Return to Gonaives

On November 6th, I had the privilege of returning to Haiti as part of a five person mission team from Palmetto Shores Church. We joined my brother, Jim, and his wife Debbie in Miami and then flew into Port au Prince where we spent the night at The Providence Guest House. While in Port au Prince, we toured Sherry Fausey's school and new building before visiting an orphanage where Dorothy cares for 29 seriously ill children. It was such a blessing to see Levinsky gaining weight and smiling. He was the starving baby we rescued from Jubilee during my August visit who is HIV positive and blind in one eye from Gonorrhea. Love and proper care have created a miracle and given him back his life.

We then started the long trek into Gonaives by KIA truck. The main roads have been washed out and the back roads are covered from the mudslides. It was like a full day of "off roading". Mary and Emory Wilson opened their home to our group and we settled in for a week of renewal and rebuilding. Emory and Mary shared their story of survival from Hurricanes Hanna and Ike, and we were all amazed at God's faithfulness as we relived their incredible drama. The fact that we were now sleeping in the very home that was filled with several feet of mud just last month was pretty amazing in itself. Mary and Emory were sleeping on mattresses atop bags of rice and we slept on air mattresses. Our men set to work fixing generators, building benches for Jubilee feedings, stringing clotheslines, repairing bathroom fixtures and appliances, rehanging doors, and pulling up razor wire from the dried mud all over the property. We took Mary a new keyboard and were delighted to see it used on Sunday morning at Pastor Genada's church service. There was so much to be done and so little time to help, but we did manage to get Emory and Mary a new refrigerator and water cooler, new queen size bedframe and mattresses, and set up enough beds and mattresses to sleep 9 visitors in the future. We took lots of medicine and supplies in and spent a morning sorting and inventorying them so that the medical team coming in the next week would know what they had to work with.

The highlight of our week was the feedings of the children in Jubilee and Roboto. It is impossible to leave this experience in the same condition you arrive. Your heart is forever changed. We fed almost 350 children between the two sites each day, yet had to turn away so many more. On this trip, only those children under 10 years of age and showing marked signs of malnutrition (orange hair, skeletal bodies, and swollen bellies) could be prioritized. Greater than each small body's hunger for food was the soul's thirst for some sign of love....a smile, a touch, a hand to hold. As we walked the village with the children, each of us was overwhelmed with children clinging to our hands and clothes. The power of love was evident to all as we became the hands and feet of Jesus.

We took a medicine bag filled with supplies to the local self appointed medic, Dr J, and had the privilege of worshiping at Pastor Genada's church on Sunday. Pastor Genada and his wife, Rose, were the missionaries stranded on the rooftop for several days with 29 orphans during the storm. They lost everything in the storms and have worked tirelessly cleaning and rebuilding since then to be able to resume their ministries. As I sat with these four courageous, faithful disciples, I felt that I was truly in the presence of living saints. Watching their love. dedication and commitment to God's work is one of the most inspiring experiences I have ever known. We spent each day looking for ways to make life a little better for those suffering around us. There was no tv, newspapers, radio, cellphones, daytimers, makeup or meetings. Only God's work to be done. The days were filled with projects, hard work, sweating, food prepared with love, lots of tears and laughter, sharing and encouragement. The nights were filled with beautiful devotions and songs, emotional sharing and more tears, laughter and encouragement. There was even a rat hunt or two that will be forever remembered in picture and prose! We learned to sing the song "I have decided to follow Jesus" in Creole and vowed to return with a better knowledge of the Creole vocabulary.

We ministered medical treatment to several burn victims and one in particular touched my life deeply. A boiling pot of food had dumped over on her leg and scalded it severely. The open flesh was covered in dirt and we asked them to bring her to our house where we could wash the wound and treat it. This young girl lived in a hut with no floor, no furniture, and no personal possessions. She was brought to us via a long dusty ride on the back of a moped. She was dressed in a beautiful "Sunday best" dress with her hair freshly braided. I was brought to tears as I saw her sit so bravely as Debbie cleaned her leg with peroxide and removed the dirt and clinging burned skin. Any adult I know would have screamed out in pain, but this young girl never cried - it was as though she was numb to life and had given up her right to complain. I cried for her....and all of us who have lost our ability to feel the pain around us. I asked God to refresh my senses that I might see, touch, feel, smell, and taste life fully. The good and the bad.....my own joys and sorrows as well as all those around me. I don't want to be numb to the pain I see here in Gonaives. I want my tears to drive me to take action and do something to make a difference. I know I can not change it all, but I can make a difference one life at a time.

Even though I am home from my trip to Gonaives, my heart is still there. I want to return. I am alive and on purpose while there. I feel God's presence and walk in faith one step at a time. I believe God is reclaiming Haiti, one child at a time. With education and God, there is hope for tomorrow. I want to be part of bringing that hope to them. Mary and Emory have a dream of building a mission center right in the heart of Jubilee. A place that will house the daily feedings, a medical clinic, classes, vacation bible schools, and women's ministries. A place with a well for clean drinking water and bathrooms for all. I am committed to helping that dream come true. I want to thank each of you for your prayers and support. You have allowed me to take resources into Haiti and begin making a difference. I ask for your continued support.

Mary and Emory will be coming to Palmetto Shores Church on Wednesday, December 17, 2009, to share their story at our Heart for Haiti night. We will be having a buffet dinner and a time of testimony, praise and worship. This event is open to the public and I would love for you to join us. I am so excited about my friends and family getting to meet these wonderful people and hear their story first hand. We really want to "spoil" them while they are here. I am personally trying to gather enough funds to secure an outside projector and blowup screen for them to show Christian films as part of their ministry.

If you are interested in helping us make a difference in Haiti, please send a check made out to Palmetto Shores Church, Haiti Missions to me. Earmark the bottom of the check "Donna". Thank you for opening your heart. May God bless you richly as we answer His call to serve those He loves here on earth.

Mwen renmen nou. (I love you)
Donna