Haiti Vision Trip

Mersi Jesus

     We did it!  We went to Haiti; we took cold showers; we didn't drink the water; we ate new foods; we played with kids; we toured villages; we experienced traffic like you'll never find in the US!  We shopped at Papillon Enterprises; we learned about sublimation at Life SA; we saw the sewing centers and walked through Pathways Academy. We worshiped with the local church, played with a lot of kids, made some life-long friends, and we made it home safe and sound!  Now we are grappling with all kinds of questions, observations, ideas, and perspectives on reality that we will never fully comprehend.  I'm warning you now that this may be a very long post, or series of posts, as my mind is racing and my fingertips can't begin to keep up.  So grab your favorite hot beverage and find an easy chair, and I'll do my best to describe our first encounter with Haiti to you.

    

     From the moment our plane landed in Port au Prince, we knew we were far, far from home.  Simply getting from the plane, to our luggage, to the bus was an adventure, but we had an experienced guide so we made it through with all of our donations and new friends intact.  

     

     Once on the bus, we were introduced to our interpreter, driver, and body guard, along with two Global Orphan Project staffers who resides at the hotel we stayed in, specifically for the purpose of coordinating and guiding vision trips like ours.  We were not there to build anything, or paint, or finish a structure.  We were there to soak up culture, to play with kids, to learn from local clergy, and to pray asking how God could use us better in light of all we were taking in.

The trip to the hotel was an immediate jumping in at the deep end kind of experience as there was no denying that we were surrounded by confusion, chaos, garbage, poverty, and unbelievable traffic.  There were no lines separating the road into neat lanes of traffic - but there were thousands of vehicles going in all directions all at once, with motorcyclists coming up around and alongside them from anywhere and everywhere.  I quickly learned that honking the horn is its own kind of language in Haiti, and although the roads were packed, it somehow works and people do get from Point A to Point B, albeit not quickly.  Lesson two: forget about having a schedule.  There are a lot of things you cannot predict, so you may as well not stress about it, and just enjoy the ride.

     Our first stop was at Papillon Enterprises, which is a place near and dear to my heart thanks to my work with GO Exchange.  This is the facility founded by Shelly Clay where moms and dads are hired to make beautiful things - jewelry, ceramics, metal arts, hand bags, etc. - in an effort to provide sustainable living wage jobs that will help families stay together.  An unfortunate reality in Haiti and around the world is that 80% of children placed in orphanages have living parents who are simply too poor to care for them.  Shelly went to Haiti herself to adopt children, and realized she needed to do more.  In 2008, she opened her business, began employing locals, teaching, and training, and providing childcare as they worked.  They focus on taking trash and turning it into amazing things - many of which I sell through GOEX, and they're making a real difference in the lives of people.  The gentleman who guided our tour of this facility described getting to work there as equivalent to winning the lottery.  It was an incredible place and a great way to start our interaction with Haiti!

     

     Before we could pull into our hotel, we stopped at the first orphanage of the trip, which would also be the last one we'd visit a few days later.  This particular orphanage, or crèches as they're called in Haiti, was next-door to our hotel, so there was no hiding the fact that a bus full of new friends had just pulled in.  Before we unloaded our luggage, we had our first play date with Creole-speaking kids, our first glimpse into their living quarters, and our first awkward attempts at bridging a language barrier to befriend kids who were eagerly awaiting good things from the people on the bus.

That first visit was short, about an hour or so.  Steve was immediately claimed by some of the older boys, and his camera became our greatest asset.  I posed for pictures with some kids, they clowned around for the camera, and laughed at their own images on his digital screen.  Meanwhile, some of the kids noticed my cane and began trying to figure out why I had it and what it was used for.  We later, much later, found out that although our translator, Bekenson, was doing his best to run interference for me, many of the kids didn't believe that I was blind because my blue eyes appeared to work together and were not cloudy.  The ones who did figure it out came up me saying, "No see?" and touching my face right by my eyes.  They then decided to give me a tour of the creche by taking hold of my hands or arms, and steering my cane into various objects at the edge of the play yard.  (There was one kid who realized he could trip his companions with a well-aimed cane, which he found very funny.  Unfortunately for him, I'm already a mom of three ornery boys, so I knew exactly how to put a stop to that.) :)

     I will not lie.  My first encounter with Haitian orphans left me wondering what on earth I was doing in Haiti and what I could possibly have to offer them.  I prayed that God would help me get past my own fears and do something meaningful.  Blindness and Creole seemed to be nearly insurmountable obstacles.  But I knew I had to face them because when we go to Haiti for our bonding trip, I will have to face them again as we interact with our daughter, so I would just have to figure out how to make it work.  We instituted a buddy system with the team members and resolved that the next day would be better.

