The typical length of time for a World Race team to stay in a country is about 30 days. For X Squad in Haiti, it was 15 days. Our time was cut short due to a mosquito-born illness epidemic known as Chikungunya Fever.
Four out of ten mosquitos in Haiti are carriers of the Chikungunya Fever Virus. The symptoms are similar to those of Malaria and Dengue— fever, severe joint pain, headache, nausea, and rash. Normally, the symptoms last between 3-12 days, but the joint pain can continue for years.
By day 2, the first X Squader was infected. By the second week, 18 of us were infected—and some of us were already suffering through our second exposure.
AIM made the decision to pull us out of Haiti and send us to the Dominican Republic to recover and serve there and hopefully prevent further infections. So sadly, our time in Haiti was cut short, but even so… SO MUCH HAPPENED. Here’s a rundown of my 15 days in Haiti.
-We prayed for an angry, mute child and got to witness his happy smile
-We shared the Gospel and prayed for people on the street
-We visited the homes of Haitian believers and encouraged them, sang songs with them, and prayed with them
-We helped a few Haitian workers lift a car onto the back of a truck. They were shocked that we helped and thanked us, saying “Haitian women would never do that.”
-We prayed over a voodoo man carrying a dead cat on a stick and cast demons out of him
-We led youth services and gave testimonies of God’s work in our lives
-We played games, danced, and sang with the kids during recess
-We sang “Mwen Adore’w” (my favorite Haitian song) and worshiped in Creole
-We cooked over coals and took 2 hours just to boil water!
-We slept on the roof overlooking the mountainside
-We lost sleep due to dog fights, cat fights, and voodoo ceremonies in the middle of the night
-We prayed healing over my sore throat and 103.5 degree fever and it dropped within 30 minutes
-We had a beautiful 5 hour conversation about miracles, faith, and healing and enjoyed sweet moments of community
-We made friends with our 3 incredible translators
-We sat in a church service for almost 8 hours on Sundays
-We learned a lot about Haitian culture and mindset and helped to dispel myths about White Americans
-We worshiped together at sunrise
-We studied the book of Acts and the Holy Spirit
-We ate cereal one morning— my first cereal since month 1! And a lot of rice and beans
-We had tough conversations with our host about differing beliefs
-We got really sick with Chikungunya and experienced some of the toughest pain we’ve ever known
-We saw poverty like we’ve never seen in our lives
-We visited the Haitian clinic (and hope to never do that again)
-Sometimes we were served breakfast AND lunch
-We experienced heavy judgement from some Christian Haitians for our tattoos and piercings and learned a lot about grace and forgiveness
-We learned what to do when your contact is preaching something you don’t believe in
-We saw the sovereignty of God as he used a fever epidemic to move us out of the country
-We experienced an insane ride out of the country: hit a cow, spent 5 hours at the border because of a suicide and brawl, and our breaks went out.
A lot happened in a hot minute!
