When helping hurts

This summer I have been reading a lot of books to prepare for Haiti.  One in particular I thought I would share my thoughts on with you. I have heard a lot of great things about When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert and have been told many times I should read it. So I found a copy and want to share with you today what I have learned.

I found the theme of this book to be poverty alleviation. I really like the definitios they give . First, looking as poverty being more than material poor they say, poverty alleviation is the ministery of reconciliation: moving people closer to glorifying God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation. 

They also give a definition of material poor alleviation as working to reconcile the four foundational relationships so that people can fulfill their callings of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their familes with the fruit of that work.

There are three steps to this process: relief, rehabilitation, and development.  No one can do all three. The point is to find out what you do best and what the people you are trying to help need. I wanted to be a part of the relief effort in Haiti, but it is too late for that now. They need to be moving into the rehabilitation and development stages. In these stages they don't necessarily need my money to build up their community. It is now about working on building that third relationship, with others, working together and helping each other.
After reading this book I have formed some goals for my time in Haiti:

• To build realationships with the kids I will be living with
• To teach the youth at the church about God
• To build relationships with the women I interact with on a daily basis 
• To be seen positively in the community

P.S. I am 52% funded, if you would like to give you can here

P.P.S. I have a friend who is planning on going to Egypt for nine months to minister to the Muslim community but with everything going on there right now he doesn't know if that trip will still be able to happen. Please pray that God will lead him to where He wants work done.

Haiti

"I don't want to glance over poverty because I have seen it before. I don't want to overlook those I encounter because I think I already understand. I don't want to ignore what is right in front of my face because I feel like they hold lessons I've already learned." -Alece

This was my fourth trip to the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission in Saint Louis du Nord, Haiti. The Northwest is the poorest region in Haiti; I saw this more this time than any other trip. Our team of 15 people traveled six hours by school bus from Port au Prince to Saint Louis. We arrived around 10:00 at night. We blew up air mattresses and found sheets and pillows while trying not to wake everyone else that were already in bed. When we took our second flight into Haiti the plane was full so we had to check our second carry on at the door. We didn’t see those bags again until Saturday, the seventh day of the trip. God taught us all many things from not having everything we thought we would need for the trip. A few of us had all their things so we shared and did laundry frequently. Not many teams can come back saying they went shopping at a Haitian market for underwear.

I was worried and didn’t want to put too much expectation on seeing some of the Haitians I had met last year. A lot of the interpreters only work for one summer or just a few weeks at a time. Anything could happen in a year since I last saw the boys who stand outside the mission selling bracelets. I was so excited when I saw Rodlen. He came up and gave me a hug when I was playing with some younger kids in the nutrition program. He told me he got to attend school this past year and I noticed he had on a lot nicer clothes on. I didn’t see him for the next couple of days and the other boys said he was sick. But he came running up to me again when we were watching the soccer game.

Every afternoon at the church across the street the mission teaches an English class. A few of our girls went every day. I went once to the beginner class and once to the advanced. In the beginner class we were paired up and helped our partner read through a children’s book. We then asked them to retell us the story to make sure they understood what they were reading. In the advanced class they have been reading through “Hatchet”. Melissa, the teacher, wrote out vocabulary and explained each word. It put in perspective for me how hard it is to explain the meaning of words we use all the time. I was partnered with Tony. He was a really good reader and when Melissa asked a question I was proud of him for the answer he gave. I talked with a few of the other guys as well, Sonny and Taylor. Some of the interpreters for the mission grow up going to an English speaking school but these guys are taking this class so that hopefully soon they can start working at the mission.

At the mission we have devos in the morning and at night. Some of the guys and girls from our team lead worship every night. I don’t think if I can describe the difference between worshiping staring at the mountains with the wind blowing compared to standing in straight rows, inside, staring at the words to the songs on the screen. It was incredible.

My Bible was in my second carry on. I couldn’t use my phone for any sort of daily Bible reading. Even being on a mission trip where the point is to commune with God all day and with devos twice a day I wanted more than anything to be in God’s Word. This past year I went through the James Bible study by Beth Moore. I memorized James 1 so for seven days that was the Word of God that I had and I can’t even count how many times I repeated it.

