For our first three years in Haiti, we always flew
into Port-au-Prince where we spent the night and traveled on to
Ouanaminthe the next day. This year we stayed at the Holiday Inn
in downtown Port-au-Prince. It was much nicer than “La Palace”
just down the street! Our bus ride to Ouanaminthe, however, proved
to be another long and harrowing experience. This year it took 13
hours to travel the 250 miles from Port-au-Prince to Ouanaminthe!
In our second year in Ouanaminthe, Aslan began construction of
a basketball and volleyball court at the George Muller School. We
learned early on that most of us were not up to the rigorous conditioning
necessary to work on concrete in the extreme heat of Haiti! Joseph
Israel and his father worked as foremen on the project, and we were
able to pay for and pour about one-third of the court in a week’s
time. Most of our Aslan team spent time with the “bucket brigade”
passing buckets of concrete hand-over-hand to the workers leveling
the slab.
We learned a very valuable lesson this year. God had called Aslan
to work in partnership with the people of Haiti. So many missions
and humanitarian works have an “either – or” mentality.
Either Americans (or Westerners) must only send money and resources
to the people of the Third World (allowing individuals in the needy
countries to make all decisions relative to how the monies are spent)
or we must go and literally “do it” for the people of
the Third World. Aslan, on the other hand, has a “both –
and” mentality! We believe it is essential to provide resources
for countries that have so little. However, we do not believe the
decision of how these resources are to be spent should be left in
the hands of desperate men and women. We believe the essence of
true missions is to have a real partnership with those we are serving.
It is squandering resources to just send money to fix the problems.
It is also squandering resources to go to the Third World and do
everything for the people. The people of Haiti, for example, are
very hard working and industrious. By including them in the process,
we are able to provide desperately needed jobs and literally help
families from slowly starving to death! By hiring Haitian men to
help build the basketball court, we paid them enough to support
their families for several months. By hiring Haitian women to cook
for the workers, we again assisted their families with desperately
needed resources.
It took us three years to finish the basketball court, but this
second year instilled in our hearts the reality of what a valid
mission to our Haitian friends could be.
Our second year in Ouanaminthe we also began another significant
undertaking, as we began providing basic medical care on each of
our trips to Haiti. Former Aslan graduate and Licensed Practical
Nurse, Melanie Edmond, and Colleen Ward, a Registered Nurse, distributed
basic medications we had brought with us, and they treated serious
wounds. One of the first things to open our eyes to the enormous
need for medical care in Haiti was a young man who came in to see
Melanie and Colleen with the back of his heel almost severed from
a motorcycle accident. Someone had hastily sewn up his heel with
clothing thread, and the wound was seriously infected. Although
they only saw this young man once, Melanie and Colleen were able
to pack his wound with antibiotic cream and give him an oral antibiotic.
As we began to read about the abysmal state of health care in Haiti,
we learned that some studies say there is only one Haitian doctor
for every 35,000 people in Haiti! There are more Haitian doctors
in Brooklyn than in all of Haiti, a nation with a population the
size of New York City!
In 1997 we also began our first summer day camp, and it was quite
an eye opening experience as well. We were astounded as we unpacked
our supplies and watched the children flock around. We had to show
the children how to use a crayon, as they had never colored with
one on paper before! They were most enamored, however, with the
glitter we brought with us. More of it ended up in their hair and
faces than on the paper!
Another significant program we operated was our eyeglasses clinic.
While we were in Ouanaminthe, we distributed almost 500 pairs of
glasses that Lions Clubs, International had graciously given to
us to bring. People would line up for hours for the chance to “try
on” pair after pair until they found something that allowed
them to see. It was obvious from the reactions of so many –
particularly in elderly men and women – that some of them
were seeing clearly for the first time in their lives. This first
rudimentary eye clinic planted the seeds in our heart for a real
eye clinic some day where we would have proper equipment to test
people’s eyesight and match a prescription to their need.
Our return trip to Port-au-Prince was quite an experience. When
we pulled into Cap-Haitien, our drivers informed us they had to
check the brakes on our bus. It’s a good thing they did! As
we were lounging around on the bus while they pulled the tires off
the bus, I noticed they were holding a cardboard torch just next
to the gas tank. Needless to say, we all exited the bus post haste,
and retreated across the street! This was, again, quite an eye opener
for all of us. In a country of such need, you make do with what
you have. Our drivers didn’t have the proper equipment to
pull the brakes, so they were forced to heat the hub up in order
to be able to pull the old pads off. To them, they were being very
safe with a lighted torch next to the gas tank. One way or another,
they had to pull the brakes and replace them. After 4 hours of their
hard work, we were once again on our way. However, our return trip
took a total of 17 hours! We were beginning to understand in some
small ways the indignities and hardships that the Haitian people
endure each and every day of their lives on earth.
(Click
here to view the Haiti Missions 1997 Photo Album) |
