Mar 1, 2012

Haiti!

Haitian children from our 2010 trip (Scott Mortensen photo)
"This is a moment in history in which I've been invited to play a role. How can I say no?"  I wrote those words two years ago in the face of unthinkable tragedy.  Haiti.  A massive earthquake. More than 200,000 lost lives...

I will never forget landing in Port-au-Prince.  Despite the devastation everywhere, the primitive conditions, the threat to our safety, it somehow felt like the place I belonged.

Now I am returning.

I leave in two weeks with a paramedic I met on the 2010 relief team.  We'll be working with a friend who lives in Haiti and runs an organization that's rebuilding schools and churches.

I wish I could give some profound reason for the trip; something redemptive. But honestly? Disappointment from 2010 still lingers.  Instead of seeing lives and limbs healed, we often saw far more loss than anyone could help.  Instead of seeing miracles, we saw far more sorrow than anyone can comprehend...

Instead of being disillusioned in God though, I asked our translator to teach me a Creole phrase: "Map vini an Ayiti anko." It means, "I will return to Haiti." 

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