     That night after dinner, our team met to talk about the day, and our leader asked us, "what is rich, and what is poor?"  She didn't want an answer just then, she just wanted us to think about it as we went through the week.  We talked about how small the living space was for the children we'd met, and the filth, and the livestock wandering through it all, and marveled at the fact that somehow the people still seemed amazingly hopeful in spite of it all.  The tap taps (open trucks used for public transportation) were everywhere and brightly decorated with all kinds of things - flowers, cartoon characters, Hollywood movie stars - but more than any of these, we saw the words "Merci Jesus" on them.  Those words were everywhere, reflecting a spirit of hope we would grow to know well among the Haitian people - thankfulness to God for that day's provision and hope for the future and Jesus' return.  We Americans could not begin to fathom it, especially that first night.

No Turning Back 

     Day two starts with spaghetti for breakfast, along with bread, peanut butter, boiled eggs, and mango.  I wondered to myself just how taxing this day was going to be since they were fueling us up with so many carbs and proteins.  This day would turn out to be my favorite on the trip.

     Our first stop was at Life SA, a sewing center operated by Global Orphan Project.  This is where the GO Exchange apparel is made.  We entered a warehouse full of sewing machines and material.  Employees on one side of the building were hard at work using high-tech industrial machines.  The other side of the room had empty machines, as the shop manager  explained to us that their fabric was held up by customs and they were waiting for it to be released so they could come back to work.  The delay had left those workers without work for three weeks, so they were home with their families.  However, Life SA was paying them their daily wage anyway while they waited, so as not to disrupt the provision to their families.  

     It is important here to understand that the daily wage in Haiti is anywhere from $2.00 to $6.00, and for every Haitian who has a job, that wage will be divided among eight others whom they support.  Life SA pays a much higher wage - $10.00 to $15.00 - and hopes by doing so to allow families to stabilize and break the pattern of abandoning children due to poverty that we discussed earlier.

     Of course, this only works if we sell a lot of their products at home in the USA where we can afford them.  Through group apparel shirts for charity groups, 5k’s, sports teams, and church groups, as well as sales of the apparel offered by GO Exchange, we keep this vision alive and the business growing.  Last fall, sales were so successful that every employee was given a bonus in an amount high enough to pay for one year of schooling for one of their children.  This is unheard of in Haiti, and when it was announced, workers dropped to their knees in thanksgiving to God and cried tears of joy.  The weight of my responsibility as an ambassador for these workers rested heavily on my shoulders as we toured their facility and learned about all they do.

     Ironically, Life SA employs a method called sublimation to make some of their shirts.  They essentially print the shirts, color and all, via high-tech printers, and by doing so, can reduce their own costs by only needing white fabric, and can produce large orders with amazing precision and efficiency.  It it a very high-end technology which is not employed in the States or most other places in the world due to the labor-intensive process involved, but it is perfect for Haiti as that is exactly what we are looking for!  So if you're looking to produce a lot of shirts, for any reason, please let us help you with that!

     Jeff, the shop manager there, talked about the pride he has in his workers, and their products, but also shared openly about the pressures he feels from other sewing centers who operate differently than Life SA.  The almighty dollar dictates a lot of that industry.  Factories want to produce affordable products, so they can win bidding wars.  In an industry where a price difference of half a penny per unit can lose a contract, Life SA is leading the way with living wages, and efficiency, and is trying to encourage others to do the same.  Jeff said other factories tell him to lower his wages, and he tells them to raise theirs.  Pray this business continues to grow.  Haiti has a 75% unemployment rate, and the more we sell, the more they can grow and hire.

     On the other side of the warehouse, artisans are making all sorts of other incredible products with traditional Haitian methods.  Nothing is wasted.  They use teeshirt scrap material to make beautiful hand bags - available through GO Exchange -- and use all kinds of other media for amazing works of art.  A peacock made from a flat tire was displayed on the wall, along with vases made from burlap, paper machete products, and ceramics.  They manage to take rust from metal art leftovers and use it to dye fabric in patterns.  Trees overhang the walls of the outdoor part of the facility, and blossoms from the trees are boiled in water to make more vibrant colors for their designs.  Haiti really has mastered making beauty out of broken and discarded things.

     After Life SA, we went to another orphanage, this one on the other side of Port au Prince, and more rural.  These kids receive far less visitors and were eagerly awaiting our arrival.  We had been told that they were a very musical bunch, and that we could try to get them to sing with us, but that they were very shy.

