Thursday, June 28, 2012

A Day in the Life of a Haitian



We spent several days in the community of Callabasse.  BGM partners with the church there.  We spent days building homes, doing VBS and just immersing ourselves in their culture and lives.  We met the people of the community, prayed with them, ate with them and enjoyed living alongside them. We learned that they are incredible farmers and do much with what God has given them!
They live in these tiny temporary shelters that you can see in the picture below.  Samaritan's purse built these after the earthquake and they are still living in them.   The pastor of the church in Callabasse, along with our team and BGM, is slowly but surely helping people rebuild their homes.  The pastor chooses people based on need and situation to rebuild a home for them.  We had the opportunity to work on 2 homes while we were there for a week!
 Haitians do a LOT of walking. Walking on tough terrain with not the best walking shoes. I was impressed and grateful.
 Here is one family that was chosen to receive a house.  They have a brand new house that sleeps 19 people!!! They are SO grateful that God is a God who provides! They were so excited and proud to be able to invite us into their home to get out of the hot sun!



Here is another precious person, Elmo, our translator, and his daugher Liya pronounced LEAH! He also, recently received a home and welcomed us in to have a rest, eat some melon and hold his precious daughter!
 
 We met all types of people in Callabasse and helped them do whatever they were working on that day.  This sweet lady had a beautiful home and was outside shelling peas when we made it to her house.  We all sat down to help her and the job was finished in no time. She was blessed.

You can see that the people are truly beautiful. They have little and ask for little.  The things that we think these people need are not what they need at all. They need shelter, yes but we, Americans have got it allllll wrong. We think we are blessed because we have STUFF. But friend, we are just corrupt. I truly believe life was meant to be simple.  Meant to be empty dirt roads, rich farmland, and small bare homes filled with the people you love.  It was a refreshing experience to live alongside these people for a week.


1 comment:

  1. Absolutely hit the nail on the head. We have stuff. I can't wait to go on July 7th!

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