A Trip to Haiti: Impact and Lessons

The best part about our trip to Haiti was the personal and spiritual impact the trip had on the people we served and ourselves during just a short 8 days. Nothing radically world-changing occurred to our team or the people we met, but I recognize the trip had subtle, yet very valuable, impact on us and the mission we served with. In order to best describe the things I witnessed and learned on this trip, I came up with a series of descriptive words. Ministry, Need, Global, Engineering, and Opportunity each describe part of my trip.
Ministry: I hadn't yet explained that we served with a ministry called Touch Global which is the disaster response ministry of the Evangelical Free Church of America. Their mission in Haiti focuses on aiding existing Haitian-run ministries recuperate after the earthquake and continue serving the community they live in. Touch Global uses the teams that come from America to provide volunteer work and money to support, rebuild, and equip the ministries. The greatest value in this type of ministry is the Haitians continue ownership of their specific ministry while receiving greatly needed aid from teams like ours. As well, our team finds a greater value than just a week because we help Touch Global continue the relationships with the community which benefits their ministry long term.
Though our trip was short, and we only did a couple projects, we did get to witness having a great impact on those we served. Throughout our week at the church, each day the pastor came out to watch us build his roof. It was so much fun to see him simply sitting there watching, and he always had a very big smile on his face. He was extremely thankful for our help which was a blessing to us. Similar to the pastor, the leader of the school we helped at on Thursday was very thankful. He told us that afternoon that words could not describe how appreciative he was. As well, he even made sure to call us Saturday morning on our way to the airport to thank us one last time. The thanks were much appreciated on our end because we then knew with certainty the people we helped valued what we did, and we know it has greatly helped meet their needs.
Need: This word has taken on an entirely new meaning to me since our trip. From the very first moment in the country I saw the depth to which this country has needs for every practical thing humans require. A large, large majority of Haitians live in temporary shelters (like tents) provided by relief agencies after the earthquake, and unemployment is incredibly high. Many people simply spend the day either looking for work on sitting on the street. One of the missionaries we stayed with said it best, that need is everywhere and there really isn't a place you can go to escape it. In America the run-down parts of the city are usually contained in an area, but in Haiti need is spread throughout the whole country. And the reality that laid home with me is the country will be like this for a long time to come.
Compassion: The idea of long-lasting need could easily overwhelm, but I think instead it should motivate us to compassion for a people in great need. My first instinct as an American is to compare there lifestyle with mine in the US and notice how much they don't have. However, I realized on the trip that meeting their needs and caring for them is not an attempt to bring them into luxury and comfort, but instead motivated in bringing them to a place of security and peace. I saw people living in situations in which no human being should ever have to endure. Looking for work six days a week and wearing flip flops for work boots like Josie does should not happen. I learned the best type of compassion ministry is to help people move from a life of insecurity and deep need to a life where they have security.

Global:  The ultimate goal of serving those in need is sharing the Gospel, and loving people as Christ has loved us. In Haiti I got to see and take part in a ministry that is actively doing this, and see again a global community of believers active together to bring the news of Christ to people in spiritual need. In Haiti I met a Colombian, a German, and a full-time American missionary that lived in Brazil and spoke/heard conversations in Creole, French, Spanish, English, and Portuguese. We attended church on Sunday in Haiti where I was reminded again that God is bigger than any nation or culture, and he saves people from all tongues and tribes. Even one evening while playing guitar on the porch, one of the security guards stopped by and played a song for me. The song started, "You are so good to me," and I was moved that he could sing that song in truth. I was so encouraged to see again people from a completely different walk of life worshiping the same God and proclaiming the same truth.

Engineering: Practically, and personally, I took away from the trip that a lot of opportunities exist in the world for me to use my gifts and experience in engineering to serve those in need. Until this trip I had only heard mostly about EMI, and thought involvement with that ministry would provide the best opportunity to serve. In Haiti I saw that I could easily get involved with any ministry that needs new buildings or any ministry that serves a community by rebuilding and be able to utilize my gifts. This was an incredibly encouraging aspect of the trip for me personally.

Opportunity: As I mentioned before, the country will be in need for a long time, and I think this affords a great opportunity to serve Christ by helping others. I'm pretty sure that I want to return to Haiti, especially since our church has committed to serving with Touch Global for the next several years at least. It was a very unique trip, and it was a blessing to glorify God by serving along side and for the body of Christ.