Haiti – Cabaret

Salut mes amis!

WOW. It is hot. I mean… stifling hot out. My blue scrubs make me look like a wet smurf. And today I had to stand in the beaming sun to weigh the patients as it was the only flat surface we could find.

This morning I was on ‘devotion’ duty. Every morning the SP staff meets and has devotions before they begin their work day and today was my turn. So I chose to speak out of the book of Haggai. Haggai 2 to be precise. I love this book because it talks about the rebuilding of the temple and how the people were discouraged because it wasn’t going to be the same as it was before. But God promised them that He would not only rebuild the temple but that he would make it bigger and better than before. (Haggai 2:9 The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house and in this place I will grant peace.)

Could there be a more perfect verse? The whole of Chapter 2 is actually quite amazing. It talks about how the builders were getting discouraged because they were looking at themselves, and what they were accomplishing. But God reminded them that it is not their works that he blesses but only because of His grace.

And it’s so true. Our heartitude (yeah, I just made that word up… spell checker is unimpressed) is so much more important that the work that we do. That is where the testimony is at. That is how the people of Haiti will know that we are here to serve them.

Anyway… it actually sounds better written in this blog. This morning it was filled with lots of um’s and awkward pauses. But I made my point.

And then we arrived at Cabaret. And within the first 10 minutes I was yelling at people. Literally yelling at them to back off and get away. I would like to explain myself but there is nothing I can say to take away the shame I feel at having treated them so very badly. But I will explain the situation.

Cabaret is one of our shelter communities. So that means that all the homes there are created by Samaritan’s Purse.  And there are a lot of homes and a lot of people. So when we arrived this morning the people were waiting. And somehow our organized system failed us. Usually when we get there the people have already been given a number and we call that number and maintain some order. But this morning we discovered that the leader of the community wasn’t aware we would be visiting today so he never handed out numbers. So that job went to me.

Imagine 200 hands coming at you yelling out ‘give me give me I am sick I have cough I have worms I have fever Give me Give me’. It was just too much. And the children had no idea what was going on but since they saw that everyone else wanted whatever I was handing out that they better get in on it too. The sun was beating down on me and literally I was swarmed with people. I could not breathe. I could not move. It was all I could do to keep from crying. So I just started yelling out: Sispan! Soti! (Stop! Get Away!) And then I walked away.

I wish I could tell you that as I walked away I looked into the face of a tiny dirty little child and was reminded of my purpose here and went back to work. Or that I prayed a 10 second prayer and had a miraculous knowledge of the creole language and was able to communicate the system (oh my translator was late for work).

But that’s not how it played out. I was hot and cranky and upset.

Am I surprised that such a scene would play out not even an hour after sharing about our heartitude? That same chapter talks about how the people were so discouraged and down on themselves because of their actions that even their work was suffering. And yet God’s grace is what made them blessed, not their work. And that same grace was my redemption today.

Once the chaos passed and we had things sorted out I felt myself feeling sorry for myself, ashamed of my actions and my attitude. But I did not dwell in that place. Because there were hugs to be given, songs to be sung and lives to be touched.

By this afternoon the village was at peace, working cohesively and being productive. And this was our earliest work day yet!

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them. ~ Francis Bacon

Check out this video of some of the people of Cabaret working together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBihT3tTAyc

One Love.