Monday, May 30, 2011
We were finally in Haiti. Or were we? The blazing sun, people walking everywhere carrying enormous bundles on their heads, the smiles and pointing fingers as little children shouted “Blan!” (white person)…all of this was the same, but as we drove through the city of Port-au-Prince we all noticed that some things had changed…drastically. Haitians wearing medical masks as protection from the dust were lined up along the streets with brooms, cleaning not only the sidewalks, but also the cement drainage ditches which are usually overflowing with trash. We saw more than one dumpster – full – and every drainage ditch we passed had only water inside. I sniffed the air in amazement. Even that smelled cleaner! Where were we?
Our vehicle turned out of the city and onto National Route #1 (the only national route in the country), and we gazed out over the once-open-land now peppered with thousands of tarps and make-shift tents. This was one thing that hadn’t changed. The innumerable tent cities filled with people displaced after the earthquake. Yet as we continued down the road we noticed another difference…the road itself. No longer did we need a sentinel posted near the front of the truck to yell “Bump!” every time we approached a large dip in the half-gravel, half-paved highway…there weren’t any such craters! The entire road, from Port-au-Prince to St. Marc, was covered in flat, smooth asphalt.
Though I had noticed some of these changes developing back in January, Crash remained completely astounded, and asked some of our people why they such drastic differences were occurring, seemingly all of a sudden. They replied that the people were actually excited about the new president, and were working to clean up the country to impress him. This was another thing that caught us off guard. It has been ages since the Haitian people have cared enough about their leadership to actually take some pride in keeping their country looking decent.
Wednesday, May 18th was Haiti’s flag day. I was so excited to be attending the celebration that I amused more than a few Haitians by proudly wearing Haiti’s colors of red and blue and even donning my “kikit talon” (high heeled shoes). We walked among crowds of people waving flags and wearing red and blue bandannas and T-shirts supporting the new president, weaving our way around carts selling flavored ice treats and cold drinks, until finally reaching the edge of a gated courtyard facing a podium where the president stood making a speech. We were able to hear the last few minutes and when he concluded, immediately music began blaring and the mass of people pressing around us began swaying with the beat, until it was all we could do to remain on our feet! We all swayed along and laughed at the pandemonium that was stirring. As we made our way out of the crowd Dee commented, “I have not seen these people this excited in a very long time.”
These obvious, physical changes are very heartening…many people have been praying for the people of Haiti to begin taking pride in themselves and their nation once again. But even though we are encouraged by the new sights and attitudes, the changes that bring the most hope are those happening within the hearts of the Haitian people. Marc told us that our congregation in downtown Port-au-Prince is growing…growing beyond the edges of the stick and tarp structure put up after the church was damaged in the quake. The church at Kamicho (along the road where the accident happened last May) is flourishing, and the people are eager for us to begin a school there as well. Over fifty people from our congregations have been baptized since the earthquake, and Taz Kafe Cho (the 4am prayer service at Carries, led by Bioude) has more regular attendees than our morning church service! When the Dorcés first came to Carries the loud boom of drums and voodoo chanting filled the air most nights. Now the village people hear beautiful voices raised in worship of our Savior every single morning before the dawn.
The accident and all the tragedies that hit our mission in its wake, though I’m sure were meant by the devil to create division and opposition among us, have instead been turned around by God to produce more loyalty in many of the Haitians who work for us, and many people in our congregations have turned to God and had their faith strengthened when they heard the stories of how He is working to bring everything together for good. A new light is dawning, not only for our mission, but for the entire nation of Haiti. This passage continues to be my prayer for them: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2
