Haiti: Dec. 2009

by Janice Combs

The big brown eyes are haunting as they search for some ray of hope. We tested the hearing of this five year old child in our make-shift testing room in Steve's van in the dirty alleyway outside her home. Curious children gather around straining to see as Steve starts up the generator providing us with power.

We had been welcomed at the Port-Au-Prince International Airport by festive musicians hoping for generous hearts in this poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. The ride to the hotel was an experience more challenging even than traveling the city streets in Egypt, South Africa or any of the "Stans" of years past. The streets overflow with more than two million in a city meant for only a few thousand. They have poured in from the mountains as they have been stripped of vegetation leaving only scruffy young trees with long thorns. They have come seeking shelter and food where there is none so it seems to be a land of homelessness and hunger. We drove by the Presidential Palace and I would have been impressed by it's gated grassy grounds surrounding the stately white mansion, except for the dispair every where I looked. (The picture on the top is of what it looks like now as to what it looked like when I was there) "Do they not see the distress all around them?" I ask. "Oh, they travel in their limosines to their fine homes and don't drive here." They don't see the absence of even the very basics of life for the teeming throngs searching through the garbage and drinking from the contaminated ditches.

I study the faces of the young men in uniform ahead of us in the UN Peacekeeping troops ahead of us. They seem so lonely and uncomfortable in the intense heat of this island foreign to them. They have been there since 1995 due to the unrest and the instability of the government. They appear to be the only source of order as I study the UN compound as we pass by.

The first afternoon we tested about thirty local people who had gathered in a local church and had waited patiently in the intense heat. I was anxious to begin but was escorted out to be introduced, preceded by a rather lengthy presentation. Asked to speak, I was sure to be very brief to expedite our work, which really didn't happen, as I was followed by another lengthy presentation.

Steve Revis, a Baptist missionary who has been ministering to the needs in Haiti for 26 years, met me at the hotel at 7 AM. Our day began with the two children in the alleyway and a bumpy ride into the countryside and up trails into the mountain to test two young children there. We picked up Daphne and Denise, two beautiful 24 year old twin girls Steve has known all their lives. They are teachers and Steve arranges for them to travel to the homes of many of the deaf children, as there is no school for them in that area. Steve and Judy live and serve tirelessly in another area working in well drilling, agriculture and now, work with the deaf. They have been given an audiometer and are eager to learn how best to minister to the deaf children. His heart was encouraged as I presented him with the twenty hearing aids, a huge supply of batteries and supplies promising to ship ear molds from the impressions I had made of the children we had tested that day. I am excited as I can see that together we can give hope and hearing to many.

The last day in Haiti was spent testing the hearing of a group of young people at a clinic in Port-Au-Prince. One very beautiful young 17 year old girl has narrowly escaped being hit by a car in the streets because she did not hear. Able to test 20+ people and making ear impressions for them all, we await funds to provide the hearing aids to accompany the ear molds which we will ship back to them.

My heart was heavy this entire day as I cannot put all those faces aside. The airport, the presidential mansion and the UN compound stand no longer. How many of those tested did not survive this newest disaster? I have heard nothing at this time but our gracious God is in control even in this. The people gather there and sing hymns we are told on the news. There is a strong sense of His presence in this land of superstition. Every taxi is decorated like a carnival vehicle with large letters proclaiming some phrase referring to the mercies and protection of God. "Do they really believe or are these forms of superstition?" I ask of Steve. "A bit of both" he replies. Without Him, there is no hope and so they sing songs of Him and I have to believe they experience His presence in their misery.

Wherever the Lord has invited me, those encountered along the way become family to me. I feel a kinship and my heart hurts for them as I hear of their extreme hardships. Pray for the people of Haiti and listen to the merciful heart of the Father as you respond to their needs.