Black Friday

"Black Friday" doesn't mean much here in
Haiti! Well, except that all the people are black and I can say that because every time they see me they shout, "Hey Blanc!" I've begun to reply with, "that's not my name!" (nor is "Hey you!" OR "Give me one dollar!")

Bill picked us up this Black Friday morning, but not to go shopping! He took us to an LACC school here in Port-au-Prince! We had a blast! Then we loaded up and headed to Cite Solei. We'd heard and read so much about it that we were a little worried that we weren't headed out in and armored car! Seriously, watch the documentary Ghosts of Cite Solei and see if you aren't afraid for our lives even though we're already home!

Bill was a great host and calmed our nerves radically as he pointed ahead and said, "See that round about where the traffic is stopped? We're not going to go that way today because last week I had a team in here and the traffic stopped like that and someone shot the people in the car in front of us and took their things and the team was pretty freaked out!" The girls on either side of me wiggled nervously and I saw three different hands check to see if their doors were locked! I spoke up and said, "Thanks for taking us a different direction today! Is there anything else?" "No not really, " he replied, "except if you have a necklace on, one day a lady had one on and someone just reached in here and tore it off!" I slipped my necklace in my pocket and resolved NOT to ask anymore questions for the mental health (of my team of course)! "See that water tower up there? That's the entrance, you can always tell the entrance to Cite Solei because of all the smattering of bullet holes! Yep, big eyes all around! We pulled in...

No gunshots! No mobs! Just Haitian business as usual, granted it's 10am!

We pulled up to the school and headed straight to the kinder room because well, they're the CUTEST! They were soooo quiet!

I asked the teacher if they were always this calm- I wish I had a picture of the look on her face! (Chuckle!) Let's just say the answer was NOOO!!! ha! And within about 5 minutes we found the answer on our own!

Bill had told us that it took a week or two to get the food distribution set up in this school and that after the kids had been fed for a week the teachers called wanting to know what was in this food!? They reported much increased activity, behavior problems, loud children, rowdy children, fights, silliness! It's amazing how food will change the life of a child!

In the US if we stopped feeding our kids so much we wouldn't need as much Ridalin! (I kid! I kid! While in the kinder room I heard people talking in the other room in a language I could understand!!! I made my way into the classroom to find a team from King's Castle from the Dominican Republic, they were hosted by MLB's NY Yankee Damaso Marte which we got to meet of course!

I was more excited to see some fello King's Castle peeps than the MLB guy, but needless to say it was an AMAZING day for me!

Ima venture to say my Black Friday was better than your's!

Thanksgiving.

This is the school cafeteria, in Zoranger, Haiti. This is where 4 ladies prepare meals for about 400 school children. You see those cardboard boxes in the background? Those are Manna Packs. In my place of work I get to handle these bad boys A LOT! I evidently missed the box on my application that said "willing and able to lift 50lbs or more over and over and over again!"

(There's a lot about the job description of a missionary that you'd be very surprised about! Painting, radio and tv appearances, debris removal, shoe selling, roofing, some days you need a hairnet, some days you need a back pack, some days you'll need your best dress, you just never know, but it's all to make Jesus known!!)

I've been with Convoy of Hope for 14 months now. From Springfield, Missouri to the Philippine Islands, I've probably never been more than a few feet away from a Manna Pack.

If you come visit me at my office, you'll make the trek through our 300,000 foot warehouse and you'll pass palets upon palets of these Manna Packs. On one of my first days in Nairobi, Kenya the missionary had us unload an entire shipping container of these. My first encounter may NOT have been one of love with the Manna Packs. Thanks Bryan Burr. My next team was headed to the Philippines and we knew we were gonna need some of these guys for our ministry there, so we loaded up a container full of Manna Packs to meet us in Manila. (They were just as heavy in the US as they were in Africa!) When we got to the PI, Japan happened. Our disaster response guys called us and asked us to meet them at the Convoy of Hope warehouse there in Manila. Know what we did?!? Loaded up a shipping container full of Manna Packs for the victims in Japan. (I think they may have been heavier in the Philippines!) Yep, NOT in love with the Manna Packs! Until Haiti.

The above photos speak for themselves, but once you see a Manna Pack in action, there's no regret, there's no remembrance of the aching back, or when they were dropped on your head, or when the rat ran across your foot in the container! (Well, ALMOST no remembrance!) But there's A LOT of Thanksgiving, thanksgiving for the donors, for the warehouse workers, for the truck drivers, for the logistics department, for the missionaries waiting at the port to pick it up, for the national staff who handle it, for the provision for the beautiful children who eat them, and for the opportunity to pull up to an orphanage, open the back of the truck and handle those cardboard boxes one last time. Manna Packs are light as a feather in Haiti!

Oops!

