A Rough Day of Seeing Raw Need…

I came to Haiti to serve, but many times it is hard to see what we see.  Raw need is painful and almost overwhelming  to see.  It’s paralyzing.  Sympathy is one thing, empathy is almost impossible since their experience is so very far from mine.  Yet, I don’t have to be paralyzed.  I get to do something!  Through the generosity of others, I get to be involved in taking some action to meet these overwhelming needs.  One person, one family, one church at a time.

A little over a month ago, after a 5 hour trip in the pouring rain through mud bogs and swollen rivers on a motorcycle to Cote de Fer, I saw desperate need.  I saw homes, that shouldn’t be called homes.  I saw clothes that were just hanging and tied around wastes because they were so torn and tattered.  The ride was uncomfortable at best, but the people at our destination who I met live “almost outside” in deplorable conditions every day of their lives.  It just can’t be right that some in other parts of the world live in palaces, yet these people live like this.

I felt like I was in a national geographic special.  In many ways, I was.

This is a site where we are going to build one of our Homes for Haiti.  I am so excited to be able to provide this family a home!

Only a small worn path leads to their “lakou”, yard around the home.  Once you walk down this hillside path into the yard, you see 4 or 5 “structures”, all of which are in some state of disrepair.  2 of the structures, where people are still sleeping, had significant damage in the earthquake. The poorly built mud walls crumbled down as the ground shook.  They have tried to repair some of it, but there just aren’t the funds available to truly fix things.  Rebuilding with these same mud walls is their only option.  I can only imagine the conditions after the hurricane.

Here is one of the structures where 4 people sleep!  Can you imagine this as your house?

Here is a short video of the yard.

I can’t wait to get out there a build a home!  A few more pictures here.

Rob