My Heart Was Moved By Haiti…Again.

That isn’t to say that my heart isn’t continually with the people of Haiti as they recover. Rather, it serves as a constant reminder of why I talk so much about the people of Haiti and do what I can to share their stories with the hopes of promoting life change.  Every time I come to Haiti, there is always a personal story that really touches my heart or absolutely amazes me.  This time I hadn’t even left Miami when a story began to unfold before me.  It started with a woman that happened to be in my seat. She thought she was in seat 25d but she was actually in 24d.  I offered to switch seats with her, but she wanted to be in the seat on her ticket. I’m glad she did because then I was able to sit down next to an American man named Aaron and a 10 year old Haitian boy, Ermane, who was looking out the window.  Trying to be friendly while settling it, I asked Aaron where he was going in Haiti.  It was at this point that Ermane turned his head and smiled at me, revealing a large scar on the left side of his face that ran from above his eye down to the middle of his cheek.

Aaron responded to my question, telling me that his family had hosted the young boy for a year while he had multiple surgeries to reconstruct his eye socket that had been broken during the earthquake.  He laid trapped under the rubble for several hours and had severely damaged the left side of his face.  A team of doctors recognized he was an extreme case that needed to be treated in the US and found a hospital in Columbus that was willing to do the work for free.  Aaron still hadn’t mentioned where they were going in Haiti, but he started telling me about how smart Ermane was and how he had been going to school while he was in Ohio, quickly learned English, and was excelling at his work.  It wasn’t hard to sense how proud he was of Ermane – like a father is proud of a son.  While Ermane fixed his gaze back out the window, Aaron told me that he was bringing Ermane back to live at the Love A Child orphanage in Fond Parisien.

At that point my heart was melting and I felt a bit sorry that I had made him have to talk about leaving this 10 year old boy who had lived with his family for a year and had really bonded.  But I had to ask why he was going to an orphanage in eastern Haiti, when he had been in Port-Au-Prince when the earthquake had struck.   Ermane was still looking out the window when I quietly asked Aaron if he was the only survivor in his family? 

He responded by telling me that Ermane’s mother was not in a place where she would be able to take care of him.  She was in a dangerous area near Cite Soleil and didn’t have accommodations to keep him fed and safe.  There are several ways that this can be viewed.  Sure it must be tough for a child to face an earthquake, be seriously injured, move to another country to undergo multiple surgeries, live with another family, and then come back to your home only to go through the difficulty of unfamiliarity again – but this time in your own country.  The other side is to look at the doctors that cared enough to help, a family that loved and continues to love him, and a wonderful organization that is willing to help him receive an education that will offer him a better chance at life.  Is your glass half full or half empty?  The hardest part for me was talking with and watching Aaron spend some of the last moments with a child he’d met and grown to love as his own.  He was very strong throughout the flight and shared many wonderful stories.

Ermane now has nearly 20/20 sight and enjoyed watching Megamind on my iPad as his in-flight entertainment while Aaron and I talked.  After several cosmetic surgeries, his eyelid is working, but his face will always bare scars that remind him of the pain and desperation of the earthquake.  It will also remind him of the love of complete strangers that he now considers family.  Aaron’s love touched Ermane, who in turn touched Aaron, and their story touched me. Aaron and his wife are looking into ways to possibly adopt him, but it is a potentially very expensive, long and hard road ahead with no guarantees.  I have not stopped praying for Aaron and Ermane since I arrived in Haiti.  Tonight is the last night they will physically be together and I know that some of the hardest times are still ahead for them.

He Is Risen Indeed!

The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem In Black and White: Literally and Figuratively.

I’m still going through video and photos from my trip to Israel, but was struck by how black and white things appeared in the Old City of Jerusalem. Even though there was a lot of color surrounding me, I decided to do this series in Black and White to show the disparity between religions, classes, and what is considered holy and unholy. These images are varied, but tell their own stories and don’t need my thoughts and opinions getting in the way.  Enjoy.

These images use the Lightroom 3 preset that I gave away in the previous post.

Samer At Bethlehem Mosaics Is An Example For Us All

I’m really excited to be sharing this video and photoblog about a wonderful livelihood project that Operation Blessing is helping with near Bethlehem. Why am I excited?  Because the project started because a young man named Samer decided to put others before himself.  How, you ask?  Samer is a very talented mosaic artist who decided to leave his job at a shop he had worked at for 9 years, take a pay cut, and with the help of Operation Blessing, start his own shop that teaches disabled people his craft and offers them an opportunity for employment that is, otherwise, very hard for them to find.  An older man, Ahmed, has a Master’s Degree in social work, is a skilled watchmaker, worked as a teacher, and for the UN before finding himself unemployed for 7 years.  One young man had received a business degree that would allow him to work in hotels but couldn’t find work and a woman had been a teacher before needing to have hip replacement but lost her job while she was recovering.  Listening to the stories of each of his workers and seeing the beautiful pieces of art they are now creating was very inspirational for me.  What a testament to the heart of compassion that God instills in each of us.

I was so inspired by their work that I came home with several pieces for my home.

See more of their work at www.bethlehemmosaics.com

Really Questioning Things

I’ve wasted another day troubleshooting my Apple computer at work and the evening working on my MacMini that I just fixed a few months ago. It’s really brought me back to a place I was earlier in the year after spending a month in Haiti serving the people just days after the earthquake.

Luben, Haiti has a powerful weapon to combat cholera

Today was extra special for me because I had a firsthand look at the impact that LifeSaver jerrycans had on the village of Luben, who had been hit hard during the early stages of the cholera outbreak in Haiti.

Video: Waterlocked Village In Haiti Battles Cholera With Clean Water

The villagers of Luben were literally surrounded by cholera when the contaminated waters flooded the rice fields surrounding their village. Find out how Operation Blessing was able help this village turn the source of their disease into a source of life.

Read more about the amazing rescue of this village: bit.ly/​9FMd9r

RainCatchers In Seguin

As I sit and listen to Haitian children bubbling with laughter, the entire trip up to this point is running through my head. I had intended to blog during this entire trip and even mentioned “checking back for updates,” but I have been fighting the satellite internet here and blog apps that should have never been approved (due to bugginess). I have written two that have been completely lost when trying to publish, but this is all really meaningless compared to the needs that surround me.

Lots of Packing and Unpacking To Get To Jacmel.

What a day! I arrived at Detroit Metro Airport at 4:45 and waited
for the Raincatchers’ crew to arrive. They slowly trickled in until 5:10 when the trailer arrived with the leader, Bob, and a ton of gear – A TON OF GEAR. Luckily, Bob is a very organized man and had people from American Airlines ready for the load that we piled onto cart after cart. We each were limited to one checked back and he brought our second bag (hockey-baged-size) that was packed full of food and supplies for the trip. This same luggage was then unloaded onto carts in Port-au-prince and loaded into the back of a large truck and we all loaded into a bus.

Unrest In Haiti?

As I sit on my PAP bound flight, I am saddened to read of reports of violent protests. Once I was cleared to turn my electronic devices back on, I start to read the backlog of Tweets that I had loaded while sitting on the tarmac in Miami. As I started catching up on the goings-on of my friends, I started to see several related threads that talked about a peaceful protest becoming bloodied by authorities.

I don’t have all the details and will have limited web access and time while working, but would love it if someone would fill me in – especially if it stirs more unrest. The only report I’ve seen linked are from people on the scene and an article by Al-Jazeera that I cannot download/access while I type this on my flight.

To follow more closely check out my Twitter feed.