So, if you follow me on facebook, which why wouldn't you?! Seriously, I'm a hoot! So yeah, if you follow me you'd know that a few weeks ago, I took my team to climb this waterfall in Haiti.

It's called Saut d'Eau waterfall.

And today we googled it... maybe we should've done that sooner?! (nah!) Need to know basis remember?!

It's actually a very famous spot here in Haiti. A very famous VOODOO spot that is!Here are our findings:

"Haitian pilgrims gather at the waterfall at Saut d'Eau every year on the anniversary of the 1983 sighting of the Virgin Mary, alternately identified as the Vodou loa, or spirit, of Erzulie Freda, the Goddess of Love..The waterfall at Saut D'Eau is the site of the largest Vodou and Catholic pilgrimage in Haiti. Each year, thousands of Haitian pilgrims make their way to Saut D'Eau to bathe in the sacred water and revel in the presence of the loa, particularly Erzulie and Damballah the Serpent, father of all life and keeper of spiritual wisdom, who is said to live in the falls. The water is believed to be curative and many women come to Saut d'Eau seeking fertility."

Yep I took my team to the home of voodoo baptisms! oops!

What can wash away my sins? Nothing, but the blood of Jesus!!!

A Closer Look

I took this picture from the top of one of those mountains I was surprised to see in Haiti. While my photography is not so great, you don’t need a fancy camera to really capture the greatness of God’s creation. I mean I stuck my hand out of a moving car and snapped the picture and it could be a postcard, no?

We’ve spent a lot of time between the top of this mountain and that ocean you see down below. While at a glance it could be the cover of a brochure for any Caribbean destination, if you were to zoom in and take a closer look you’d see what we’ve seen. You’d see what lies between…

An impoverished nation, ravished by an earthquake, corrupt government, and voodoo. You’d be outraged by the injustice, you’d be compelled to some sort of action, you’d possibly give the shirt off your back, the shoes on your feet, or the lunch you had packed for yourself, you might write a check, or a letter to the President. You’d fight for justice like you’ve never fought before.

You might meet my friend Benita or Popeye-eye or Solemn Sam and fall in love, suffer a broken heart, and cry because you have to leave them in the despair they know as life! You will lose sleep. You may feel compelled to start the long, expensive, quest of adoption. You’ll love like you’ve never loved before.

You would see my friend Magdala who has sores and a belly full of worms from an unsanitary living environment, nearly blonde hair and not even the energy to cry due to malnourishment. You’d insist on footing the doctor bill and vow to find her a suitable place to live. But she’s only ONE. You’d call your dr. friends and plead their case. You pray like you’ve never prayed before.

You’d see bare feet and bare bottoms, and you’d email everyone you know asking for soles for souls and all the new undies they can send! You’d go home and empty your closet of the excess. You’d give like you’ve never given before.

Sometimes it’s much easier NOT to take a closer look. But I think we’re supposed to.

A closer look at our own family, a closer look at our co-workers, our church, our community. Maybe it’s to zoom in on the nations we share this globe with, maybe even our enemies! While the post card view is pretty sweet, and a closer look is not exactly for the faint of heart; zooming in will compel you to a greater cause, a deeper love, a more fervent prayer, a bigger blessing.

I was blind, but now I see.

How to get Giggles in Haiti

Believe it or not this mask is NOT how to get giggles in Haiti, I just knew his cuteness would make you giggle! Each week we head out to new school or orphanage. This past week we were in a town called Cabaret. I opened the program with, "I am from Convoy of Hope." The room roared with laughter. I gave my translator a look like, 'did you just say what I said or did you tell a joke?!' I repeated myself, I am from Convoy! More giggles. I checked my fly, I looked behind me to see what my team might be doing, no clues!

Convoy means two things here in Haiti... 1. food 2. gas

We ask the kids about their favorite foods and many times they just shout, "convoy." You manje Convoy (eat Convoy). They have no idea that Convoy of Hope is a faith based organization with a driving passion to feed the world thru disaster response, community outreaches, children's feeding initiatives, and partner resourcing!

They equate the word convoy with food. "Convoy is coming" means food is coming.

The second thing convoy means here in Haiti is gas... and not the kind for your car! Evidently after eating the convoy (food) there's a flatulence problem. And by that I mean....

Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply (in American English) gas. The gases are expelled from the rectum in a process colloquially referred to as "passing gas", "breaking wind" or "farting". Flatus is brought to the rectum by the same peristaltic process which causes feces to descend from the large intestine. The noises commonly associated with flatulence are caused by the vibration of the anal sphincter, and occasionally by the closed buttocks.

Yep Beans, beans, good for the heart....

So when the classroom becomes odorous here in Haiti, you might hear this, "Who convoyed?" (Seriously. I'm not making this up!)

So, when I got up and said, I'm from Convoy , I said one of two things....

