To Haiti with Love

Haiti is a remarkable place.  It's hot, dusty, crowded and still filled with rubble from the earthquake. Streets are lined with an array of small stands, like an endless line of flea market items. Although it is only a one hour and forty seven minute flight from Miami, Haiti is a world away. I was there to follow up on a community initiative that all started right here in the Lowcountry.

After the news of Haiti's 7.0 earthquake in January 2010, my sister, Diane Fornari, and I struggled with ideas of how to help. Through a neighbor, we were introduced to Day Spring Ministry in New Jersey which supports an orphanage in Bon Repos, Haiti, about 20 minutes from Port au Prince. The director of Day Spring Ministry, Carol Hawthrone, was quite taken by our readiness to help and suggested filling backpacks for the children of the Light & Peace Mission Orphanage, and more if we could manage it, because children were pouring in after the quake.

So we began. The response from our community was astounding. Schools, churches, businesses, civic organizations and individuals began requesting backpacks to fill. Soon we had more than 400 backpacks filled with a set of clothes, hygiene products, school supplies and a brand new pair of shoes.
We were told to place the backpacks in boxes and ship them to New Jersey, where they sat in a warehouse awaiting to be packed and shipped to Haiti.

However, simple as that may sound, there were some delays. Some of the boxes were sent, while the rest waited to be shipped. Of course, some disappeared at customs (a usual occurrence I am told), but in the end, when I arrived in Bon Repos last November, I saw the backpacks! Some were still in boxes, and some on the backs of the orphanage children as they boarded the bus for school. I saw the very shoes and dresses we had packed being worn by children when we went to church. I smiled. they made it!

About mid-week of my trip, our entourage traveled north almost 400 miles by school bus to Anse Rouge, a small village that has taken in hundreds of refugees since the earthquake. We were able to distribute more backpacks there, to the delight of the children.

The countryside was so barren - rocky, dusty and sparse. It is no wonder there is so much poverty in Haiti; they can't grow anything. The conditions were unbelievable. When I say rocky, it looked like recent rockslides everywhere with big boulders and dust. lots of dust. There were huge ruts in the road that resembled giant potholes. One pothole was so deep, it was filled with water, and people were bathing in it. Yet these barren, dusty hillsides ended at the most beautiful beaches and coves I have ever seen.
During our travels, we saw the same images seen on CNN: tent cities; shanty huts; women carrying large bundles on their head; big Mack trucks whizzing by; United Nations' vehicles and crowds of people trying to sell everything, from old tires to junk left behind by travelers.

Both children and animals were thin and scrawny. They were watchful of our movements, though they smiled the brightest smiles when given the smallest gesture of kindness. The beauty in their spirit was radiant. Their strong will to survive was obvious. I met people of great faith and gracious hospitality.

At the orphanage the children were well behaved. They played and laughed, took care of one another and, at night, sang their prayers outside under the stars. This beautiful sound was one I hope never to forget.
Their diet consisted of rice and beans, spaghetti noodles (no red sauce, just tossed in oil) bananas, avocados and a portage. There were no cookies, cakes or pies, no chips, ice cream or soda.

In appreciation of the backpacks, each child gave me a hand-drawn picture of flowers and hearts with their name on it on the day I left. They wanted me to give these to the children of the Lowcountry. I came back with so much more than the paper drawings.

I saw it in the faces of the people at the gate of the airport. The people from various mission groups, government agencies, and medical teams returning to the comforts we take so much for granted.  They had the look that I felt and still feel; of never forgetting their experience in Haiti.

Keep Haiti in your heart and prayers.