Within moments of our arrival, I was chosen by some kids and pulled off in the direction of their pavilion.  I grabbed Bekenson, our translator, asked him to be my new close, personal friend, and we were off!

Most of our group ended up in the pavilion, and just a few minutes into our trip, the kids sang to us a welcome song, in Creole and in English, and sang "No Turning Back," in their language as well.  My soul leapt when I heard them singing that as the day before we had had an adventurous flight and I had sung to myself the same words, in English.  As I sat there with a child holding my left hand, a child holding my right hand, a child braiding my hair, kids in front and behind me, I knew I was where I was supposed to be.

     After a while, we moved into their school building where some of our team was doing VBS songs with the kids and hosting a dance party.  I sat at a table with my newfound Haitian friends and played hand games and talked to them via Bekenson as much as I could.  He translated for me and I told them the David and Goliath story, the way I tell it to my boys, and it was very lively and a lot of fun.

I'm not sure how it started, but someone sang a song in Creole that I knew in English.  I sang, and the kids said, in English, "Again!"  I sang it again.  Bekenson then got the kids to sing it for me.  We started going back and forth singing together and for each other, and it was very fun.

     The girls liked hymns, and I tried to remember what songs I sang as a kid that were fun.  I sang "When we all get to Heaven," and the kids asked for it again and again.  One of the girls, unbeknownst to me, left the circle and went to get one of the mamas who care for the kids there.  I heard her coming back because she was imitating me and doing her best to sing a soprano "vic-to-ry!"  The mama she was bringing came over to where I was, moved the child from my right, leaned right up against me, and sang it to me in Creole.  She got the kids to sing with her with great gusto, and had me sing along.  Steve captured this moment on video and I felt like I was experiencing worship the way it will be in Heaven.  I didn't need to know their words.  I knew their hearts and their God, and it was incredible!

     Departure time came too soon, and we knew we had to head to the bus.  One of our team members later described watching my exit that day by saying it seemed that the entire orphanage was escorting me out.  I had a girl on my right, another on my left, some behind me, some in front, and the mama off to the side.  They carefully led me out of the building and I climbed on the bus.

     A boy Steve had spent the day with stood outside his window calling his name.  He wanted high fives and physical contact for as long as he could have it.  We both cried as Steve told him, "Jesus loves you," and we pulled away.

In our group time that night, I found out that my singing was a bigger hit than I thought it was, and I I was misty-eyed as I told my team that I was not afraid that day.  I was so so grateful to be able to share music with the kids as I had lost that ability for a while, and I could not explain how amazing it was to serve in that way and connect on more than one level with those precious souls.

The Lord Bless You and Keep You

     On our third day, we visited a village known as All in one Family.  This particular village is run by Pastor Kesnel, a Haitian national who lived in the States for thirty five years before God called him back to Haiti.  The church where he serves had been destroyed by the earthquake, and he has rebuilt it and a whole community along with it.

It is important to explain here that the villages/orphanages we visited with Global Orphan Project are led by pastors with hearts for orphans, their communities, and the lost.  They take in the need children in their communities and raise them up, educating them all the way through thirteenth grade, feeding, housing, clothing,  and training them in the Word.  Pastor Kesnel's vision seems to be limitless, as he is always adding something more to his village and planning for the future.

He proudly announced to us that they didn't owe any of his teachers.  All of their salaries are paid on time and in full.  He has a water purification system for the community to use, a bakery, an eating area for the children, a worship center, a medical clinic, a church that is growing so much that they have to take the roof off to build upward, and visions for much more.  He is opening a barber shop, and talked about his seminary, church plants in the mountains and in Cuba, and his plans for a university.  I could not figure out how he wasn't burnt out and exhausted as we toured his home, the reception hall he has built, and the new Sunday School rooms for the 250 children who attend each week.  It was AMAZING!

He spent a lot of time talking with us, and before we left, I asked if I could sing a blessing over him.  I sang, "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" to him, and we all cried.  And he made me promise to sing to his church on Sunday, but we'll talk about that later. 

     It was in this village that my friend snapped a picture of me holding a sleeping little girl that made its way to Facebook very quickly.  She is not my future daughter.  The child we are adopting is not from any of the villages we visited on this trip.  I still have no idea who she is.  But the one in the picture affirmed to me that I can bond with a child and still have the ability to sooth little ones to sleep with lullabies - in this case Christmas carols so as not to sing any "mama's gonna buy you" type promises that I couldn't keep.  I sang her to sleep in the middle of a busy play yard, and then carried her into the church for devotional/prayer time with the kids.  I held her until we started on a walking tour of the village, at which time I gave her to Steve, who put his experience as a daddy to good use by shouldering her sleeping frame through many buildings until she finally went with a mama to her own bed.

