Joy on Monday

The team had a remarkable day here in Haiti, culminating in a joyful time with refugee children camped outside Ans-a-Pitre.

I want to write about those experiences but I first want to briefly address an important matter: this was the team's first day with coffee since arriving in the DR. Our previous lodgings had not offered morning joe, and buying a cup made with local water can be a risky proposition. For some of us, coffee is more than a morning routine–it is a necessity. And our energy level was high when we left our hotel in the morning.

Another important detail: this was the team's first day with cash. Our first order of the day was standing in line for an hour at a local bank to swap US dollars for pesos. At last, we were empowered to buy sundries and trinkets.

Two major service projects anchored our day. First, our team worked at Sadhana  Forest in the morning. We mixed compost, sorted recycling, built a garden bed, and helped to prepare lunch for twenty-one volunteers from four different countries…five if you count California. The loss of Haiti's natural forest over the course of three centuries is a tragedy colored by complex political and economic circumstances. See, e.g., http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?nstoryId=123374267.  But it's encouraging to think of the incremental progress being made each day.

The second part of our day took us six miles outside of town to a refugee camp. Some context may be helpful. During the past two months, a long-running immigration dispute between the DR and Haiti has come to a head. An article about it can be found here: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2015/07/haiti_s_refugee_crisis_the_heartbreaking_plight_of_haitians_kicked_out_of.html. When Rev. Kara was out for a run last week, she found one of these “repatriated” refugee camps about six miles outside of Ains-a-Pitre. Our team decided–at her suggestion–to spend a large chunk of our time this week finding ways to service this largely forgotten camp.

The camp is 500+ people. It has no clean water source and no access to medical care. It is located six miles from the edge of town in a desert of rocks, brush and cactus. When the wind blows hard, the tents made of sticks and used clothing resemble boats at full sail. The largest solid structure is a church with a thatched roof and walls; it seats about sixty people.

These refugees have more needs than we could ever hope to address in one week. But our team had an idea. All eight of us piled into the back of a pickup truck with backpacks full of crayons and coloring books. When we arrived at the camp, we asked the church's pastor to spread the word that all children in the camp could join us in the church for some coloring time.  It was magic. Within minutes, the church was filled with more than forty smiling children anxious for a colorful diversion from the afternoon heat. Even parents and teenagers joined us in the church to see just what the ruckus was all about.

We all talked about this experience tonight when we got back to our hotel. None of us will ever forget the smiles on the children's faces–and how something so simple could bring so much joy. And perhaps those smiling faces were His eyes looking back at us.

–John, with much thanks to the whole team