Many had started out at
around 1am that morning, and had hike three hours to the church,
arriving before dawn, at the church. Having seen no Doctor for the
past five years, and with no nearby schools, no education or
hospitals, the Haitian people were eager and willing to wait all day.
Yet when our rentals pulled up to the church, I still couldn't
believe the mass of people that crowded the small yard- mothers,
babies, children, youth, grandparents. And I knew there was only
about medication left for 60 of them. There were sisters from the
church cooking rice out front under a large palm tree in a big pot,
and someone had set up a big tarp to protect the people from the heat
of the sun.
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The med station we set up inside |
The people crowded our
white vehicle and we had to push a path through them just to get the
medications and doctor into the little church building. I wanted to
stop for each one of them and try to help as many as possible, but I
knew if I paused in stride, they would quickly come up and start
asking for things. We kept looking ahead and begin to set up our last
clinical day.
In the one small room, we
made a doctors corner, a medical station and lastl,y a give-away
station towards the back door. This contained more Bibles, Beanie
Babies, toothbrushes, toothpaste, headscarves, fisbees, soccer
jerseys, bandanas and candy. All for which they were ready to break
down the front door.
The heat in the room was
near suffocating, but there wasn't a window in the room to crack open
and we had to try out best to keep the people outside the building.
“Honestly”, Sarah said, “if I were a mother with a really sick
child and this was my one chance to see a doctor, I would push my way
to the front also.” It was so true. Yet, if you let one more come
through the door, you'd soon have a crowd that you couldn't control.
An older man was let inside to lie on a dirty blanket on the floor.
He had a wound that stuck out, the size of an apple on his side. Tiny
babies were brought to us, burning with fever or with pain the their
abdomen. Some of their faces were turned in terror as they looked
into the faces of “white people” for the first time, and they
begin to cry.
With so many medications
down from our initial clinic, we felt as if there was a minimal
amount that we could actually do. The people crowded around the
building, poking their heads in every window, watching us with intent
and getting more aroused as they saw the med table start to deplete.
The voices got louder and the room got hotter. Come lunch time, I'd
drunk almost my own entire ration of water for the day, and we had
served about 70 people. It looked as if that would be our capacity
for the day...there just weren't any more useful medications left
over.
We still had a lot of other
give-aways at the front, and wanted to send families in at a time, so
they could still receive gifts. However, the anticipation that some
might not get something and that our supply was dwindling sent the
Haitians attempting to push through the front door. Galilee, the head
guy of YFC, had to forcefully push them back, while yelling at them
in Creole. The front door of the little church shut and he put up his
hands. That would be it. There was no more we could do.
A few of us were still
determined to get the rest of our stuff handed out. We packed what
was left in two big hockey bags, pushed our way out the little church
and to the rentals, having to ignore the calls for toothbrushes and
“poupees” and loaded back into the white rental vehicles. People
crowded the sides of the rental and we had to roll up the windows, so
they wouldn't stick their hands inside.
On the way up the mountain,
it was often that we saw children playing in the dirt or roads by the
little places where they lived, or people walking down the road. We
were going to reach as many as we could. As we drove out of sight of
the church, we created a system. With Jonathan handing us Beanie
Babies, lollipops and toothbrushes from the trunk (quite the
combination), Sarah, Dorothy, Steph and I rolled down our windows
either side and as we begin our decent, we begin to watch for the
children so we could hand out the gits.
It was priceless. The look
on these childrens faces when we slowed the vehicle and handed them
the items. The dances they did in the middle of the road. One little
boy was stark naked and started jumping up and down, clutching the
bear to his chest and ran back towards the little shack by the side
of the road to tell his family. We tossed a soccer ball at a group of
teenage boys and they laughed and dove towards it, ready to begin a
soccer game straight away.
