABOUT 5 WEEKS IN. I wake up every morning in awe of our God and the simple fact that he placed me on this baby blue sheet, on the top bunk, of a pink house in Monwi, Haiti. As much as I like not becoming accustomed to this new way of life, I’d been waiting for it to actually feel real. Yesterday was distinctly the first time I felt that this was real. This IS my life now. And that very realization came with….. street soccer.
All of us were walking to this courtyard in the area, where 7 of our 21 amazing ladies, apart of the team; Semper Fortis would be leading the kiddos in a bible study. Teaching them the story of the Prodigal Son. Before they began their teaching, we had an hour to play with all of the kids. Out of the bubbles and jump ropes, music and tree climbing that was happening, the most intriguing thing to me was the two soccer balls we’d brought from the Fish House. I was observing all the things going on around me when all of a sudden a soccer ball landed at my feet. I looked up to see the face of a boy in a pine green shirt, smiling ear to ear as he kicked the ball to me, light up when I pulled it back and popped it up in the air for him to receive at his feet. Our little game of passing between the two of us turned into a full on scrimmage in the middle of the courtyard with 15 other kids. Loads of laughter, aggressive breathing, and clouds of dust at our feet as we ran and slid through the dirt chasing after the ball were apart of giving me the opportunity to stop my running around and bask in the reality of my life. I looked around at the smiles that seemed bigger than this whole planet, at the kids running and jumping on us ladies in Haiti, I saw the vast blue sky above, and felt the sunshine baking my skin as sweat dropped down not only me, but everyone around. Dirty, and sweaty, faces that exalted pure joy.
Life today, is walking the dirt roads to get from place to place, bags of water instead of bottles, loud music in various languages, and love. Undeniable, reckless, explosive love. In a hug or handshake, in the smile of the gramoun when we bust out our best dance moves. In the giggles of Orphans as we freestyle rap about gravy in Haiti. Love is in the air. A thick and sweet aroma, constantly covering me like a blanket. The Lord loves this place, He loves these people, and He’s given me eyes to see them as He does. In ways I can’t even begin to explain. He’s given me this life that i’m in awe of, and in love with. I think back to the devastation that came with rejection from a team that I didn’t feel good enough to be on and the reality sets in. Here i am. Today. Monwi, Haiti. October 14th, 2017. Living out the words Riley Parks gave me, over a life from the Lord. Kicking around a soccer ball in beautiful places, surrounded by beautiful faces; feeling constantly covered in the Lords love, and it was in that very moment in the middle of our game little game of street soccer, that I realized, this was in fact, far far better than a measly high school soccer team.
