Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and here is a glimpse of how I can describe it. Most people think that living in a college dorm room is tough. Well most families in Haiti would love to have a college dorm room. Most of the families that we visited lived in cinder blocks rooms, that sometimes were divided into multiple rooms. These homes were usually smaller than college dorm rooms. They occasionally had a roof on it, that was either metal or cement. The walls were definitely not painted. If they had a door, it was probably a sheet or tarp. Windows? yes, but they were just holes in the blocks or concrete.
One of the families that we visited consisted of a mom and dad and four kids. The mother was pregnant with the fifth. She could not afford to go to the doctor for a check up on the baby. We were able to give her some money to be able to go to the doctor. We also gave the family a couple bags of rice and beans.
Another family we visited was a man that had several children. One of his sons was only ten years old. He as been paralyzed since he was an infant. The child could not even sit up. His dad held him for us so that we could see him, but normally he had to lie on the bed the majority of the day. It was very encouraging to see how the dad interacted with his son. He loved his son with all of his heart, and you could easily see that. He said that God gave him to him so that he would know how to love! My story does not come close to what we actually saw!
Another woman that we visited described her story to us. She used to live with her family far away from where she now lives. Her family took care of her. But they practiced Voodoo. She knew it was not right, and knew that Jesus was the answer. She had enough faith in God to walk away from her family and go and live on her own. I don't know if my faith would be strong enough to leave the ones that were taking care of me. Again we went to encourage these people, but they were truly the encouraging ones.
These families and many more were visited by us, because the preacher of the church took us to see them. These were only a hand full of families that the church takes care of. The church does not have many resources, but they were using what they had to take care of God's people. We tried to help out with rice and beans to all the families, but that will not last. We prayed with every family that we visited. The people appreciated that, and they know that God will continue to take care of them! It was tough to see people living in such conditions, but also encouraging to see their faith and trust in God!
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