Hearts Changed in Haiti

Bonjou! [Good morning]!

Well, I have returned safely from the mission trip to Haiti. Though I have returned and am easing back into my life and mission ground here, I know that I am not quite the same. There is no way I could be after a remarkable week such as this.

Our group of 12 missionaries (4 FOCUS missionaries and 8 students) experienced and shared the love of Christ in such a unique way this past week with the beautiful people of Haiti. In the countless ways that we were different from one-another, we shared the common bond of being children of God-- with all the joy and suffering that comes with that.

There is so much that I could share about this week, so I think I might devote a couple blog posts to sharing both the experiences we had there and the fruits I have gained from it. For now though, the biggest question I keep getting is "what did you do all week?" Therefore, here is a (somewhat) brief recap of the week, with pictures at the bottom:

**Every week day we attended morning Mass at 5:30am in Creole, English Spanish, and French, respectively, which was the best way to start the day and was so beautiful to experience Mass in a different language and culture.

Sunday (3/17): Flew to Haiti, arrived at the compound (a beautiful several thousand acre property built by the Scalabrini Fathers, a religious order of priests from Italy. The property also contained two seminaries with 300 seminarians in residence, a religious order of sisters, the bishop's residence, a couple missionary organizations, a retreat center, and health care professionals for a medical and therapy clinic).

Monday (3/18): Traveled via tap-tap (a tin structure that hooks up to a pick-up truck and can hold at least 12 people in the back) to Warf Jeremie and Missio Bella orphanage and school. This is one of the poorest places in Haiti, with homes consisting of 20 square feet of tin or cardboard walls and desolation everywhere. We visited every classroom at the mission and played with the kids, who called us "blanc" (white). They were excited and filled with joy to have these strangers play with them, which was such a contrast from the desolation we saw in the people of the village on our way in. For the first full day, this was quite the impactful experience.

Tuesday (3/19): Stayed at the compound and helped out in the factories and grounds keeping, including a pasta factory and bread factory. I also had the opportunity to attend a zumba workout class put on by the therapy clinic for Haitian people looking to increase their mobility and health. This was probably one of the best experiences I had because for that hour we were all the same-- across languages, cultures, races, and class levels-- we came together for a common goal, and it was beautiful.

Wednesday (3/20): Visited the Missionaries of Charity's orphanage for the dying- this orphanage, established and run by Mother Teresa's religious order, finds abandoned and sick babies of Haiti and gives them the care they need until they pass away or return to health. This was definitely the most difficult day emotionally, seeing the fear and pain in these babies' eyes, and knowing that all we could do was give them that "look of love which they crave" if only for a couple hours.

Thursday (3/21): Visit Corail, a village established after the 2010 earthquake for families who lost their homes. The Scalabrini Fathers help run a school there and have also built a church which will be opened on April 14th. We walked around to some of the homes in the village (which were much sturdier than most we'd seen in Haiti but not much larger) and prayed with people in their homes, which was extremely powerful.

Friday (3/22): Helped out at the compound with a youth group retreat for the Haitian youth of Corail, and also went back to Corail for the Stations of the Cross, in which we walked around the entire village on a dusty road for about two hours with adults and children of Corail. This was beautiful because it felt like Jesus' walk to Calvary.

Saturday (3/23): Flew back to NYC after some sad goodbyes to the beautiful people of Haiti and missionaries at the compound.

Sunday (3/24): Debriefing in New York and Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral with Cardinal Dolan, followed by sad goodbyes to all the students and missionaries on the trip.

I will be making another post next week about the fruits of this trip, particularly in regards to the changed hearts of the students and missionaries on the trip. Thank you for your prayers and support-- it was such a gift to be there and I will truly not be quite the same. God bless!  "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." ~Matthew 25:40

Our entire group of 12 crammed into the tap-tap

Two of our students making friends in Warf Jeremie

Beautiful girls in Corail who walked with me for the two-hour Stations of the Cross