Reunited

My family joined me in Haiti yesterday.  It was really a joy to be there to greet them at the airport in Port-Au-Prince. Their trip was good and they got to see some friends of our family along the way.  They weren’t too shocked by the conditions in Port-Au-Prince – Ryan said that it reminded him of Progresso, the Mexican town on the north side of the Yucatan peninsula that we visited over the summer. When asked what it was that made him say that, he suggested it was the trash and the people everywhere.  It was a good observation and I suppose one could probably find a lot of similarities in 3^rd world cities.  Like shoddy buildings crowding the narrow, livestock riddled streets.  The car’s horn being used as an indispensable tool in the art of driving. And, like Ryan alluded to, the people who are just … there – not flowing or moving with purpose but just … living their live … right there in front of you.

Rachel did some filming for her Gold Award project on the way to the Mission in Hinche.  She’s working on her Girl Scout Gold Award project to make a film about Haiti and its people to share with schools in America.  The goal isn’t to build sympathy but just to help students in America see the similarities and differences of life for youngsters in another part of the world.  I think it’ll be a cool project but the difficulty will be getting all the information she needs during this trip.  It’s unlikely we’ll be back soon so she’ll need to ask the right questions of the right people to get the material she’ll need.  She did several interviews today with more to follow the next three days.  She does have one thing going for here – there are a lot of subjects!  I plan to be her cameraman tomorrow and maybe have material to blog about some of the students we get to meet.

Ryan installed a net on the basketball goal here and was really the center of attention!  Probably 30 kids surrounded his ladder as he was up there.  When he had that up he showed some kids how to shoot the basketball while I showed some how to throw a football.  They didn’t have a great concept of either but did catch on, a little.  When unsupervised by us, they typically treated just about any ball they could get like a soccer ball.  I almost felt bad for bringing the (American) footballs as the kids were trying to kick them around the playground!  We’ll keep trying to teach them, though. Who knows, maybe the next Peyton Manning will come from this Kobonal Mission.  Ryan also played some soccer with them until he got a little too “into it” and kicked their ball over the wall.  We walked out of the mission to where the ball should have been and there was no sign of it.  Lesson learned, I guess.  Fortunately, between our group and the last group that was here, there are probably 50 soccer balls so no real harm done.

True to form, Trish hasn’t sat still since she got here.  She took a lot of pictures of the kids at play this morning and ran camera for Rachel.  Then when the students left at noon she got friendly with the dentist team that also arrived on Sunday and the next thing I know she’s in there with gloves on setting up dental trays.  Later I caught her gabbing with one of the guys as he was making on-site tooth replacements. By Friday, she’ll probably be putting in fillings!  Either that or have their workflow reorganized to increase their capacity.

I should say a few words about this dental team.  They are from San Antonio and some of their members have been coming for 5 years.  There is a dentist in nearby Hinche, but that doesn’t nearly cover the need. Dentistry around here is much more about treatment than it is about prevention and so when the need is there it’s pretty desperate.  These guys will treat around 150 folks this week who would otherwise be in terrible, constant pain. This team is another in the long litany of blessings that this Mission offers.  And while the Mission is a direct result of Fr. Meaux’s vision and he and his team’s TIRELESS work here, it would be utterly impossible without the generosity of people in America who fund it.  The houses, the microloans, the monthly food distribution, the life-saving wells they construct, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera cost real dollars.  It’s like I touched on in an earlier post – Americans sometimes get a bad rap for being self-centered and materialistic. But this Mission is just one of hundreds or thousands of examples of the selfLESSness of the American people who give their money and goods away to help desperate people have better lives.  Could we do more, sure.  But we sure as heck could do a lot less, too. Even if we take the sarcastic view of Paul Farmer from the book “Mountains Beyond Mountains” that because of the level of our generosity we’ll “spend less time in purgatory”, that’s still way better than the alternative. In my opinion, to see first-hand the work that our dollars can actually do when in the hands of the right people is just so incredibly encouraging.

Well, I’d intended on blogging about the different stuff I’ve been blessed to do since I’ve been here.  I need to do that sometime, I guess, so you all don’t think I’m just sitting here on my computer the whole time.  But I’m just so darned glad that Trish, Ryan and Rachel are here, that that’s what’s on my mind, so I’ll save it for another day.  Please keep praying for us but even more for the mission here and the wonderful people it serves!