Skip to main content

Haiti 2011: June Tenth

It's our last full day at the orphanage. The trip has been somewhat challenging, but I think the more relevant and appropriate word would be "sobering." this was perhaps most true today. After our morning work-- painting the girls' balcony and cleaning and setting up a room for the visiting board of directors-- we drove to the "Sisters of Charity," a Catholic church and hospital. I read that AIDS was the most widespread disease in Haiti, but facts like these don't tell each child's story. I held in my arms and threw playfully in the air a child with HIV today. It made me feel like I was helping him forget that he is away from home. I liked that he smiled and laughed as we played, and it was meaningful that he wanted me to hold him. In fact, the moment he saw me, he wanted me to hold him, and I did so for most of our stay. Actually, I don't know that this particular child contracted HIV, but most of these children have. They are obviously accustomed to visitors, as they greeted us enthusiastically from the moment we entered the door. There is a hint of desire-- a seed maybe-- of wanting to take up medicine. God knows where that will lead.

All in all, I know the experiences I've had here will remain with me. My hope is that they are more than echoes, more than just intellectual memories that give me curious pause but do nothing to stir my heart. Stirred, perhaps, is a good word for many on this trip. The two things I've learned in particular here were the value of being others-minded and the need for common purpose. The first is a mindset that allows you-- with the help of the change brought to bear by Christ-- to serve genuinely and with fulfillment. It's a place of peace, so much so that you realize this is what God intended for and in us. The other brings a unity that leads to cooperation and camaraderie. I've never felt so connected and supported-- that I can remember, at least-- to a group of people outside of my family. That is the value of common purpose. I came to this place, but I want this place to stay with me when I leave. I only hope and pray that God would use it to broaden my perspective of others at home.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A White Post-Christmas

I just came back from my brother's renewal of vows. He lives in Wisconsin, and this particular week, they experienced colder-than-average temperatures. I could tell because my hands began to go numb as I attempted to tie down a trailer after last night's reception. As a result, I appreciated the fact that the temperature in Stockton was in the mid-sixties when I came back. It was, however, good to take part in this, a dream of my brother and sister-in-law, after at least two years without seeing them. I saw the incredible support of their friends, who helped set up the day before, took part on the day of the event, and stayed late to help clean up. Aware of how tired everyone was late last night, one of Chris's friends even lent Chris his truck to take the last of the decorations home, a favor that allowed the family to return home before two o'clock in the morning last night. Here are some of the highlights: 1. Hearing on a plane what sounded like a baby's fi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heroes

Although we have several examples of heroes in our day, one of the best known is of a woman named Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (“Gonja Bojaju”), who devoted her life to sustaining the “poor, sick, orphaned, and dying.” Her venue was Calcutta, India, where she served as a teacher until she began to take notice of the poverty there. Seeking to do something about it, she began an organization that consisted of just thirteen members at its inception. Called the “Missionaries of Charity,” the organization would eventually burgeon into well over 5,000 members worldwide, running approximately 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries; and caring for the orphaned, blind, aged, disabled, and poor. As her personal work expanded, she traveled to countries like Lebanon, where she rescued 37 children from a hospital by pressing for peace between Israel and Palestine; to Ethiopia, where she traveled to help the hungry; to Chernobyl, Russia, to assist victims of the nuclear meltdown there; and to ...
2 comments
Read more

The Nice Guy Fallacy

I read part of a poem recently by one of my favorite poets. It reads: I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage The linnet born within the cage That never knew the summer woods. I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time Unfetter'd by the sense of crime To whom a conscience never wakes. Nor what may call itself as bles't The heart that never plighted troth But stagnates in the weeds of sloth Nor any want-begotten rest. I hold it true, whate'er befall I feel it, when I sorrow most 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. At base, Tennyson contrasted a life of risk, and consequent pain, with one of security. He sides conclusively with the life of risk, and says he fails to envy those who have faced no hardship. I agree with him; and, for good or ill, his words are just as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. Like then, there are those today who choose to live their lives with as little risk as...
2 comments
Read more