Reflections on Haiti

I am home from Haiti. It was a good trip, though in many ways it was a hard trip for me. This was my first experience with overseas mission work, and though I saw a lot of hardship, I also saw a lot of hope. Buckle up, this will be a long one.

La Croix is a south-east of Gonaieves.

We flew into Port-au-Prince and then drove 90 miles to the La Croix Haiti New Testament Mission. I was awestruck while riding through Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capitol. There were people everywhere selling all kinds of things. Many of the stores had brightly painted pictures in addition to words because about half of Haiti's population is illiterate. There were makeshift tents that have served as people's homes since the earthquake two years ago. There were open sewers on either side of the road, and there were areas covered in garbage, sometimes with people and animals living on top of it. We left the city and could see the mountains, still covered with tents, though I was told that many people had been able to leave the tent cities and build permanent houses. It was a long drive to the mission and the extreme poverty was intermixed with a beautiful coastline. The mountains had a stark loveliness too, though it broke my heart because I knew that Haiti suffers from extreme deforestation.

We were treated to incredible hospitality at the mission. There were several bedrooms, split by men and woman, and as a married couple Jason and I were spoiled with our own room with a brand new mattress and pillows (and even a window air conditioner and ceiling fan). Our group shared several bathrooms with flush toilets, and we had running water every night. Pastor Vaugelas Pierre was a wonderful host, as was his wife who with the help of several women cooked delicious meals for us every night. In addition to our rooms, the mission has rooms for people who work there, a church, and school buildings, all surrounded by a wall. There is also a medical clinic down recently paved road. From the roof of the building where we stayed you could see the mission's banana plants, a field where animals (goats, donkeys, horses, and once I saw a bull) grazed, and then many mountains. Many of us spent our evenings on the roof looking at the stars. They were incredible! Never in my life have I seen so many stars. We could see the milky way and Jupiter, and every night we saw shooting stars.

We went to church on Sunday morning and though I didn't understand the prayers or words to the songs, I was still overwhelmed by the joy of the Haitian people worshiping. After the service they swarmed us with hugs, kisses, and handshakes, thanking us for coming and telling us that they and God loves us. It was a beautiful moment.

Jason playing for the kids after church.

There were many projects that members of our group worked on throughout the week. Painting, electrical work, music classes for the children at the school, teaching Excel to the gentlemen who work in the child sponsorship office, and the three nurses in our group helped at the clinic in La Croix and also in the town of Paul. One morning I assisted a professor from our group as she taught a chemistry class, and I helped another group member with her English class. It was wonderful to see how excited the kids are to learn! There was a boy who sat next to me in English class and kept repeating the new English words to me wanting me to help him to improve his pronunciation. Throughout the week kids would come up to us and proudly say one of the sentences they had learned in English, excited that they found the context where they could use it (You are painting a wall! I am sitting on a bench!).

Jason held youth group of the children of La Croix on Wednesday night. It started with a game of chubba-chubba-can-can. He gave a brief message, which was translated by a Haitian man who works at the mission. He then pulled out a guitar and played some English worship songs that he had heard some of kids singing, and then they also sang songs in Creole. At one point I was singing a song in English and the boy beside me was singing in Creole. It was a great moment of unity. The night ended with a Skype call to Veritas, the youth group at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In Pittsburgh or in Haiti, my husband is quite the youth pastor!

Jason gave his hat to the winner of the game.

Jason leading worship for the kids.

The mission has several schools in surrounding villages, and our group took trips to provide anti-parasitic medication to the children in three of them. One dose of the medication lasts for six months, and we took heights and weights for all of the children, which will be done again when another group gives their medication in six months. I went on two of the trips, to La Coupe and to Paul. The mission is located on the recently paved Highway 1, whereas Paul and La Coupe are decidedly not. I rode to La Coupe in a 4 wheel drive SUV of sorts driven by Pastor Pierre. We drove over dirt and rocky paths trough local villages. Then we drove up and down mountains and through streams. This was off-roading to the extreme. I'm surprised that I wasn't scared, but I was blessed with a sense of peace and security throughout the trip, which kept away my worries. I did suffer from heartbreak. The children in La Croix are thin but seem to be generally healthy and always seemed to be clean and well dressed. The children in La Coupe were covered in dust (which is easy to have happen as there is dust everywhere) and many seemed to be malnourished. Many had holes in the school uniforms and they were all packed into two school buildings. They came out one by one for us to weigh and measure them, then give them a bad tasting anti-parasitic pill (I took one and it wasn't tasty) and then a piece of candy. I asked Pastor Pierre how to say eat and swallow in Creole, and I threw in a bit of high school French (Creole is a French Pigeon), but it still must have been scary, especially for the little kids to have a random white woman telling them to eat a bad tasting pill. I felt bad because I could not communicate better, but I was happy to know that I had helped several hundred children to be free from parasites.

