Sunday, August 15, 2010

Favorite Photos of Haiti 2010

These pics are my favorite from the recent Haiti trip. I like these photos because I feel they reflect something about Haiti that I want to remember. Enjoy! My favorite one is the very last. (Also please note, when I make the pics XL, as I've done here, my blog cuts off the left side....I'm working on it, but make sure to click on the last pic to see the whole thing. There's another beautiful smiling girl on the side.)

Steve Living off the Dump
Boy in His House
Boy at Church
Nuggets Waiting for Candy
Masses of Children to Love
Poor School Boy with Coloring Book
Playing Games
Asking for Treats
Runner Up for My Favorite Picture : Dod is Dood
Port au Prince Destruction
My Favorite Pic! Cuties Laughing!

Friday, August 13, 2010

For the Love of God

Do you ever think about orphans?

Orphans are just children. Sweet children. They have no parents. They have no way to provide for themselves. There is no one to answer for them, stick up for them, or look out for their well-being. And they are only CHILDREN.

Adriano - Lighthouse Boy
How scary and lonely that must feel for a seven year old. The world is scary enough when you have a home, a family, and an income. I've taken those things as granted all my life.

We met two orphans in Haiti, brothers MacKenzie and Robinson, that survived together in the woods for two weeks after the earthquake killed their parents.

My encounter with these precious Haitian orphans made me finally realize the following : A. There are orphans. B. They need love. C. They are rather helpless.

Remember this verse about what God sees as pure and faultless religion?

James 1:27
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Just something to think about!


Here's pictures of sweet Haitian orphans just being kids:

Lighthouse kids playing with their new soccer ball
"Climb on Cee'Jay" was a popular game
These beautiful girls live at a state-run orphanage that houses over 120 children.
Orphaned nuggets with bubbles

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Reggie and the Pop Bottle Boys

If you got my recent newsletter, you may have seen a section about the last night we were in Haiti.

It was glorious! After dinner, all 18 boys started drumming away with their empty pop bottles and spoons, while shy Reggie transformed into a show stealer!

This video doesn't convey how loud it was, or how happy and focused all the boys seemed. Notice the two boys on the floor behind dancing Reggie. They were banging out rhythms on a cooler.


Did I mention that this was spontaneous and that, according to our host, it happens frequently? I love a culture with rhythm in their souls!

Thanks to Myles Beeman for taking this video and letting me share it!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Another Way to Say "Welcome to My Country"

Have you ever been carried like a baby across a raging river by a Haitian bodyguard wearing a rainbow speedo?

I have.

Oh yes, let me set the stage:

We are on our way to visit a rural village outside of Port au Prince, Haiti. To do so, we need to cross a river, swollen and fast because of recent rains. Truly, it looks intimidating.

As my American friends start to roll up their pant legs, I step away from them, down the bank, to take some photographs. Click, click, new angle, click. I remove my eye from the viewfinder only just in time to see what is about to happen.

In the river, only a few feet away, is Marc, our bodyguard.  Marc is muscular beyond reckoning and walks with a strong-man’s swagger. But now, Marc no longer is wearing his pants. Though I try not to notice, his speedo-style underwear is rainbow stripes in color.

What? Where are his pants? Why is he walking toward –

And I am swept up into his arms, cradled like a child (or fire rescue victim), seemingly as light as a backpack. Marc carries me this way across the turbulent river without even stumbling.

Half-naked Marc carries the females through all four river crossings that day.

They didn’t put that in the brochure.

Oh Haiti. Oh butch people. So was Marc being a foresighted gentleman? Or a bit of an exhibitionist? Either way, my shoes stayed dry.

So did his pants.


Here are some pics from the village we visited that day: