On November 12, 2010, Port Au Prince Haiti was rocked by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. 19 months later, I boarded a plane in Miami to visit Haiti and see how Convoy of Hope was helping feed thousands of people - mainly children - in the aftermath of this tragedy.
With the earthquake and devastation as my primary point of reference, I came to Haiti expecting to see people who were just making it, and understandably, discouraged. I expected to struggle with the question of "why" since so many died and many more were injured and homeless. I equally expected the many Haitians that I came into contact with to be asking the same questions.
But to my surprise, I saw more hope than questions. Instead of downcast faces, I found lots of smiles. The kids we visited at the schools and the orphanage were alive and bubbling with energy. People dressed their best and were proud of whatever job or duty they were responsible for. The city was alive, even with rubble and trash still surrounding them. Rather than asking "why," I began to wonder if I could have the same attitude as the merchants selling mangos (which were unbelievably good) or cook who prepared my food. So many of our connections with people and kids were incredibly moving experiences.
Even more powerful was the trip to the memorial and mass grave outside Port Au Prince. Behind a small memorial and a hill filled with homemade crosses, lies a canyon where approximately 200,000 of the 300,000 who died are buried. All of us were speechless. So much death, yet so much hope in Haiti.
One of the many places where we found such hope was a church that we visited on the edge of Port Au Prince. It was filled with people who were in the midst of a 12 hour prayer time. Thinking back to the cries for God in a language that I did not know, I now think of David's words in Psalm 25 - "My hope is in you all day long." Hope certainly lives in Haiti.
