Drinking from the Well: Highlights from Haiti

I had many great experiences while in Haiti. Here are a few of the highlights.

1. Working in a medical clinic. All my experience has been in the field of education. It was a pleasure to step into an area that was entirely new to me. I thought the medical staff was very good at what they were doing, and it was a pleasure to watch them do their thing. The conversations you have around medical people are very different too. Often they are pretty gross, but always interesting.

2. Meeting Willem and Beth. I think they are doing excellent work that is making a huge difference in the lives of the people in the area. Willem has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Haiti. He could have made a much easier life for himself, but he and Beth have committed their life to Haiti. Their faith and faithfulness is very inspiring.

This book chronicles the work Willem
and Beth do in Haiti.

3. Bearing each other's burdens. Even though we were only together for one week, I felt a strong connection to these new brothers and sisters in Christ. We had a lot of time to talk and to share. Each of us had our own issues, and we grew to feel very comfortable letting people see us in our most vulnerable moments. We shared lots of laughs and lots of tears. It was a privilege.

Me and Lori

Me and Paul

Me and Julia

4. Going to church. The Haitian church had a very vibrant congregation of at least 300. The music was very good but very loud. The first song they sang was an old one I knew, "Count Your Many Blessings," and so I was able to sing in English as the Haitians sang in Creole. (How awesome that people with so little worldly goods could still sing about their many blessings from God.) There were some testimonies, and some awards were given for Bible memory (I think). Our little group got up and sang a couple of verses of Amazing Grace. I enjoyed being there.

5. Visiting an orphanage. I had never been to an orphanage before. This one was very nice, much nicer than most you would find in Haiti. There were about 20 children, from little babies to toddlers to the oldest child there, a nine-year-old boy (it can't be easy being the oldest one there). One of our team members brought several bottles of bubbles, and that was what broke the ice between us and the children. They were beautiful children, full of life. One little boy in particular was a heart stealer. He was about 3 years old. He would just go down the line of us ladies who were seated in a row. He would climb in our laps, snuggle with us for a while and then move to the next lady. Later he came back to go down the row and kiss us all on the cheek. It was very sweet! I am not allowed to post pictures from the orphanage.

6. Emily. The pharmacist on our team brought his wife and 8-year-old daughter on this trip. Emily was a delightful little girl, and we all had a soft spot for her. The first night she came up with us to our bedroom to play some games with Cheri on her iPad and to have a story read to her by Carolyn. But Carolyn was trying to download a story to read, and she was having trouble with the internet. So I said, "Why don't I just tell you a story?" Emily agreed, and I told her the story of Lazy Jack. She was such a good listener that she repeated the story from memory after I was finished. From then on we had "story time" every evening. It was great fun for me to be able to tell some of my old stories, and I got the impression that the ladies liked it just as much as Emily did.

Emily, Carolyn, Cheri and me

7. Beautiful people. I was surrounded by beautiful people all week long. I loved all the people who served with me. I also found the Haitian people very warm and friendly also. As we walked to and from the clinic, most people greeted us with "Bonjour" or "Bonsoir." Children would smile and wave. I felt very safe as we walked and traveled among the people.