After the service we
visited the Haitian mass grave site memorial.
On January 12, 2010 at 4:53 pm Mother Nature delivered another devastating
blow to the resilient Haitian people. An
earthquake of 7.2 on the Richter scale hit the northern end of the country
which includes the biggest city, Port-Au-Prince. The epicenter was 17 miles
east of the city (inland). The damage
was cataclysmic. 250,000 people died, 300,000 plus were injured. 1.5 million were left homeless. The infrastructure in Haiti is not as
developed as we are used to in the US, so the damage left them without the
ability to respond. Without equipment to
remove rubble, the heart aches were many as families were helpless in rescuing those
trapped inside collapsed buildings. Over
the following days dump trucks were used to haul the many bodies to the mass
grave sites. The memorial built on the
site of the mass grave overlooking the Caribbean pays tribute to those that
lost their lives, and underscores the seemingly endless challenges this country
faces. While the visit is sobering, the Haitians we worked with through the
week told us things are much better, and they are still in the process of
rebuilding. These resilient people don’t
give up. Some of the people we
encountered during our work with Healing Haiti are headed south during their “time
off” to help the people affected by the recent hurricane.
After the grave site visit we drove through Port-Au-Prince up
to the highest parts of the city. Once
we began ascending the mountain, the air cooled and we could smell the lush vegetation. Brightly colored homes are built on the face
of the mountain in a manner that makes them look almost stacked on one
another. These homes are also much nicer
than some of what we saw during in the lower levels of the city all week. It was refreshing to see that not everyone in
Haiti lives in such challenging conditions.
We ended our ascent at a terrace restaurant that overlooked the city. It
was a picture postcard view of tropical city. One element of the picturesque
view was the smoke we could see rising from Cite Soleil, where we delivered
water earlier in the week. After taking
in the view, we took a moment to bond and reflect on our week together and talk
about how we’d continue our service at home and in Haiti once we get back to
Minnesota.
This drive up the hill was an intentional close to our week
in Haiti so we could see the different parts of the city we served over the
week. It’s sure to add more fuel to the
fire of our evening devotions which are led by Pastor Gary. The sessions have gotten tougher through the
week as we are challenged to find God and his plan for us to serve all his children
through expectant living. It’s been
interesting to see the smoldering fires in Haiti as a metaphor for our own
smoldering of service and talents. There
are some signs of open flame. If you are
taking the time to read this blog there is probably something smoldering inside
of you, and the team in Haiti would like to challenge you to fan your own
flames. Feed My Starving Children,
Healing Haiti, and Incarnation put us on an indescribable journey that we’ll
never come back from, nor would we want to.
We hope you get a chance to join this journey too.
