Haiti

I have to be honest and tell you I'm really struggling with the stuff going on in Haiti. I was in Haiti for a short time when I was in college. I went with 11 others to do a mission team thing. We helped out at the clinic which was being built, and when we got there walls and cabinets needed painted, so that's what we spent our week doing. We were there the week of Palm Sunday and the spiritual oppression was great. Every night we would hear the drums and the voodoo evangelist over a loud speaker. See, Haiti is a very mountainous island and what the voodoo priests would do is go to the top of the mountains and speak into a megaphone, or something, and the sound would travel for miles around. They would also set up there bad sound system on the back of a pick up truck and go through all the streets "preaching" their message. It was nerve-wracking. I would lay in bed at night praying, calling on God to surround our house with angels. I did not like Haiti. The locals we encountered were poor, disheartened like I'd never seen before, and struggling just to get through the day. The poverty of this country was/is overwhelming. It was no "fun in the sun" kind of trip. We stayed mostly in Port au Prince but our last day there we toured more of the island and saw more and more devastation and poverty. It was a lot to take in. It was very hard to see. I was more than ready to leave.

I struggle with this. These people already had horrible lives and this happens. Their lives go from horrible to even more horrible, if that's possible. I struggle because I know they wouldn't be so bad off if it weren't for the corruption in the government. I struggle because I'm frustrated that this country has never seemed to want to change. I struggle because part of me says, they brought this on themselves. How terrible is that to say! You have a country that is so steeped in voodoo (oppressive), a very intricate class system (oppressive), government corruption (oppressive), and we wonder why an earthquake like this devastated them? It really is no wonder. They don't know how to get out of it. They don't know any different. Life, for generation upon generation is HARD in Haiti, for the average citizen. When I was there we would see men pulling (or pushing) these huge wheelbarrow-looking carts piled HIGH (I mean 6-7 feet) with anything from tires to heads of lettuce. They could go from place to place trying to sell what was on their cart. We were told by the missionary there that these men, once they started doing this job had an average life expectancy of 7 years. 7 YEARS! Can you imagine? Do you even know what a hard life is like, really?

This earthquake, if it had happened in our country, would have done some damage, but would not have brought our country (or the state) into a disaster zone. It would not have brought life to a screeching halt. It would not have instigated the onslaught of aid that is necessary for Haiti right now. I struggle. I struggle with all of it. I struggle with the cycle they have put themselves into, and I struggle that though there are missionaries in this country, the people of Haiti are more inclined toward voodoo and the evils of it.

David and I watched "60 Minutes" last night, not something we usually do. The 1st 1/2 of the hour was about the devastation in Haiti. Folks, I was stunned. I wanted to throw up. Did you know they are having to bull-doze the dead bodies into mass graves? There are so many who are dead they can't give them single graves. The threat of disease is so great from these bodies being out in the hot, humid sun that it's causing real danger to those who are living. At the request of the American Dr they were interviewing the camera showed all of these gruesome things. At first I changed the channel, but then went back. Why should I shield myself from the horror these people are living with? The drs are having to use "Civil War" medicine, as the journalist called it. They have no electricity or running water, they're using vodka to sterilize what few medical instruments they have. It's horrifying. It's devastating. It's unthinkable what is going on there.

As I went to bed last night I was overcome with thankfulness that I knew right where my child, husband and the rest of my family members were. I couldn't imagine knowing that my husband and/or child was missing and not knowing if they were in the pile of bodies in the mass graves. It's very sobering. I struggle with knowing all the things the Lord has blessed me with and yet this country has to endure this.

Are you struggling with any of this? Would you mind sharing?