I made a fat joke... I'm full of food, I'm from food, I'm made of food eat me.

OR I'm from a toot. I have to toot. I stink. (You get the idea I'm sure ... gas plus students =s laughter, so this is how you get giggles in Haiti, just tell them you're from Convoy!

From now on, I'll stick to I'm Mary Beth or sometimes I just tell them my name is Yor Beautiful, because sometimes you just need to feel good about yourself ya know?

A City on a Hill!

When I imagined Haiti, I imagined a desert land. I didn’t imagine beautiful green mountains being the back drop of nearly every view, nor did I imagine seeing the sunset over the ocean every evening. And while I’d heard about the voodoo here, I didn’t imagine I would HEAR the voodoo in the middle of every night or pass a voodoo temple nearly every day! I know, I know, you’re asking if I’ve ever heard of Google Earth, or Wikapedia, or seen a map for goodness sake!?

I’m the team leader, I research the important stuff who we’re working with, where we’re staying, currency exchange rates, safety issues, language stuff, transportation logistics, how close the nearest hospital is, and of course the availability of internet, nearest beach, and possibility of AC & indoor plumbing, but I don’t GOOGLE it! And sometimes I wish my team wouldn’t either! But oh do they! They know every disease, kidnapping, horrific event, and possible natural disaster we may face. One time a team member argued with me that he was sure we were at the wrong hotel because when he had used Google Earth to see it the roof was green and this hotel did NOT have a green roof! (Shaking my head!)

I’m not sure it’s a real concentrated effort that I don’t Google, it could be that my computer instinctively goes to Facebook or Jon Acuff’s Blog when I turn it on. I mean I know everything I read on the internet is true, but let’s face it, if I had known before I came that Haiti has rats the size of possums and that I would see them with my very own eyes just feet away from where I lay my head to rest every night, I would have feigned illness and another team leader would have had to have been brought in! Me and the 3^rd world, we’re on a need to know basis!!

Wow! I got way off track… like I said I didn’t imagine the big green mountains. One night, my co leader, Becca Jantz to name names, did us the favor of taking us to her secret spot on the Mission of Hope compound where we stay. It happens to be a concrete slab half way up the side of a mountain, between where the water truck comes every day, the windmill, and the neighboring village. We went up at night, she had us turn off our flashlights and just listen in silence. We soaked it in, the part of mission of hope we stay in is literally like grand central station! It’s beside the kitchen, where the Haitian ladies like to SCREAM at each other (especially around 5am), where the loud American teams like to congregate at night, where the goats evidently try to kill each other, and sometimes packs of dogs like to come in, it’s beside the basketball court where very former athletes like to relive their glory days which involves a lot of grunting, yelling, and trips down the hill to the clinic! Oh and it's in the middle of an orphanage of Haitian children! It’s NEVER quiet! We got to the top and our devo time was to just be still! Best devo we’ve had, I think!

There was a breeze, no noise, you could hear the waves crashing, and see the lights of Port au Prince a good 20 miles away in the distance. When the silence broke, our youngest team member made a profound observation, what if everyone had a light? This whole place would be lit up! What she was referring to is one, most Haitians don’t have any sort of electricity (even Mission of Hope where we stay only has it about 2/3 of the time), AND she was referring to the fact that all along the dark mountain where we were sitting there were thousands of Haitian homes! We pass them everyday, but the ONLY lights we could see were from Port au Prince and from one lone fire in a neighboring village!

It hit me hard. It’s dark here! Voodoo, hopelessness, disease, destruction, poverty, it’s pitch black and when it’s THIS dark you think A LOT about light!

Verses about light trampled thru my mind…. God said, "Let there be light!" and there was light and He saw that the light was good! The Lord turns my darkness into light. Let the light of Your face shine upon us Lord. The commands of the Lord are radiant giving light to the eyes. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? He wraps Himself in Light and darkness tries to hide. I am the light of the world, whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. No wonder Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

All I could think about was… THIS City on a Hill…enshrouded by darkness. And all the people living on that hill in the pitch black dark that doesn’t end at day break!!

I began to wonder would happen if every home on that hill, had a light, I could nearly hear children singing, "This lil light of mine!" I mean seriously if every home on these hills had a light the nightfall would be obliterated, there are THAT many people, there are THAT many homes, it’s THAT dark! More than food, medicine, clothes, and shoes, Haiti needs exposure to The Light!!! In providing the former, we accomplish the latter, one child at a time!

When you pray for Haiti, pray for LIGHT. Pray that one heart at a time, one home at a time, one village at a time, that the lights would come on! That darkness would have to flee. A lamp unto their feet, a light unto their path. That blind eyes would see. Illuminate the path of the lost so they can clearly see the way to You! Let there be light, for Haiti!