The journey to Paul wasn't as arduous, though we did drive up some very steep mountains. The views were amazing, and I was lucky enough to sit in the front seat with my new friends Margaret (on the way there), Shelly (on the way back), and Pastor Pierre. We spent the entire trip asking Pastor Pierre questions about Haiti and himself and he graciously answered all of them. He is a humble man with a wonderful sense of humor and he is doing many great things for Haiti. 

The most meaningful project that I worked on was helping to establish a library for the school in La Croix. When they were in Haiti in June, Jenny and Darby Gallo noticed that there were no picture books for the children, so this fall Darby collected books and donations (thanks to all who contributed!). They brought 250 picture books in English, and 50 children's picture Bibles (25 in English and 25 in Creole). Jenny, Reeny Davison, and I worked to sort them into appropriate categories and label them with a simple color coded system. Reeny is a educator who specializes in languages, and it was good to learn from her. I have a good sense of how to sort picture books for children in Pittsburgh for whom English is their first language, but it is different for children in Haiti who speak Creole. I typed up a simple catalog of all of the books and hope that more books will be added when future groups visit. The school's superintendent was very grateful for the beginnings of the library. The books are in a small room now, but the superintendent has plans for a larger reading room where the kids can come and read and study (it won't be a lending library due to the small number of books). 

Sorting books with Reeny

White people were a curiosity to the children in La Croix, La Coupe, and Paul. The children would run up to us and yell Blanc! Blanc! which means White! White! in Creole. They loved any attention that we gave them.

With the children of La Croix

It was a good trip, and I am glad I went. It was very hard for me at times, though, and I'm still processing my experience. I'd like to thank my friends for taking these photos. I took the short videos on the way to La Croix, but once we got there I felt that I couldn't do anything but live in the moment, so I didn't take photos or write. I struggled with feeling like an arrogant white American. What could I do to help? I struggled with seeing extreme poverty. But, I also saw hope. Pastor Pierre is doing amazing things - providing school, medical clinics, and wells for clean water. As for me, I did a few small things. Jason said that we were planting seeds that can grow into something bigger. That reminded me of this quote, which sums up my time in Haiti quite well:

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." ~ Mother Teresa

Traveling to Haiti

It is likely that all of my updates about this trip will be written on my phone, so I apologize now for typos, lack of editing, and poor formatting.

I am currently on a plane headed to Miami from Pittsburgh. We will spend the night at a hotel then fly out tomorrow morning for Haiti.

People have asked me why I want to go to Haiti. If I'm honest, a big part of me doesn't want to go. I've never seen poverty like what I will see in Haiti, and it scares me. Many of my friends have done international mission work, so part of me feels like this is just something that I should do. Part of me feels that because I have so many blessings in my life I want to try to give back if I can. The main reason I'm going is to form relationships with the people in La Croix. If I can do something to help them while I'm there, that would be wonderful, though part of me feels arrogant saying, "let me and my white American self come down and help you for a week, you poor Haitians." What I really look forward to is meeting the people, getting to know them and their culture. We will be different, but we will be the same. We are all children of God.

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We are now safely in Miami.Most of our group will fly out of Miami to Port-au-Prince, Haiti at 7:30am tomorrow, which means we are meeting at 5:15am. One of my favorite picture books as a child is called The Good Morning Grump, which says a lot about me, so I will have to try to be cheerful.

A nice little God moment tonight: the Holiday Inn lost our reservation, which could have been problematic, but we were able to get a room in the hotel inside of the airport! It made things much easier than our original plan.

And now, to bed!

Peace Be With You

I came across this quote the other day and really latched on to it. I've been thinking about peace, this kind of peace, for the last few weeks. Life has been busy lately. It's been busy with good things, but busy nonetheless. It's been wearing on me and making me feel stressed out. It is important to take time to rest and unwind, but I also think it is important to find inner peace while living in the busy times.

At first I was praying for God to give me peace, but then I realized that in John 14:27 Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid," and Colossians 3:15 says to "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." The peace has already been given to me. The ability to be truly calm even during busy or stressful times has been offered to me. So now my prayer is asking God to help me to open myself up to the peace of Christ, for me to let go of my need to be in charge, in control of everything, and to give my worries to God, opening myself to be filled with Christ's peace.

