I was asked a few weeks ago to travel to Haiti to provide childcare for full-time missionaries who were attending a conference/retreat. It wasn't the ideal trip that I would like to take (as much as I enjoy hanging out with kids, I would much rather be getting dirty picking up trash, swinging a hammer, or playing with big power tools), but it at least got me into Haiti and allowed for me to see what some of the local Christian organizations are doing to with both short and long-term rebuilding, evangelical outreach, education, provision of healthcare, and economic development.
Before leaving for Haiti, I was absolutely shocked by the negative feedback I received from a few friends, family, and acquaintances in regards to my interest in being a part of persistent movement to help the nation of Haiti and its inhabitants.
"Haiti is and has been a hopeless nation for as long as I can remember. Nothing good has ever come out of Haiti and nothing ever will."
"I think we should nuke the whole place and everyone in it. Kill the people of Haiti and start all over again. Every one of them. They do nothing to contribute to the rest of humanity; the are a burden to this world."
You get the idea...I got the idea. There is no hope for Haiti. "Survival of the fittest...let AIDs kill them off." In what I presume is your line of thought, it makes sense to pull any and all relief efforts out of Haiti based on their history of a seemingly never ending impoverished state of being.
Please understand that I am not the same as you are. My natural thoughts, ideas, and beliefs may differ from yours and, when I try to think the way that you do, I have to push aside all moral, emotional, and spiritual aspects of who I am. But I do my best to understand your way of thinking. I understand that perhaps your empathy is not directed towards the same situations as mine and you are able to turn a blind eye to a nation of starving peopl to set your focus on other things which you deem to be more worthwhile.
You may not see any substantial hope for the nation of Haiti; only the dirty physical disparities that lie between our comfortable, convenient lives and the lives of those of Haiti.
I see the hope of Haiti in the eyes of every individual who pours themselves into being a part of seemingly insignificant advancements. I have seen the hope of Haiti in bright eyes of some young orphans and I have also seen great despair in the dull and lifeless eyes of other orphans. I have seen the hope of Haiti in young men and women who learn by verbal repetition in bare, filthy classrooms if they are fortunate enough to attend a school. I see the hope of Haiti in these young men and women who fight against all odds to bring education, health, and tangible hope to their country.
I understand that I am not getting across to you my desired point of this blog. I can't find words fitting enough to describe my frustration. It seems so impossible to communicate what I have seen: great despair and even greater hope.
