AS WE DROVE ACROSS the border from Dominican Republic into Haiti, the land and the atmosphere suddenly changed; markets lined the narrow dirt roads crowded with people young and old. Some shuffled around, some yelled, some haggled rice prices and others stared at us through the windows of our bus.
Across the border into Haiti.
I thought Lajas de Yaroa, DR was impoverished; I was wrong, so so wrong. The entrance to Haiti and this brand new atmosphere made Lajas look wealthy compared to what I was scanning through the bus window. Before entering the country, we had to stop due to a riot (or “demonstration”) going on up ahead because of the president stepping down. Haiti is currently president-less.
We made a stop before Porte-au-Prince and switched to a rickety, yellow school bus. As we entered the city, it was instantly made clear (if it hadn’t been already) that we were immersed into another culture entirely: vendors attempting to sell us food through the bus windows, motorcycles lining the streets and zipping in and out of cars and tap-taps; traffic backing up because of trucks in the middle of the road loading up people like cattle; cars and semis passing each other on the road and just nearly missing a head-on collision by only a couple of feet; locals walking around shoeless, carrying huge sacks of rice and corn on their heads (what kind of neck problems could be developing/already have developed?? I can only imagine), toddlers sitting on filthy mats or wandering the streets; huge shards of glass in place of barbed wire creating a barrier between the rich and the poor; the Haitian sun beating down on our bus, maximizing the humidity inside. Misery.
As we left Port-au-Prince I thought back to six years ago when I read about the earthquake in the Wall Street Journal that made world-wide history; homes destroyed, death tolls rising on the daily as rescue teams continued digging through the rubble that was once a bustling city. And now I’m here, six years later in the country far far away that broke my heart so greatly. Surreal.
Around 45 minutes later we arrived at Mission of Hope (MOH); a huge compound walled off from the street with armed guards at the entrance. As we settled into our dorms I tried to not look back at month one in the DR and how simple it seemed compared to now. We had orientation and we got to to learn about Mission of Hope’s vision:
AS AN ORGANIZATION FOLLOWING JESUS CHRIST, MISSION OF HOPE SEEKS TO BRING LIFE TRANSFORMATION TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN HAITI.
MOH’s Mission:
To fulfill our Vision in every endeavor we undertake by successfully executing on our five core Resolutions.
MOH’s Resolutions:
- Relational Proclamation: Intentionally modeling Christ’s love through relationships.
- Evangelistic Saturation: Repeatedly sharing the Gospel message in targeted geographies.
- Indigenous Mobilization: Strategically developing national leaders to carry the vision to the nation.
- Holistic Transformation: Continuously pursuing God’s physical, mental, social and spiritual destiny for every man, woman and child.
- Excellent Implementation: Responsibly utilizing all resources and talents to their fullest potential for God’s glory. (ref from mohhaiti.org)
Mission of Hope’s strategy of indigenous mobilization is pure genius; finding strong leaders for Christ in each village and partnering with them so that they can lead their community more effectively, instead of North Americans leading. In addition to that, Mission of Hope is working towards being able to purchase rice and other commodities strictly from Haitian farmers instead of out-of-country to continue to provide jobs for locals. In return for MOH “lending” rice to Haitian farmers, the farmers give a percentage to local churches, a percentage back to MOH (so that they can continue lending to other farmers in Haiti) and then they get to keep or sell the rest. In this fashion, Haitian famers are self-providing instead of receiving handouts.
In 2010 when the earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, mass amounts of food and supplies were sent in an effort to help Haiti in their time of crisis. 6 years later, there is still an abundance of food from what was sent. Because of this, many Haitians are out of jobs because 1: Haitians are no longer buying from vendors or farmers, and 2: vendors and farmers will just go and get free food instead of working for and selling it. In an effort to try and help Haiti, we have actually hurt it worse than before.
That’s where Mission of Hope comes into play with their farmer program, and it’s miraculous.
Along with that, Mission of Hope has an orphanage, clinic and prosthetics lab all free of charge. MOH’s prosthetic lab is one of three in Haiti, and the only PL that is completely free to locals. Many patients are earthquake victims who have learned to live without legs, but through MOH are able to receive 100% free care and a new leg within several weeks. It’s incredible.
“Blue homes” (tarp homes by Samaritan’s Purse) in Lévêque.
“Block Homes” built by Mission of Hope’s “Blue to Block” initiative in Lévêque. It’s $6,000.00 to build a block home for earthquake refugees who once had a blue tarp home from Samaritan’s Purse. If you are interested in learning more about the Blue to Block project or supporting Blue to Block, please click on this link: http://mohhaiti.org/projects/5#.VuhLCZMrKRs
Our ministry:
Elizabeth Billingslea, Mobilization Director for MOH asked World Race to do something she doesn’t ask any other teams that come to MOH to do: SERVE THE STAFF.
Teams that come in to serve at MOH normally want to be immersed in the culture, stay active in the community and “make a difference” for lack of better words. Teams arrive and leave week-to-week, so their one week of ministry is packed with activity. World Race is the exception: we live month-to-month, and were asked something that is never asked of week-long teams: to do the grunt work that MOH so desperately needed to complete but can’t get around to/normally takes longer because of the lack people.
