It’s amazing how strong first and last impressions are. Our arrival and departure from the country of Haiti are a case in point. In the first days after our return from a summer mission trip, I am still overwhelmed by the endless brokenness of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. Home to three million people, about one third of Haiti’s population, life there appears a hopeless patched-together affair. The country’s primary international airport, Toussaint Louverture, is still largely without running water and working toilets. We were crammed in there for twelve hours with over 1000 other passengers, and the bathrooms were a pool of overflowing basins and foul puddles. My colleague jokingly remarked, “One look in there and I could hold it for two days!” I remember thinking, “Good grief, aren’t public bathrooms a health priority? You’d think after all these months they could at least find a plumber.”

So it took some time to work through the impressions of chaos and destruction and remember some of the wonderful experiences during our two weeks in this beautiful country. Haiti, once dubbed “the Pearl of the Caribbean,” occupies the western third of Hispaniola, and in centuries past was a land of lush tropical hardwood forests and fertile valleys. A tumultuous history of exploitation and rape of natural resources has left the land almost entirely empty of trees and soil, and there seems to be little option for earning a livelihood in any sector of the largely dysfunctional “economy.” Of course the terrible earthquake last year and the recent outbreaks of cholera have taken a large toll in an already fragile environment, and the human suffering has been well documented in the Western media. So in a way we should have been prepared…

But what about our wonderful experiences? Most encouraging was a trip to the mountain village of Vallue, high above the southern city of Petit Goave. Here a 24-year-old peasants’ cooperative has been successful in preserving the environment and bringing back rich soil, all at around 1000 meters elevation. It was remarkable to see steep hillsides of healthy corn and beans, all neatly hand planted and tended, and a variety of lush fruit trees, many laden with mangos, avocados, guavas and fruits we didn’t recognize. The children were bright-eyed and outgoing, energetic, and well-occupied with an ambitious summer program of sports and cultural activities. Parents were engaged in a variety of the cooperative’s enterprises, some in agriculture, some mentoring the youth, and others making jams and preserves in a tidy mountaintop industry or operating their hotel, churches and radio station. The earthquake collapsed their beautiful school building pictured here, but they were brimming with ideas for rebuilding, just lacking the capital to make it a reality.

Before the trip friends had cautioned us that there are no human answers to Haiti’s problems. I guess that’s true, but this cliché can apply to any country. We saw what can happen in Haiti when there is caring and cooperation, good local leadership and engaged youth. Does God smile on such human efforts? We certainly think so, and we received many warm reminders that the people of Haiti are indeed a caring and outgoing people at heart.

So where is the hope for Haiti? It’s pretty hard to find when you travel through the hard-hit cities in the earthquake zone. But hidden in the people and the soil is the abundant life-force of the Creator, and given more equitable distribution of resources this will blossom to make Haiti the pearl it once was.

 

---

Your Turn. Tell us what you thought about this article:

Responses

It's so easy, if one lives in an area of the world where calamities are nothing compared to what happened in Haiti and Japan, to think that the problem has gone away by now.  But it hasn't!  People still need practical aid, including safety and sanitation.  But above all, PEOPLE STILL NEED THE LORD, AND NEED COMPASSION!  Certainly, if nothing else, I need to pray and intercede for that area of Haiti which needs to be restored and where people need to be saved!

Michael P. Gardner
Dayton, Ohio

---

Your article created a vivid description of the land and its people and it is well done. Both my sons have done missionary work in Haiti and I've visited other places in the world that are very similar. The amazing thing that floats to the top of your article is that there is hope. If one part of Haiti can pull themselves up, so can the rest of the country. It's been my experience and the experience of my son's that they live with hope and it's that God filled human spirit that says things will be better someday.

One can see the presence of God in the eyes of the people like the children in your article. Seeing and knowing such things only make our faith stronger. What an amazing and wonderful outcome to an otherwise tragic existence.

Don Rochelo