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

Rest In Peace, My Little Friend

My dog Shooter died today. My dad's and my dog, I should say. Our family got our first dog, Sophie, through a Bichon Frise rescue agency in 1999. Not only was she my first dog, but she was my dad's first dog. So, she really became my dad's dog. The next year, I wanted to get a Yorkie, so we rescued Shooter. He was such a good little friend. He was fun and playful, and he always sensed when I was upset and would come sit in my lap and lick my nose. Like many small dogs, he thought he was actually large and ferocious. He once barked at a big dog at the vet's, and the big dog actually shied away!

I commuted for most of college, but when I finally moved out Shooter stayed at home because I couldn't stand to separate him from Sophie. He also was not fond of Marley, the labradoodle that my husband and I adopted. So, over the last few years, Shooter also became my dad's dog, along with Sophie. Two years ago at the age of 13 Sophie died peacefully at home after my dad ran a doggie hospice for her for a week.

My dad and I have known that Shooter's time was coming. He was 14 and though he was doing well for his age, he was quite frail, and probably deaf, but he didn't always listen to us anyway, so we couldn't be sure. My dad said that Shooter seemed fine all day yesterday, but then one moment last night he wasn't. Daddy now thinks Shoot had a heart attack. My dad called me this morning, but then had to go to work. I was home sick with a sinus infection and decided to just stay home until my dad got back from work and called me. Then we would see if Shooter was better, gone, or needed to be taken to the emergency vet center.

I feel a bit terrible saying this, but I prayed that Shooter would die peacefully before my dad got home. Being euthanized doesn't seem like a very dignified way to die, and if I'm honest, I didn't want the emotional pain of going through the process. I prayed all day for peace for the three of us. Then around 1:30, I just felt like I should go to my dad's. I have a key, so I went over and found Shooter laying on the floor right next to his bed. He'd been gone for awhile. I started to shake and cry, so I went outside.

I didn't want to interrupt my dad at work to tell him on the phone, so I called my husband and my mom to talk. I prayed for strength and peace for the rest of the day. When my dad came home, I cried some more, he wrapped Shooter in his doggie blanket, and called the vet to find a place to have him cremated. We were referred to Deb at Chartiers Custom Pet Cremation in Bridgeville. We drove him over, and Deb was wonderful. She was very kind, took care of the details efficiently, and listened to the little stories we shared. My dad will get the cremains back in a custom made bag. I picked red fabric with little white hearts on it because his collars had always been red. She will also take a snipping of his fur and wrap it around a silk rose, also red. I'm going to assemble these with Shooter's collar and a photo in a shadow box as a nice remembrance.

My dad asked me if it was silly that he was so upset over a dog. I'm sure some people would say so, but I don't think so at all. As much as the last few chapters of Marley & Me by John Grogan made me cry my eyes out, he made a good point in that we spend more time with our dogs than most people in our lives. Our dogs see us at our best and our worst, and they always love us. They provide companionship, protection (ok, well maybe 6 pound Shooter didn't), and laughter. Shooter was part of our family for 11 years. Of course we are sad, of course we have to mourn. I am just so thankful that he died peacefully without suffering for long and that he left us with so many happy memories. Rest in peace, my little friend.

I am the 12.88%

My husband wrote a blog post this week about a startling realization he had. He used the simple calculator at Global Rich List and found out where he sits in terms of the world's wealth. I decided to do the same thing for my salary. Here are my results:

I admit that I am amazed. I am one of many in my generation who is underemployed, having earned a masters degree but working in a job that only requires a high school diploma. I am thankful that I have a job, and especially a wonderful job in my field of interest with opportunities for growth, but if I'm honest, I am often frustrated that I'm not making enough money. The results above are just for my income, and I'm in the top 12.88%. When I put in our combined family income, we are in the top 0.95%. That's incredible to me! I've been feeling disheartened because we don't own a house and have huge student loans to repay. I knew that I should be thankful that we were ok financially, that we rent a nice little house and have food and all of that, but I wanted more... I'm overwhelmed by these results. We aren't doing ok financially; we are amazingly blessed. How many things do I take for granted every day? A home in a safe area with heat, electricity, and clean water; easily accessible, healthy food; health care; transportation; I could go on and on now that I start to think about it.

So now my challenge for myself is twofold. I want to truly appreciate the many blessings that God has given us, and I want to reevaluate how and where we give our money. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:48) Though I have often taken it for granted, I have been given so, so much. I pray that I appreciate it and use it to glorify God.

