Haiti 2008

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In February of 2008 ten men from the Miamitown Church of Christ traveled to the Living Water Christian Mission in Gonaives, Haiti. The purpose of the trip was to wire several school classrooms with electric and get to know our Haitian Christian brothers and sisters.

We were able to get all the targeted classrooms wired and operational by the time we had to leave. In addition we made friends with many of the school children. They loved having their pictures taken with a digital camera so they could immediately see how they looked. In fact, we had to "ration" the pictures because every time we took a picture there were more and more children jockeying for position to see the pictures. The only way to control the crowd was to stop taking pictures and then resume a little later.

Some of the guys played soccer with the children almost daily. The children were really FAST, unlike the fat Americans! We brought several soccer balls with us and the school principal said we had given them something to brag about. Most schools in this city of 500,000 people only have one, or maybe two soccer balls. Now the Living Water school has the most soccer balls in Gonaives!

Haiti is just southeast of Cuba and shares an island with the Dominican Republic. As a result of many years of political and social turmoil, the economy of the whole country is in a sad state. Even though Haiti was once a tropical paradise it is slowly becoming a desert in many places as a result of the destruction of their once lush forests. The hills have been striped bare of trees with the predictable results of frequent mud slides and floods. Dust blows everywhere and covers cars and houses in a thick blanket.

It would be easy for the people of Haiti to become discouraged. There are few jobs. The average annual per capita income is only $400 - $450. Life expectancy is only around 50 for both men and women. Health care and police protection is almost non-existent. The courts don't seem interested in enforcing the laws of the land. Open bribery seems to be the “normal” way to get things done or get out of a legal problem. Those few who can afford some transportation usually own a small motorcycle, not a car. Few houses have electricity or water. Their water must be carried in pots and buckets for several miles. In short, most Americans would be shocked to see what the Haitians have to put up with every day of their lives.

Yes, it would be easy to get discouraged, but the Christians in Haiti are definitely NOT discouraged. We worshiped with Christians in Gonaives on Sunday morning and I have never seen such happy people! They were excited about being at church and praising God. They had big smiles on their faces and loved to clap their hands with the music. They sang LOUD, and they were very good singers, singing in four-part harmony. I sat in the front of the church, almost next to 2 electric guitars, a trumpet, a keyboard and drums. With their electric amps turned up they were pretty loud, but I could not even hear them when the people started to sing! The church was filled with people standing outside watching the service.

We went back for Sunday evening service and guess what? Almost every chair was filled for that service also. No, the Christians in Gonaives are far from discouraged. In fact, I wish they could teach the Americans how to enjoy worship. We seem to have lots of “stuff”, but have lost our enthusiasm for God. Yes, we have lots of enthusiasm and make lots of noise – but only at ball games or NASCAR. Do we ever get that excited about going to church? Maybe we should pity the spiritually poor Americans instead of the physically poor Haitians?

The men on the trip were: Joby Anders, Kenny Boatright, Josh Brown, Alan Burck, Randy Carroll, Ken Croll, Mark Nakoff, Walt Rolfes, Al Schumann and Terry West.