All the way to town, we
gave to the people we saw out the window. I was reminded of the verse
Humnan's Love has put on their toothbrushes. “And the multitude
of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said
any of them that ought of things which he possessed was his own; but
they had all things in common. And with great power gave the apostles
witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was
upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as
many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the
prices of the things that were sold, And laid them at the apostles
feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had
need.” Acts 4:32-35. I'm
seeing that the amount I've been given by the Lord is incredible and
I'm so undeserving of it. Everything I've been given by God is still
His to do as He pleases, and what greater joy is made when it's given
to those who really have a need. It was one of the highlights of the
trips to see the difference that it made in the day of an individual.
Yet greater so, I was praying and hoping on passing forth the message
of the eternal gift.
When
I had given the Bibles to the children, there had been some hesitancy
as to whether the kids would really value it as much as the adults,
and some doubt as to whether they could all yet read. I'd thought
about what to do and the verse came to me “So shall my
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the things whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11. I'd
really felt the Lord leading me to go forward with the project he'd
given me, so I'd given the Beanie Babies and Bibles to the kids,
praying they would value it and read it...and if not them, their
families.
When we
got back to the YFC base after lunch, encouraging the work being
finished by those who hadn't gone “up the hill”, I was really
exhausted and moved past the children to the upstairs balcony
overlooking the community. Perched on the railing, I looked over the
broken town that was just barely holding together, and I thought of
the children.
In the
alleyway to the right of YFC, my eye caught site of one of the girls
who had been at the daycamp on Saturday when we'd shared the gospel
and handed out the Bibles and Beanie Babies. She was perched on the
sill of her window, with her Bible lying open, her face intent
towards the pages. In the midst of the crumbling and dirty cement
walls, surrounded by a broken concrete porch and littered in garbage,
it was something beautiful.
An
older girl stepped forward from the house and turned to look at me
from where I was perched on the second floor balcony. I recognized
her as a vendor right near the base.
“Bible?”
She pointed towards the Bible the girl was reading and then back at
me. Then she pointed to herself. I remembered I'd had one box left
and quickly left my spot on the railing.
Asking
Sarah, and then Mark, to come with me, we ventured outside the metal
gate of the base and down the road towards her stand. She was back
and waiting for costumers, when she looked up and saw us coming. I
had partly hid it in the large pocket in my scrubs; any extra items
that were seen given out, immediately attracted groups to crowds of
people. As we approached her, I pulled it out and handed it to her. A
smile broke her face and she eagerly took it, pressing her lips to
the front cover. Laying her hand over mine, she eagerly thanked me,
and we headed back to the centre...the mission for the individual
accomplished.
Jesus
did speak to crowds, preaching, telling parables and performing
miracles – proving that He was really the Son of God. Yet, so many
times he went out of his way to touch the lives of individuals. Here
is where we read of changed hearts, transformed lives and of souls
delivered to him.
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A little girl that just wanted to be held. |
I love
running around with crowds of children in a game of “tag”,
playing soccer in a dusty and rocky yard and telling His story to a
group of eager-eyed children, but even more so, I love holding the
little girl with teary eyes, made an orphan from Haiti's earthquake.
I love watching the face of one boy light up when he, alone out of
curiosity followed a group of strangers into a field and in turn was
included in all the group pictures and given the gift of God's word.
I love leaving the walls of the YFC base to walk down the road and
hand one single Bible to the women who wanted nothing more. It's the
individuals that I look out for, and maybe it's because when they
look at me with those eyes that have endured so much, when they put
their hand on mine, or when I see them do the little dance in the
middle of the road, they in turn, touch my own heart. And once more,
I'm reminded of God's huge and loving heart towards others. Again, I
feel His crazy and undeserving love towards me - How when I was
nothing, He chose me and gave me such blessing. So who am I not to
share it?
|
Finally done the project! Haiti 2012! |
As the
last metal roof pieces were being placed on the outdoor
church/school, rain began to fall from the sky – coming down in
torrents. Maybe be that was Haiti's goodbye on our last day. We were
done our work, soaked to the bone and incredibly happy. The sky can
rain all it wants, but when you're doing God's work and looking
towards him, nothing can move your spirit.
|
Jumping in the Rain |
“God has not given us
the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord...but be
thou partakers of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God.” 2 Timothy 1:7-8