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Haiti Trip Final Update: A fistful of onions and a waterproof tent

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by Brett in God

Our last day in Haiti we made the trek into downtown Port-au-Prince. Our hotel was on the edge of the city in Petionville, so this was our first time inside the epicenter of the damage zone.

The little damage we had seen on the outskirts multiplied tenfold in the city. The destruction was unfathomable. Imagine shoving a three story building into a giant paper shredder. That’s what the buildings look like. Imagine shaking, so violent that it dissolves homes and businesses into mini-mountains of rock and metal and plastic. People wander through smoldering piles of trash in the streets and brown water gushes from busted water mains.

We drove through blocks of destruction. The street blocks turned into miles. It seemed like everyone was on the streets. Everyone. But no one was resting. Everyone was busy heading in one direction or the other. People were selling or bartering anything they could find. One street vendor was selling metal scraps. Another was selling electrical components, strips of dirty wires with frayed ends. Food seemed plentiful. Of course it all comes with a price, which is a problem for most Haitians now.

From my window I saw food vendors of all kinds, but then something caught my eye. A little girl. Maybe seven years old, dusty and wearing what could only be described as rags. She is squatting on the sidewalk, amongst the older women selling food. In her left hand is a fistful of onions. Not the pretty fat round onions you buy at the grocery store in America. These are puny onions, pulled out of the ground. The long green tops are still attached but drooping, wilted from the heat. She sits alone. Maybe her mom is around. Maybe she died in the earthquake and this is all she has, a feeble hope to make a little money selling dirty onions. The light turned green, and we drove away.

God works in my life in themes–times when He gently kneads together Scripture and real life experiences. I’ve lived themes of OBEDIENCE. And themes of GRACE. For the last six months, this has been my theme:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27 NIV

How much “looking after orphans and widows” have I done in my 10,324 days on this earth? Truth be told, I’ve spent more time sniff-testing deodorants in the aisles of Wal-Mart.

And that’s not right.

At all.

I’ve thought a lot about what to do when the destruction is so vast, when the damage is so deep, and when the bad is so big. I admit; it overwhelms me. But I can do something. I can pray, and I can give.

This trip wasn’t about some touristy Haitian adventure with my buddies. If it doesn’t result in some good being done, then it was a waste of my time and money.

So here’s the deal. The rainy season begins in Haiti in 3 days. That means countless people–little babies to frail grandmothers–living in bedsheet cities will get soaked. Imagine having no job, no reliable source of food and living in a ramshackle shanty that gets flooded every night with rivers of mud. That’s the reality.

Aid agencies are working to build permanent dwellings, but it isn’t fast enough. The rains are coming. Thankfully, someone is doing something now. Courageous Church here in Atlanta has set up a website called A Home in Haiti . Go there and you can buy a tent for a homeless family or you can donate any amount of money which will help purchase waterproof tents. This is an urgent need, friends. I’ve seen it myself. My estimate was that only about 10-20% of the people were actually living in a waterproof tent. Everyone else was living in homes made of garbage.

I want to challenge every single person reading this to go give something. And would you do us a favor? Post a comment and let us know you gave. Or you can just shoot me an email.

Thanks for following along on this journey. Let’s make a difference.

www.AHomeinHaiti.org

P.S. I uploaded some pictures from our trip. You can see them by clicking HERE.