Skip to main content

2012 Haiti Team Interview Ten: Chrissy

Underneath Chrissy's quiet, reserved exterior is a lighthearted humor that caught some of us off guard. It was this humor, however unexpected it sometimes was, that brought a sense of fun to our trip. Nonetheless, it was a trip that meant far more to her than mere fun and games. It meant working against her natural comfort as an introvert. She is learning, in fact, that it takes effort for her to go and meet others.

On the outside, however, the rest of us saw where at least one of her strengths lay. It could be seen on the face of a single child, deaf and unable to speak. This child was named Kerby, and it was Chrissy's knowledge of sign language that gave him what we knew he saw as the greatest gift of our time there: the gift of communication.

I tend to believe, however, that Kerby was drawn to Chrissy not just for her ability to communicate. Kerby saw in her, as the rest of us saw in her, a kindness visible in the way she intentionally reached out to others. This reaching out could be a physical reaching out, as it was for Kerby when she invited him again and again to spend time with her; or it could be a figurative reaching out, as it was for other team members when she joked with them to lighten their spirits.

I got the feeling, too, that Chrissy's care for others came as a result of what she saw in them, qualities she observed in their characters that others sometimes missed; and although this internal strength of hers was often overshadowed by her outward skill as an interpreter, it was no less important for those girls on the team she befriended.

Beyond her humor and insight, there is in Chrissy a strong sense of responsibility. This was apparent not just in the persistent work she performed as she renovated the orphanage dining room. It was also visible in her internal conflict before the trip. There were times when our team meetings and fundraising for the trip came into conflict with her job. The work we did on the weekends, in fact, forced her to ask her boss at work, or our team leader at church, if she could miss a day in one place so she could be present at the other. While this made her feel like she wasn't making a contribution to the team, it showed more clearly that she cares very much about being present when others need her.

Few people can be so inwardly focused and yet outwardly present, but Chrissy was. It was this ability that allowed her to make such a unique contribution to the team, as one who could at once make others laugh and yet see beyond their smiles. Indeed, Chrissy was more than an interpreter on this trip to Haiti. To a number of the girls especially, she was a friend.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...

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...

Comparative Medical Care

One thing I'd like to understand is why there is such a difference between medical costs here and those in Haiti. At the time the book Mountains Beyond Mountains was written, in 2003, it often cost $15,000 to $20,000 annually to treat a patient with tuberculosis, while it cost one one-hundredth of that-- $150 to $200-- to treat a patient for the disease in Haiti. Even if the figures aren't completely accurate, the sheer difference would still be there. Indeed, the United States pays more per capita for medical care than any other country on Earth. My first guess for why the disparity exists is that there is a market willing and able to pay more for medical treatment, so suppliers see the demand and respond with higher prices. According to at least one doctor (go to http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2009/05/what_is_the_cause_of_excess_co.php), part of the reason is administrative prices here. People here have a higher standard of living, and so the cost of care is shifted to ...