     She was actually the second little one I sang to sleep that day.  The first was in the nursery, which was the biggest shock any of us experienced that day.  It was small, crowded, and full of toddlers running around with bare bottoms (their method of potty training) and didn't smell like baby powder and sweetness.  The kids there were lively and vibrant, and mischievous, climbing all over the place, and occasionally snuggling in.  I rocked one fussy little one to sleep while her twin toddled around from bed to bed, and couldn't help but wonder what life would look like for these little ones who deserve laps to sit on and arms to rock them to sleep at night.

     We visited another village later that afternoon, where older girls gave me a tour with one of the Global Orphan Project kids translating for me.  He helped me share Bible stories with them, and we told each other our favorite Bible verses.  The girls told me they loved to dance, so I tried to get them to join in with the dance party happening outside, but they elected to sit on the steps with me instead, doing my hair and getting as much skin-to-skin contact as they could.

In our group session that night, we talked about the work of the mamas.  It was Saturday and everyone in the whole country seemed to be doing laundry by hand in five-gallon buckets.  Bekenson had told us that tomorrow was church, and they were getting ready.  We prepared ourselves for a unique worship experience, not in English, and looked forward to what our last full day in Haiti would bring.

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

     Haitian worship is unlike anything you've ever seen in the States.  I've been in many amazing church and revival services, but nothing like this.  Sunday School and morning worship sort of blend together, so we arrived with worship already in progress, and listened to the congregation singing with all their hearts in Creole.

They marched us down to the front of the church putting us on the very front row.  Pastor Kesnel himself seated me.  We dressed nicely, but they dressed on their finest, sparkling white shirts, fancy dresses, and even lacy socks on the little ones.  Church was no joke!

     We sat and stood when the congregation did.  I recognized two songs, one Bekenson had taught me the day before, and a classic Gaither chorus, in Creole.  I sang along where i could.  The music lasted well over an hour.

Pastor Kesnel’s wife moved me out of the sun and onto the front pew with her right in the center.  When they came up to put their offerings in the basket, I had to flatten myself against the bench to stay out of their way.  I loved it!  It was up close and personal and it was loud!

     They sang with all their strength.  One song could last twenty minutes or more.  They didn't have power point or hymnals.  They sang by heart.  They sang and played from memory, fumbling around while they tried to figure out what key the music minister was in when he sang an impromptu new song, and coming together perfectly with everything you'd expect from a Caribbean band .  They even had and an accordion led men's youth choir which was really fun!

Our trip leader brought greetings from Global Orphan Project, and then Pastor Kesnel asked if I would keep my promise and sing.  He said to sing whatever the Holy Spirt told me to, and so I opened my mouth and sang my testimony song - like I hadn't sung it in five years.  I honestly didn't know I had that much range, volume or control.  It was as if the whole thyroid surgery and nerve damage had never happened.  I put down the microphone and sang with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, hand lifted up, and spirit soaring.

     The song I sang was "Great is thy Faithfulness."  The significance of singing that song in a place once devastated by an earthquake was not lost on me.  I knew I couldn't explain my overcoming blindness testimony to that congregation, but they knew the song, and I raised my hand starting with "strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow," in an effort to say the God they trust to provide is the God I serve, and our story is different and the same.  And they understood.  I was completely humbled and grateful to have that moment.

     I wasn't going to include this story in the blog because this story isn't about me.  But I spent a lot of time a couple years ago struggling with not singing, and I want you to know that God chose that moment to tell me it's back, and the old me is back, more mature and completely reliant on God for every note, even the ones intended to honor Him.  If I ever had an ego, I don't now, just unspeakable joy, and a lot of happy tears every time something remotely beautiful comes out.  I am one of the broken, discarded pieces that God has restored, and the music he gave me that day was a treasure I cannot put a number on.

     

     We spent more time after church, which lasted three hours, with Pastor Kesnel.  He told us about his heart for Cuba, and more of his plans in Haiti.  He told us that not everything he ever envisioned came to fruition, but explained that in Haiti, they believe if their plans don't work out, they weren't in God's will, and they move on.  They do not dwell on the past, they look forward to the future.  Hope is everywhere.

     After a water break, we toured the piece of Global Orphan Project's vision that completes the circle.  I've told you about kids and mamas, but there's a missing piece in the middle which consists of young men and women aging out of orphanage care who have to find a way of their own.  Pathways Academy was created to serve these kids.