When people talk about mission trips, and changing the world, and sharing the gospel, and giving to the poor, the glorified stories that come are about relationships made and kids held but there are things that happen behind the scenes that make all of that possible. A few days we stayed at the mission and did projects they needed to get done. The church across the street needed to be repainted. First though the current paint had to be scraped off the concrete walls. When you sign up to go to Haiti this isn’t one of the things you picture yourself doing, but our team had good attitudes and started scraping. After about two hours there were 15 eyelevel, about 2’x2’ patches of exposed concrete on the brown walls. Each team worked on the church while we were there and by the end of the summer the teams will be able to start painting.

The grocery ministry is when you go to the market and buy a bag of groceries, pick a house at random and ask if they need groceries today, then ask if you can pray with them. We bought three bags and had passed out the first two. We arrived at an intersection in the road. Someone yelled out left so we turned and stopped at the first house we came to. I figured this house got stopped at a lot and we should go down further down the road but the woman told us she was the grandmother of the house. Her daughter travels an hour one-way to work every day. The grandmother takes care of the kids at home. She told us how the day before someone had stolen her money so she couldn’t buy food for the day. All they had eaten was the fruit growing from the tree in their yard.

 The brothel in Saint Louis is walking distance from the mission. The girls on our team went and met the women in the common area with their kids. I shared a story from 2 Kings 11. I wanted to share a story about a woman who followed God but is also lesser known. Even growing up in church I don’t remember hearing any stories about Jehosheba. She saved the heir to the Israelite kingdom. She didn’t have any power in the kingdom but knew that the boy needed to be protected. We may not think we can do great things or we are beautiful but when we think those things it breaks God’s heart because we are his daughters and he calls us beautiful and created us to do great things. A team went to the brothel every day and on our final day we invited the women to the mission for a Princess Party. We decorated the chapel and had cookies and muffins. The women received jewelry and decorated crowns. More teams shared what it means to be daughters of the King. I think the women really enjoyed it.

The Neighbor’s Project is where a church in America partners with a church in Haiti. A group from a church in Fredericksburg, VA traveled to the church in Berger, Haiti every day. I had the opportunity to join them for two days. The church in Berger is a tarp attached to the pastor’s house held up by bamboo poles. The group from VA was able to provide a tin roof for the church. Amazingly, maybe for the first time in history, the roof was on before church on Sunday. After Sunday service the team brought water purifying systems to pass out to twelve families. They were so easy to use I was able to help pass them out and show how to use them.

A lot of the times when we show up at a church a lot of young kids come to hear a Bible story and receive a snack. In Berger we had the chance to talk with the teens on a deeper level and gave them a change for them to ask us questions. It was encouraging to see so many show up and have questions for us.

We traveled to Anse a Foleur, where the voodoo temple is. The Haitians who worship at the temple believe in the God we know but also offer sacrifices to spirits they believe protect, heal, and seek revenge on their behalf. We view the temple and walk to the monument to pray for the one true God and truth to be revealed to these people.

On our last day we went Hut to Hut asking if we could talk with and pray for people. Our whole team went which can be intimidating so a few of us stood back at each house. At one house I was standing back from a man from a neighboring house came out and asked what we were doing. We told him and he told us his name was Gin asked if we could pray for him. Of course! He invited us into his home and introduced us to his wife, Finel, and new baby, Jaylen. After we finished praying we put TOMS on Jaylen’s feet. Haiti received 100,000 pairs of TOMS and 30,000 went to Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. My backpack was full of little kids shoes we were able to deliver to many families that day.

We were supposed to arrive back in America around midnight Thursday morning. God had other plans. Our plane from Port de Paix to Port au Prince was late so we missed our flight from Port au Prince to Newark. This isn’t the first time anyone has been delayed in Haiti; we were in good hands with the mission. They knew what hotel to take us to and bought us hamburgers and French fries for dinner. We stayed at Coconut Villa. I was surprised at how nice it was. They had a pool to swim in! I saw a lot more of Port au Prince than I had ever seen before. Contrasted with the Northwest region, everyone living in the capital looks like they are living the “good life” even though they are poorer than both you and I.  

