January 8th, 2010
10 people boarded of plane out of Los Angeles destined for Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They had on clean clothes, they’d probably just finished some McDonalds, and were filled with anticipation to travel to the orphanage Maison de Lumiere, in one of the most poverty stricken countries in the world. The pilot who greeted them as they boarded the plane said to one of the ten, “Are you people missionaries, too?”
“‘Too’?”, she asked him with raised eyebrows. “Who else on this plane is a missionary?”
He responded, “Never in my years of flying have I seen more missionaries on this plane all at one time going to Port-au-Prince. You people are joining an aircraft full of about 50% of them so far.”
Four days later on January 12, 2010, the 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, leaving a death toll of well over 200,000 in it’s wake. God had gathered His people, knowing they would be present to BE His will to the people amidst the tragedies that hadn’t yet happened. 
Four months have passed now since that day, and if you find yourself in Port-au-Prince you will not meet one person who does not know someone who died. Not one person has been left unaffected.
As I drove through the streets of the city, I saw spray painted on 1 out of at least every 3 buildings “Adieu Angelica” or “Adieu Annabella” or “Adieu Christoph”… the Haitian people have marked the houses where someone was lost.
Many people have still not been found. Many bodies are still trapped below the rubble, but are now unrecognizable due to decay. There were not enough places to bury people, so out of respect, some have been buried in the medians of the roads, covered by rubble. Driving down the streets it is not uncommon to see mounds of cement 5 feet high.
I felt 3 earthquakes while I was there, small tremors under 4.0. These shakes were not uncommon to me growing up in So Cal, so I didn’t really flinch. But outside my window I heard the voices raise, if only for a minute, obviously stricken with mild panic… then heard them subdue as the shaking did. I tried to put myself in the shoes of those outside my window… that every single time the earth moves beneath them, they’re taken back to January 12th.
The streets are slowly clearing of rubble and debris, but many 3-4 story buildings that didn’t completely crumble are still hanging onto pieces of their roofs, dangling by metal wire at a 90 degree angle over the sidewalks where children travel to school, mothers cross to buy food, and men pass by on their way to work. One more earthquake over a 5.0, and it looked to me like these structures could crumble at any moment onto anyone in it’s path. I said to my friend Benny, the field director in Haiti,
“Why won’t they knock these buildings down? They are another disaster waiting to happen.”
And he answered me steadily,
They won’t knock down the buildings any time soon because there’s superstition involved– you don’t knock down a place where someone was killed. So hundreds of buildings are half crumbled, many still spilling debris over into the street. But here’s the deal: they have been working every day for the last 4 months. And working hard. There is just so much that needs to be done.
It is absolutely insane to me that the country is not in utter and complete chaos right now. The President is basically in hiding. His entire support staff, cabinet, plan B were killed in the quake. There is little leadership in place. In a city of 3 million, hundreds of thousands of people are displaced, living in the worst kind of conditions you can imagine (I mean that literally). 
Yet there are no riots. There is no mass looting. There are not wild spread fires or violence. And there is no explanation for this reality except for God. I’m telling you, I saw the city, felt a minuscule fraction of their desperation, smelled the sewage filled streets, and without any leadership or direction it only makes logical sense that there should be chaos breaking out at every corner. But there isn’t.
As Benny said, there is only one, solitary reason for this. “America can’t take credit, the UN can’t take credit, Haiti’s government surely can’t take credit. When the people invited God to rule, He has. He has come and spread His peace in this place.”
I have 307 more stories to share with you, but I’ll bring more next time. Currently I’m working on some videos that will capture what words can’t. Thank you to all who prayed for me and who supported this trip. The seeds sown go far beyond what you can imagine.
With Love,
Kim
(If you’d like to go to Haiti, you can. : click here )
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