At Pathways Academy, eighteen year olds begin a two-year program of vocational training in four different career fields appropriate to Haiti.  They have continued Bible training, but also learn about budgeting, cooking, cleaning, and life skills.  They begin hands-on work almost immediately.  Some of these kids only have a third grade education.  Some have made it much further.  All of them need a job.  That's what we're aiming for.

     Many of the graduates will go to Life SA.  Some will go to farms, or become mechanics.  Some will be cooks.  The second year of their training involves internships and workplace experience.  The goal is that they will find jobs, support their families, and not have to surrender their children to orphanages one day.  Change is coming with this generation.

It's a full circle; a big picture; a completely different picture than what most people have of orphan care.  We call it orphan prevention, and we hope to change future generations and add to the hope that is so prevalent in Haiti.

We spent time at the first orphanage again that night. The same boy who chose Steve on the first visit chose him again, remembering him, and teaching him some Creole words.  He wrote a note to Steve before he left saying, "Jesus loves you," and signed his name to it.  Steve carries it in his wallet now and we'll never forget that young man of God, learning to love, even in  extreme poverty.

     In our group session that night, our group pleader again asked us what is rich and what is poor?  We saw a lot of richness of spirit and spiritual wealth among the oppressed masses in Haiti.  There is more work to be done than I can recount, but I can tell you this, the church is alive and well in Haiti!  We will never be the same!

Be Strong and Take Heart

     As a side note, I now have a different definition of "orphan" in my heart.  I already knew that eighty percent of the world's orphans have living parents.  I knew the statistics about how many there are world-wide, and I knew the church was called to care for them.  Having been to Haiti, my perspective is different in a way I can't yet quantify.

I still believe in adoption and specifically international adoption.  I know we were called to it.  I know that special needs kids in particular have very little hope in a place like Haiti for high-functioning lives like I enjoy.  I know that God opens hearts across the globe and places children in them in a way only He could orchestrate.  I know He'll do that with us.

I also know that the kids we played with were healthier than I expected.  They have enough to eat and they are very, very smart.  They are learning as many as four languages, and taking philosophy, chemistry, biology, and all kinds of classes in high school.  They care for each other within the wall of their village and form their own kind of family.

The children we met were not adoptable.  Sometimes, although rarely, their parents get on their feet and come to reclaim their children and take them home.  They can at least worship with them at church if they like, and some do.

I have deeper understanding for those who oppose international adoption, specifically objecting to removing children from their native culture.  I want to value my daughter's heritage in a way that honors her.  I have no idea what her orphanage will be like.  They're not all run like the ones we visited.  Although we experienced some of Haiti's best, I know there are still many dark and dismal places and there is much, much more work to do.

     The challenge faced by Global Orphan Project is similar to that which Jeff expressed in Life SA.  There must be balance with the help we offer and hope we provide.  If it is elevated too high, parents may place their children in our care in hopes of a charmed life for the kids, which sets them up for an unrealistic expectation of their future.  In Haiti, they will not have hot water, air conditioning, or wifi in their homes.  But as it turns out, these things are much less important than love, the gospel, and basic necessities.

     I have been back less than a week and am definitely struggling with first world luxuries.  It's not the guilt you might expect, but the excess that gets me.  I am blessed to have been born here and I don't at this point feel God calling me to move anywhere else.  But He does expect me to be a steward of what He gives me, to provide for those in my care, and to give, give, give to those in need.  Only God knows how that is going to look for our family in the future.  For now, I am listening, praying for discernment, remembering the hope of Haiti, and thanking God every time I have a hot shower.

We purchased several pieces of Haitian metal art, chiseled out from 55-gallon steel shipping containers.  All of them turn our hearts right back to God.  We bought a depiction of Noah's ark, several nativity pieces and ornaments, and a couple of wall hangings that took my breath away.

     Steve and I went on this trip to experience our daughter's homeland, but knew we couldn't talk about adoption while we were there.  I knew I would be strengthened and broken at the same time, and I was.  At our very first stop, Papillon Enterprises, Steve saw a metal art sign that says, "Wait for the Lord.  Be strong and take heart.  Psalm 27:14."  He read it aloud and I gasped, and now it hangs on my kitchen wall, and may have taken the place of Joshua 1:9 as my favorite scripture verse.  We were there to serve other children, but God has not forgotten his call to our family, or our little girl.  We will wait, and we will take heart.  And when times are hard, we will remember the sign that now graces our kitchen table from the heart of Port au Prince, Haiti, reminding us that our journey will come together in God's timing.  In the meantime, we have much to do and many to serve.  Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.

"Give thanks to the Lord.  HIs love endures forever."