Last Day In Haiti

I made a joke today that I worked harder my last day in Haiti than my entire time here. This is definitely not a true statement; however, with the end in sight it made the work all the more harder. The Base Camp that we stay at is closed up for the rest of the year, as the missionaries and staff are all leaving for Christmas. There will be a Haitian family that will be staying in the "house" while everyone's gone. We had lots of supplies, equipment, and resources that we had to put away and store. Originally, a team from Beaverton was scheduled to help with the closing process, but because of the "Political Drama" their flight was canceled... which meant more work for us.


It was a blessed day as I received some money from a person in the states who wanted to pay for Huberman's hospital bills concerning his mother. I also gave Huberman one of my dress shirts so that he'd remember me, and he told me that he'd wear it to church on Sunday. (The one he's wearing in the photo is the one I gave him) His mother looked very healthy and she told me that she's eating and continuing to take her medicine.

In this next picture I grabbed a few of the kids who live in the tent camp to join us in this picture. It's an amazing feeling to recognize faces and see people smile when you say their name. On a walk between Base Camp and our church, a few kids from a neighborhood that I've visited often to hand out clothing, school supplies, and benches, walked towards me... I yelled one of the boys names, "Lilly!!!" and when he heard it he came running with the biggest smile.




I will definitely miss this place. It's always hard to leave something once you get in a rhythm and flow of things. Not to say Haiti is easy to adjust to, because daily you run into difficulties through language barriers, a slow moving lifestyle, hurt and broken lives... All the while dealing with the fact that anywhere you look you see trash, tent houses, run down businesses, filthy water systems, pothole filled roads, people walking in mud and dirt. It's beautiful really, because somehow these people continue to live, continue to dream, and continue to give thanks. They are a nation whose people model great and humble hearts. As I leave here and head back to my comforts of the American life, I envy these people's ability to endure, their passion to live, and how they make much out of little.

Follow Up Story on Huberman

This afternoon I called my friend Huberman, who's mom I helped take to the hospital. I asked him to give me some more information about what happened with his mom and how his living situation is. This is what he told me:

"When I was at the hospital I just prayed a lot. The doctor gave me some prescriptions for my mom and they said that she might have an infection in her stomach because she was having acid reflex. She stayed over night in the hospital and it cost me 700 Haitian dollars, which is about 88 US Dollars. The next day I took her to the clinic I work at and we gave her another IV. My mom's taking so many medications, I'm not too smart on medicine, so we gave her pills and vitamins. She doesn't have Cholera, she might have an infection and was very dehydrated the other day. We gave three IV's and now she starting to feel better. I have some more exams to do for my mom, but I don't have the money. She's resting now and trying to eat and drink some good water, but she's not doing it enough.

My house... we are planning to move, but I can't move because I don't have money. We have a deadline to leave the land, and I am planning to put up a tent in my yard where I'm going to go, but we have to move so it's hard right now. I have two properties, I used to live on one of them, but my house fell down there. I've tried to sell it but no one wants to buy property full of rubble. My other property has walls for a house but no covering, and I don't have money to put a covering over it. I'm probably going to get a tarp and cover it, but I have a nice tent that was given to me so I will set it up there as well."

When I met Huberman, he told me about his dream to start a school and study to be a doctor. He told me that Haiti's only real resource is it's children and he wants to help raise up children who are educated and love the Lord. I am amazed by this friend I have because his life is so hard... I can barely comprehend how he is able to live. Yet, everyday or so when he calls me... I ask him how he's doing and he tells me, "I'm doing great by the grace of God." I told him that I am leaving in a few days and he told me that he'd miss me a lot and... this stuck me... his mother wanted to see me again before I left. I hope to see her tomorrow... pray the roads are clear and safe.

Coffee In Haiti

Two weeks ago, the mother of a Haitian friend of mine, Huberman, gave me a great gift.While I've been in Haiti I have searched and talked with many people about finding available land with coffee already grown. With this in mind, this "madam" (woman) traveled up a very long and steep road to find coffee for me. She ended up plucking and cleaning about a pound of coffee beans to show that she had found land with coffee. It was such a surprise and blessing to know that this woman has been thinking about me and wanted to help me.

Today, I went up to the land and met the farmer who I nicknamed, Oregon. I walked throughout the whole land, which we figured out was about 10 acres. It had lots of coffee trees, bananas, oranges, and many other exotic fruits I have never seen. As we journeyed through the coffee jungle I couldn't help but render the thought of how this place could eventually become a great blessing to Haiti, as it would provide many jobs for people. With a bit of cleanup, some training, some communicating, and organization, I pray that this dream would become a reality.

As our time in the coffee land ended, my Haitian friend, Huberman, received a call from a family member that his mother (my "madam") had become very sick... throwing up and not able to hold any food or water down. With this news, Huberman became very distraught. We planned to drop Huberman off at the bottom of the hill, but our plans quickly changed as we drove up to his tent camp and picked up his mom and brought her to the hospital. When we arrived at where his mother lived, five of us huddled into her 5x5 ft. tend and began to pray God's healing for her. After that we loaded her up in our tap-tap, and I witness such awesome community as five or so other woman began to gather and provide pillows and blankets for her ride in the back of the tap-tap. All eyes where turned towards this scene as a woman who has become an overseer, nurturer, and caretaker for this tent camp, become impaired by sickness.

Tonight I pray for a great work to be done, while fully knowing that God can do anything. I pray for deep impact in that hospital as a woman who is covered in prayer enters the atmosphere of a depressing place of sickness and disease. And I pray for healing, healing, healing in Jesus name. It breaks my heart to see someone become so frail that they couldn't walk and that someone so undeserving of sickness would be overtaken by it. Especially, when it's a woman who has cared about me and shown great thankfulness just at my presence. "Lord watch over your children tonight."