A Beautiful Mess

I saw a facebook post from one of my friends that went to Haiti with me where she described Haiti as a "beautiful mess".  I thought this was the perfect description for what I saw, heard, and experienced June 24 - July 1 in Grand Goave, Haiti.  On the flight back home I was scribbling away in my journal trying to recount each and every memory from my mission trip and I was struck by the number of contrasts I was writing about.  For example, when we arrived in Haiti we landed in the capital city, Port-au-Prince.  We had about a two hour van ride to Grand Goave where we stayed for the week.  Before the plane even touched down it was already blatantly obvious that we were in the poorest country in the western hemisphere.  As I looked out the plane window I could see "tent cities" everywhere.  These were homes made of tarps, mattress walls, sheets, scraps, etc.  On our two hour drive I was saddened by the filth and poverty that were everywhere.  There is no garbage system in Haiti so the streets are covered in large piles of trash.  I never saw a single trash can the whole trip.  But, in sharp contrast, Haiti is also one of the most beautiful places I have been.  There are huge mountains that are visible in the distance and the island is surrounded by the crystal-clear blue Carribean. 

Another drastic contrast was joy and anger.  The people of Haiti could be so kind and tender, but I also saw lots of anger and pent-up rage come out at times, even in the children.  This was especially the case when we started to serve food.  You could tell that they definitely had taken on a "survival of the fittest" mentality. 

There was pride and apathy.  Most of the people seemed to take great pride in their appearance, but they also showed apathy in their care for their surroundings by throwing trash everywhere.

In some ways Haiti seems decades behind most other countries, but in other ways they are very knowledgeable about current events, especially when it comes to pop culture.  It was so strange to have a child who lived in a tent ask if we could be their facebook friend and then want us to type our name into their cell phone.

There was also a noticeable contrast spiritually.  An estimated 70% of Haiti's population practice Voodoo.  At times our team experienced an obvious evil presence because it is so prevalent.  However, we also witnessed some of the most beautiful praise and worship of our mighty God.  It is overwhelming to hear the Haitian congregations singing with all their heart and soul to worship the same God I do.  Our first night there we were having dinner at the orphanage that served us lunch and dinner all week.  We could hear loud singing coming from the church on the premises.  When one of our translators came by I asked him what they were singing.  He said, "They are singing, 'We worship you Lord.  You are Alpha and Omega.  We worship you Lord.' "  They repeated this over and over with growing passion and praise.  It was such a beautiful moment in the midst of such an overwhelming mess.