Something To Eat

Last week CCH hosted a food packaging event on campus. Through Youthfront's Something To Eat program each student had the opportunity to pay $1.20 and assemble one package of food which would provide six meals. We had a tent set up Monday through Thursday for students to stop by.

Many of our students were able to give a presentation about Something To Eat in their classrooms and invited classmates to the tent afterwards. Several people came with the change they found in their purse or car. We had organizations come together as a group and assemble meals.

Our students did a fantastic job preparing for and running the event. By the end of the week we assembled more that 5,000 packages! That will feed more than 30,000 people!

If you want to watch the promo video click here

What can I do to change the world?

The last week of break, which would have been the first week of January, I lead the Grow trip to Kansas City, MO. I started planning this trip back before school started last August. I didn’t think I would have to plan too much since I had found a place where we could stay and they would be finding the places we would be serving at around the city. I still remember the day I got the email we could not stay with them because it would be winter and they would need the space in their facility to house people who were living on the streets and didn’t have a warm place to stay.

I had to put this trip in God’s hands. I asked Him to make it possible for us to go to the places He wanted us at. Several times I got so frustrated planning this trip I wanted to cancel it. But God is good and He made this trip possible.

First a rundown of all the places we went:

Harvesters- A clearinghouse for the collection and distribution of food.  We packaged cans of sauces, beans, soups, meats, tuna, and peanut butter. It was a great place to start. The team worked well together and got to know each other.

Youthfront’s Something to Eat- One of our alumni works here and lead us through the process of packaging meals made up of soy, vitamin powder, dried vegetables, and rice to be sent to the horn of Africa.

Holy Family House- A Catholic worker movement house serving evening meals. We ate, talked, and built relationships with the men and women who were there for a warm meal.

Operation International Children- We packaged bags of school supplies for kids in Afghanistan.

Mother’s Refuge- A safe place for pregnant teens to come and live and learn how to be a good mother. We helped move all the donations they received for Christmas into the shed and had a chance to talk with a few of the teen mothers who live there.

Cherith Brook- Another Catholic worker house serving meals and providing morning showers four days a week. Half of our team went Thursday night to have family dinner with the community. The other half went Friday morning to have breakfast and help facilitate shower rotations and pass out clothes in the clothes closet.

Hillcrest Transitional Housing Thrift Store- This organization provides housing for low-income families as well as a high-quality place to shop. We sorted a room full of trash bags of clothes that were donated.

I posted more pictures on Facebook.

One thing I was worried about as being the leader of this trip was that everyone who went would “get something out if it.” That really wasn’t my responsibility though. That was up to God to work on their hearts and open up their eyes. And he did just that. There were a total of eight of us that went on this trip. It was so exciting to see that moment when it clicked in someone’s mind when they realized what they could do to make a difference in the world. Since all of these places are only about an hour away everyone seemed to be excited about being able to come back and keep building relationships with the people they met.

I was so worried about making sure that everyone else had a good experience I almost forgot about God showing up in my life. Holy Family House and Cherith Brook are both apart of the Catholic Worker movement. This movement was started by Dorothy Day during the Great Depression. She proposed the idea that every Perish should have a hospitality house. If there were people in the neighborhood that needed a meal or a place to stay the hospitability house would provide for their needs. Now there are over 200 houses in the US and more several in other countries as well. In Missouri there are two in Kansas City and one in St. Louis.

Three people live at the Holy Family house and nine live at Cherith Brook. They live in community together which means they share everything. It is a simple was to live. At Cherith Brook they are also becoming self-sustaining. They have a garden, chickens and bees. The three main values of the Catholic Worker movement are Community, Mercy, and Peacemaking. I left this trip with the conviction that there needs to be one in Warrensburg. I don’t know what that will look like but God knows so that’s enough.