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Haiti - June 2011

By Robin Kot

In order to tell you my story of Haiti, I have to go back to how I felt before my first trip, because once you go to Haiti, you’re never the same.  I started feeling God nudging me to go to Haiti in January 2010.  I’m sorry to say I ignored it, thinking it must be my own guilt, after all what good could I be there? He kept nudging. I talked to someone who had been to Haiti.  She was sure excited about it, but I rationalized; she was younger and probably medical, so again, I ignored it. He kept nudging.  Then I went to the post-Haiti luncheon for the February trip.  They were all so passionate about Haiti, and the children sure were cute.  And the people on the trip were a wide range of ages.  I started thinking, well maybe someday, but there were plenty of roadblocks: I didn’t have the money, I didn’t have the time and I had no medical knowledge.  I talked with more people who encouraged me to go and assured me that I didn’t need medical training.  So I mentioned it to my husband.  I was sure he’d say ‘no your family needs you’ but instead, he said “If you think you should go, you should go.”  And that was it; all the pieces fell into place after that. God took care of all my little issues; I did fundraising and my friends and family were very generous (for both trips), my son took over my business while I was gone and my daughter ended up coming with me! 

            Once there it is definitely a culture shock, but you bond with the team quickly and are always safe and well cared for.  I found that I was very useful.  There is so much need there.  The sweet orphans have such a need to love and be loved.  The hardest part is leaving them.  It is hard to readjust to our easy lives in America.  You find yourself thinking of Haiti often, trying to find a way to improve their lives, to explain the disparity.

Anyway, while on last year’s trip I met David Young, the pastor of a church plant in Florida.  He was part of a Pastor training team on that trip.  Voodoo and demonic worship are very strong in Haiti, so the Christian pastors need our prayers and a lot of training and encouragement.  David decided to start a “love trip” out of Florida, designed to “love on these kids” and show them the love of Christ and that they are important, loved and lovable.  We were allowed to tag along on their trip and were so excited to go.  It was comforting knowing what to expect too!  We did VBS type crafts, played sports, performed Bible skits, and taught them the importance and proper method for washing their hands and brushing their teeth.  We went to 6 orphanages in the El Shaddai organization (they have 8), 3 church services and one inner city church.  The inner city church was the hardest.  It is a poor area even by Haitian standards, and none of the 200 children in the congregation had ever been to school, because they couldn’t afford the $50/year fee to go to public school.  It was heart breaking.

So, why do I think you should go to Haiti?   Because it’s easy to feel God and to know you are doing God’s will when you are there.  I swear you can hold one of these sweet children and pray for God to bless them and literally feel God’s love pouring through you to them.  That feeling alone is worth the trip.  But Haiti will soften your heart, too.  We get so jaded in America.  The marketers are always trying to convince us to buy their product and the charities are trying to convince us that their cause is the neediest.  It seems staged or over dramatized.  When you go to Haiti and real poverty slaps you in the face you are changed.  The walls go down, your heart softens and you are changed for the better. A third reason is the team you go to Haiti with. You bond with them all.  The bond of shared pain, shared joy, shared laughs and shared memories that is Haiti.  Being surrounded by stong Christians, daily devotionals, pray-first mentality and God’s love for a whole week is incomparably soul-changing.  And on top of that you get to experience the joy of helping children who are so beautiful inside and out, so loving and so very appreciative.

I want you to experience this.  I strongly encourage you to investigate this or other mission opportunities.  If you find you can’t go in person, support someone who is going or participate in one of the many service projects NPC has for our various mission partners.  But if you ever feel the ‘nudge,’ I pray you will go.  As Isaiah said “Here am I, Lord send me!”  (Isaiah 6:8).   Please talk to me if you have any questions at all.