Extreme Makeover: Haiti Edition

A common first impression upon arriving in Haiti (my own included) is "I can't believe how much trash is around!"  There's no garbage man to take the trash to the dump, and there definitely aren't $200 littering fines.  People throw their trash in the streets, on the beach, in the water, wherever they are.  I often have to resist the urge to start picking it all up like some unorthodox community service worker--as Jason Mraz would say: "It's like picking up trash in dresses!"

Something strange happened to me this past week, though, while I was at Beauchamp.  We were walking down the path to the soccer field one day when I saw a styrofoam take-out box.  My first thought wasn't, "Ugh, trash on the road again."  It wasn't even, "Styrofoam never decomposes!  Ah!"  My first thought, I kid you not, was, "That would make a great sail for a toy boat!"  We kept walking and soon I saw a whole trash bag hanging off a cactus.  "That would be perfect for making kites!"  I thought.

(Look on my Dropbox page to see some sweet examples of these cools toys: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2tll4qpjbq9d1us/9R9t95DDnz)

Somehow during my time here, my perspective has shifted.  I stopped seeing disgusting trash and started seeing the potential for something beautiful.  The same Jason Mraz song might call this a "Beautiful Mess."  

Isn't this how God sees us?  A beautiful mess.  We are so messed up... so dirty.  And yet in God's eyes, we are beautiful treasures. He makes beautiful things out of us, just as Haitian children make beautiful things out of garbage.

There are lots of ways you can make something beautiful out of something ugly.  I call this "Extreme Makeover: Haiti Edition!"  Here are some before and after snapshots of makeovers this week.

Before: sand and rocks
After: a delicious beach picnic

I was playing with some kids at the Anse a Foleur beach last week and thought it would be funny to put a small rock on one kid's head.  "Chapo!" I said.  "Hat!"  The kids thought this was hilarious and began giving me and each other "chapos."  From there, we turned sand into rice and beans, shells into plantains, seaweed into spaghetti, and ocean water into juice.  It was quite the feast.

Before: a concrete classroom with wooden benches
After: a stage

So after the church filled up, there were still some kids on Tortuga who didn't fit

inside.  So my group decided to improvise a little... We took the extra kids into

the schoolhouse: a concrete building, empty besides some wooden benches.

There they picked out some future actors from the crowd to perform Daniel and

the Lions' Den.  Super cute.  And the kids that would have been left outside the

gate still got to hear a message.

Before: an awkward situation
After: a beautiful ongoing relationship

So we tried out something new at Beauchamp this week... something different.  "Community Meals" they called it.  Basically Odinas (the director at Beauchamp) chose some families he knew in the area.  The mission provided the food, and each family cooked the meal and hosted us for lunch.  At first the idea sounded awesome!...

It was awkward.  We walked in and the woman seemed uncomfortable.  There were five of us: three group members, a translator, and myself.  There were four plates.  She told us we could serve ourselves and then left.  Well... this is not what we had in mind.

We asked her to come join us.  The point was to eat WITH the family, get to know them, etc.  So she came in awkwardly and watched us eat.  I tried to start some conversation, but she was shy... When we finished eating, we passed our plates over for them to reuse.  I didn't give up.

I kept talking to her and learned a bit about her family.  She told us she had seven kids, and when we asked their ages, she said 12-14.  We looked at each other... seven kids in two years?  So we asked.  It turns out that this woman had taken in orphans along with her own kids.  A woman who only had enough plates to feed four people at a time took in extra kids.

It turns out that her oldest adopted kid is 20 and going into his junior year of high school.  When I asked, she responded, "He wants to be a doctor but, of course, no opportunities."  This started a whole converstaion about possibilities to help him out.  I made it clear that I wan't making promises, but that I would talk to some people.  I got to talk to the group there who are partnered with Beauchamp (Neighbors Project) and also John and Christi about how he can apply for the House of Moses.  Please being praying for opportunities to open up for Dalson!

The next day in Beauchamp, we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do... Some people wanted to do hut to huts and some wanted to check out the market.  We decided to do both: get groceries from the market and take them to our Communitiy Meals family.

So we got to see our famliy again.  We thanked them again for lunch the day before and gave them some food.  Then we prayed with them.  Rosadette and Shelda have both had miscarriages (the latter not even looking old enough to have a baby at all...).  Please pray for these women and this famliy that I have grown to love.

Thank you God for turning the original awkwardness into a beautiful new relationship.

Before: a wall and a kid who "can't walk"
After: Date Night!

The wall outside the Miriam Center was painted white so that they can project movies on it now (without a blue tinge...).  So it was movie night downstairs!  I went with my date, Steven, who shared his popcorn with me and held my hand.  When Elf finished, we danced to the credits music.  First, I carried him and we swayed... later he put his feet down, and I held him up as he danced.

Sorry, Max.  I may have found a new dance partner.  He's my little "sweetheart," as they say in ASL.

Prie:
I've been trying to be intentional about writing down specific names to pray for and help.  You've already heard about Dalson, Rosadette, and Shelda.  Here are some other people I met doing groceries ministries:

-Nandy: a girl with special needs that we are trying to get into our outreach program

-Odalus Olondieu: a man with one blind eye we are trying to get onto the eye surgery team list

Please pray for them by name!

Loue:
There is a Christian-run hospital in Beauchamp!  I didn't know it existed before... A girl had a bad asthma attack while we were there, and they were amazing.  We are being taken care of over here.  No worries.  :)

Creole Lesson:
The Basics
Koman ou rele?: What is your name?
Ki laj ou?: How old are you?

The Answers:
"I don't know my last name."
"I don't know how old I am."

I guess I shouldn't be surprised... but these were some responses to our questions when we were working on sponsorship pictures at the orphanage.

You make beautiful things.
You make beautiful things out of the dust.
You make beautiful things.
You make beautiful things out of us.