Columbus Day: Genocide and Curiosity

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Like many American children, I learned this little rhyme when I was in grade school. I also learned that Christopher Columbus set off with his three ships to find a new trade route to the Orient. Being a man ahead of his time, Columbus sailed west to get east, believing that the world was round even though it was common knowledge that the world was flat. He didn't make it to his intended destination, but instead discovered America.

This didn't sit well with me as a child. I wondered how Columbus could discover a continent that was already populated. Several years ago I read a book called Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen that left me feeling even more uncomfortable with Christopher Columbus. The book states that "American history books present Columbus pretty much without precedent, and they portray him as American's first great hero." That seems to fit with what I remember learning in school. Unfortunately, many details about Columbus's work are left out of history books, replaced with stories to make him seem more heroic.

One common misconception in history books is that Columbus bravely dared to sail west when everyone of his time knew that this meant he would fall off of the edge of our flat Earth. In the middle ages, people did believe that the world was flat, but by Columbus's day it was common knowledge that the Earth is round. Columbus was not on an ideological quest to prove that the earth was round; he was searching for wealth. In a letter to the king and queen of Spain he wrote, "Gold is most excellent; gold constitutes treasure; and he who has it does all he wants in the world..." This was the common motivator for many "explorers" that children learn about in school, but since this sounds base and materialistic, more heroic reasons were fabricated.

A more disturbing omission from history books is the treatment of the native people by Columbus and his crew. From Lies My Teacher Told Me: "When Columbus and his men returned to Haiti in 1493, they demanded food, gold, spun cotton -- whatever the Indians had that they wanted, including sex with their women." He also enslaved about 5,000 native people and sent them across the Atlantic to Europe. When the native people rebelled in 1495, Columbus declared war. The native people did not stand a chance of survival against the European guns and cannons. Ferdinand Columbus's biography of his father describes the event: "The [European] soldiers mowed down dozens [of native people] with point-blank volleys, loosed the dogs to rip open limbs and bellies, chased fleeing Indians into the bush to skewer them on sword and pike, and with God's aid soon gained complete victory, killing many Indians and capturing others who were also killed."

They committed genocide. "Yet only one of the twelve textbooks...mentions the extermination. None mentions Columbus's role in it" (Lies My Teacher Told Me).

Why don't we teach our children the truth? The truth is terrible, certainly, but it is true. It is history. I understand the need for heroes, for figures to inspire children, but why fabricate stories to create heroes instead of simply teaching children about real historical heroes?

I wrestled with myself as to whether I should write this post. The name of this blog comes from the words of Mohondas Ghandi: "We must be the change we wish to see in the world." Writing a post about the atrocities committed by Christopher Columbus will not inspire positive change. I think that positive lessons can be learned from this, though. I think it is important to foster curiosity, to challenge ourselves to dig deeper and learn more. It is important to foster curiosity, but not cynicism. There are terrible things that have happened and are happening, but that doesn't mean that everything is terrible. We learn about the terrible things so that we can ensure that they never happen again, so that we can be the change we wish to see.

Brother Francis

Today is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and so I am sharing my most recent article from my church's newsletter, the Spire.

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Brother Francis and the Friendly Beasts by Margaret Hodges with pictures by Ted Lewin is a children’s picture book about the life of Francis of Assisi. Francis was born into a wealthy family in Italy, but when he was a young man he renounced his wealth to serve the poor. He traveled the Italian countryside preaching God’s word and helping those in need. As he went, “he saw the beauty and grace of animals, of birds singing as they flew, of silvery fish darting in clear water. He heard the hum of insects in the roadside grass, and they, too, were beautiful. God was the father of all living things, and all were brothers and sisters. They gave him joy, and he sang for joy as he walked the roads.”

In Catholicism, Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals and the environment. Every October 4^th, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi is celebrated with a Franciscan Blessing of Pets, a custom that honors Francis’s love for all of God’s creatures. This is one of the prayers from the blessing service:

“The animals of God's creation inhabit the skies, the earth, and the sea. They share in the ways of human beings. They have a part in our lives. Francis of Assisi recognized this when he called the animals, wild and tame, his brothers and sisters. Remembering Francis' love for these brothers and sisters of ours, we invoke God's blessing on these animals, and we thank God for letting us share the earth with all the creatures.”

Check out Brother Francis and the Friendly Beasts from the church library to learn more about Francis and help instill a love of God’s creatures in your children.

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While I'm on the subject of St. Francis, check out the new single from Tree Anthem's (my husband's band) new St. Francis-themed CD, Lady Poverty. It rocks! (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.)