It’s so hard for me to even try to sum up my recent trip to Haiti… but here we go. One of the coolest things about the trip was God setting up so many times for me to play with the kids. I was disappointed at first because we didn’t have enough excess “support staff” (i.e. non-medical people) to always have people outside playing with the kids. In Kenya, there were usually a few doing that, and I thought that it was really important to just play and love on the kids. Well anyway, most of our support staff was needed in pharmacy taking vital signs, guarding doors, and giving out clothes and flip-flops.

Nancy, a nurse on the medical team, wrote a poem on suffering.

She and her husband reside in Atlanta, Georgia. Composed by Nancy Clone (Faris) Byrne on January 28, 2010 as a reflection on the purpose of suffering and to trust in the fact that God knows the BIGGER plan in our own personal lives as well as Haiti.

Pastor Augustin's daughter Andia lives in St. Louis. In January, she was interviewed by a local TV station to talk about the Bethanie Mission and how it has helped with the earthquake relief. They also recorded a Skype call she had with her parents, Pastor Augustin and Franchette.

This trip was a great experience for me and one that I will not forget. I know it is a little different for each person but for me it changed my opinion about the country. I currently live in the USA. I grew up in Jamaica. While in high school, we learned about Caribbean history. That covered the islands from Cuba all the way down the chain to Trinidad that is at the bottom. After all these years since learning about the different islands, one thing stands out about Haiti.  You were always taught that it is an island of voodoo and nothing else. You never hear about the Christians or other religions there.

We had a wonderful trip to Haiti!  It was completely different than any I have made to Haiti in 20 years.  I was challenged from day one and returned home exhausted.

Initially, I left my backpack with passport and camera at the airport in the Dominican Republic. We had to return to the airport at 11:30 PM to pick up three ladies that had missed their flights. I was wiped out as it was!  Anyways, after arriving, I began to help them load their luggage onto the cart to head out to the truck.  We were twenty minutes into our drive back to our hotel when I realized I left it there.  What a shocker!  But it ended up a security guard had found it and nothing was missing. So for the whole trip one of the gals reminded me constantly to make sure I had my backpack.

We arrived in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, February 14th, 2010. We were met by a local pastor and he had some pizzas and cokes waiting for us. It was a very nice and welcomed surprise. We loaded up the bus and went to the hotel Antigua Europa in Santo Domingo. We stayed there one night and in the early morning we loaded the truck with our bags and boarded a bus for Haiti.

We arrived in Port au Prince in the afternoon somewhat late due to a student demonstration in the Dominican Republic. It was done by some students that were unhappy with the school that the government had built. We pulled up to the Presidential Palace in Haiti to see the devastation caused by the earthquake. The palace was almost totally destroyed. As we looked around the surrounding area we could see that some structures were seemingly untouched by the quake while others were in total ruins.

Reported on February 25th, 2010 - A Charlottesville doctor returns from Haiti this week after treating hundreds of patients in the tent cities surrounding the earthquake zone in Port au Prince. It’s Dr. Michael Ashby’s first day back to work at Martha Jefferson Hospital after spending 10 days treating patients in Haiti. As an emergency room doctor, he’s seen a lot, but he said he’s never seen conditions like he saw there. You see patients, you do what you have to do to take care of people, but afterward, it’s pretty intense,” Ashby said.

I have been asked all too often since my return from Haiti, “How was the trip”. What do you say? My response is; “it was intense.” How else do you respond to this question? The devastation was incredible. The need was and still is enormous, but of all the presence of God was just absolutely awesome! So how does one answer such a question with this dichotomy?

Guided by God to pray for patients was a reward for His Kingdom. A woman, whose name I do not know, only God the Creator knows, was brought back to me for prayer with the understanding she had great faith in God. In a minute, my mind went back to something I had read earlier. FAITH IS AN ACT, FAITH IS A LEAP, FAITH JUMPS IN, FAITH CLAIMS, FAITH HAS AN AUTHOR, AND FAITH’S AUTHOR IS JESUS!! Oh, precious Jesus, that faith was the act for me to come to Haiti. Faith for me to leap and jump and to proclaim You, Jesus, with faith beyond understanding! All the glory and praises be to You for placing me here with one of Your children in Haiti in this time of need and prayer.

Dated January 21, 2010

Yesterday, January 20, with a team of 20 people from our main church in Les Cayes, we left our compound at 4:00 a.m. and headed to Port-au-Prince. We arrived there at 9:00 a.m. We went with two vehicles, a big yellow school bus and a pickup truck with the goal of distributing aid. We were armed with shoes, clothes of all sizes – even for babies, bras for women, underwear for men and women, pads for women, lotion, shampoo, toothbrushes, laundry detergent, sheets, soap, spaghetti, beans, rice, bread, 5,000 water bags and 20 gallons of water. We even had basins!