Haiti

Tomorrow morning, we leave for Haiti. There are nine of us going from Christ Church. We'll be staying in the village of Cange in the Central Plateau for five days. After arriving in Port au Prince tomorrow around 1 pm, we'll be paying a brief visit to the Sisters of St. Margaret and dropping off some supplies for them, seeing the Cathedral, and stopping at an orphange in the city before making the hour and a half trip to Cange. We will be met at the airport by staff from Zanmi Lasante (Partners in Health), who will provide our transportation to Cange.

Once in Cange, we're being hosted by Jackie Williams, an American from South Carolina, and the mother of Clarkson Williams, member of our parish and fellow traveler. Clarkson has been the principal organizer of our trip. His 80 year old mother has lived in Haiti for the past several years. She and her late husband, Pierce, had gone often to Haiti on short term missions from their parish in South Carolina. Pierce was a civil engineer, who together with others from the parish designed and built the water system that brought water to the village of Cange in one of Haiti's poorest areas. It was this feat that enabled the young Harvard Medical student, Paul Farmer, to establish his first clinic in Haiti and together with the local Episcopal priest, Fr. Fritz Lafontant found Zanmi Lasante. (Tracy Kidder writes about all of this in his epic book on Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains.)

We are often asked, "what will you be doing while you are in Haiti?" The answer is, "we don't know for sure." Some of us will be working in the artisan center founded by Jackie, where she teaches and organizes classes in a variety of arts and crafts. Some of the artists in our group will undoubtedly be spending most of their time in this way. Some of us may help make repairs or do inspections of the water systems if we have those kinds of skills. The rest of us, I'm told, get to mix cement. I'm preparing myself for some backbreaking work.

Perhaps most importantly, we'll be getting to know the people there, hearing their stories, sharing for a few days in their lives, and doing our best to bring the experience back to share with others here. We can only hope to do justice to their stories. I have also been asked to preach in the Sunday service at the Episcopal Church in Cange. Fr. Lafontant, I'm told, will translate for me into Creole.

We will also be receiving the shipment of soccer balls which we sent a few weeks ago for the Bon Saveur school in Cange. Clarkson, in preparation for our mission trip, learned about a newly invented soccer ball developed specifically for people in the developing world. The balls do not go flat, even if punctured, and yet have all the properties of regulation soccer balls. We had a soccer ball drive at Christ Church which enabled us to purchase about 125 of them. We're told they just arrived in Haiti, and should be to Cange by the weekend when we're there. Can't wait to see the kids' faces!

I hesitate to say much more at this point, because there are many unknowns, and we will simply be embracing the experience as it unfolds for us. We go with open hearts and few expectations, other than that we will meet some of our fellow residents of this small planet of ours -- people whose experience is very different than our own, but which will undoubtedly shed some light on the meaning of it all for us.

During the past Sunday's service, the parish sent us off with a Litany for Haiti and a final blessing on our journey. I share the final blessing with you here now as we prepare to leave in just a few hours.

O God of compassion, bless and keep those who travel to Haiti this week. Keep them safe and in good health. Enable them to bear your love into the places they go, and to be open to receive the blessings you have prepared for them there. We ask this in Jesus' name, and for the sake of his love. Amen.