I’ll be honest, I was *not* thrilled that our days would mostly be filled with painting half a dozen orphanages, hacking down weeds, fixing up the staff houses, cleaning dorm rooms, organizing termite-infested libraries and pouring concrete. Really, Lord? We came here to pull weeds because it “keeps the mosquito numbers down?” Okay. I wasn’t the only one irritated by what seemed to be a lack of ministry. What will my supporters think? Their money is going towards funding me to paint orphanages, cause that looks REAL GOOD on paper…#not. I was ungrateful for the first couple of weeks. I was plagued by thoughts of feeling useless, feeling like being at MOH was a joke. Their organization is amazing, but World Race didn’t get to be a part of the life-changing stuff, like going out into the villages. Why are we even in Haiti, then?
My squadmate Holly’s hands after the second day of pouring concrete for Mission of Hope’s Grace House: http://mohhaiti.org/projects/12#.VuhVAJMrKRs
Hacking down weeds in Titanyen at the Mission of Hope orphanages.
Painting the walls of 3 Cords. “3 Cords is a small business initiative that started in 2010 after the devastating earthquake left many people without limbs and without jobs. 3 Cords employs amputee women and mothers of amputee children, giving them hope that they are still whole, valuable, and precious.”-Reference from MOHHaiti.org In addition to providing jobs and an income to earthquake victims, 3 Cords also fully funds Mission of Hope’s prosthetics lab. This allows the lab to be completely free to amputee victims. To learn more about 3 Cords, visit this link: http://mohhaiti.org/three_cords#.VuhbVJMrKRs
The first two weeks, along with feeling like a failure, I got sick with stomatitis and tonsilitis, so I felt real bad for myself. (Great visual of my infected tongue right below)
My gross stomatitis-infected tongue. Looks like a dumpling, right?
As I was recovering, my teammate, Kerri and I talked about how we were feeling inadequately used at MOH. She offered some insight that was given to her by The Lord: We may feel like we’re being useless because we’re not necessarily serving the Haitian culture, but that’s not true. We were given an opportunity that other teams don’t get; an opportunity to serve the staff and interns who work so hard for teams and never get served. The Lord brought us to Haiti to bless the people who are blessing the Haitians. In addition to that, we got to hang out with, grow close to and have an opportunity to bless the interns at MOH. Most of the time they get teams with older people or medical staff in, and they don’t get a chance to connect with them because of the age difference and because teams are only there for a week at a time. Getting to dig into the lives of the interns and have our lives dug into by them was an amazing gift that we got to give and receive. Just like World Race, most of the interns were in their twenties and early thirties, so we got to pour into and have our lives poured into by each other.
My squad the night before we left for Costa Rica.
So here’s a different perspective: North Americans need the Holy Spirit and need to be listened to and prayed with and loved on just as much as Haitians or anyone else in the world. We’re all people craving the same thing: Jesus. Why am I so ungrateful that I didn’t get to minister much to the culture of the country we were in? I got to minister to and listen to people who were still in Haiti, even though they weren’t Haitian. And isn’t that what Christ is all about? Sharing His love and affection with His people, no matter who they are? How was I so narrow-minded in thinking The Lord couldn’t use me inside a ministry compound, when we got a rare chance to bless people who frankly, maybe don’t get as poured into as the Haitians do.
Never again will I think that The Lord can’t use me where I am, with what I am given to do. He knew MOH needed loved on, and that’s what we got to do. Yeah, we went out to some awesome villages a couple times, got to minister to Haitian families, which was totally legit. But our real ministry, at least for me, was getting the opportunity to love on the staff and interns at MOH. To talk with them, listen to them, let them listen to me…it sounds so small, but honestly, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
A Titanyen sunrise
We were sad to leave everyone at MOH, and they were sad to see us go. I’d say that’s definitely a huge downside to the World Race: it takes you a month to get comfortable and establish relationships, and you sort of get ripped away. Not sort of; you DO get ripped away, and it’s painful and raw. But we are so so happy that we got a sweet month with the people at MOH. Even if we never saw one Haitian child, it doesn’t mean that we didn’t serve.
Thank you, God, for using me despite my feeling useless. Uselessness is a lie. God is going to use you where you are, whatever stage of life you’re in. You might not get to see the fruit of that seed that was planted, but understand that The Lord isn’t afraid of or held back by your feelings of inadequacy and lack of culture immersion. Forget that. He does what He wants and you’re not even able to hold Him back.
“VIVE JESUS VIVE” “LIVE JESUS LIVE”
There’s a lot more that when on in Titanyen, Haiti, but I’m gonna save that for another day. Sorry it’s taken a decade to post a blog. We had no wifi in Haiti and the transition to Costa Rica has been slightly brutal emotionally and physically (nothing crazy, just the moving from country to country is difficult process-wise!). But I’m trying to get caught up!
Love y’all. Thank you so much for your support. I’ve gotta be fully funded by April if I want to continue serving on the Race, so I ask that you prayerfully consider supporting me. You can click on the “Support Me!” tab on my blog homepage, make sure my name is already entered into the “Racer” section, and you’re good to go!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this messy, jumbly blog. It’s because my mind is all messy and jumbly so there you go.
xoxo LOVE.
PC: Kerri Klenkel
