The greatest lesson I learned during my time in Haiti/DR was that our blindness to our “poverty” is not the way God wants it. Yeah, I’ve read this a hundred times. I could write a ten-page essay on all the broken relationships that resulted from the fall, how poverty came about, how it affects every aspect of life and both the materially poor and rich suffer from it….but it wasn’t until this trip that I understood true brokenness in both America and Haiti.
During my younger childhood I remember hearing we didn’t have much money, but I never knew the difference. To me it was normal. I was numb to the broken playgrounds and trailer houses. Granted, I never wanted for anything, and I’m definitely not saying I lived in some kind of abject poverty. But seeing the places I lived as a child compared to the places I lived as a teen or even as a college student, I genuinely understand the concept of “life as usual” amongst things that should not be.
When my team first arrived to the DR, I saw much of the same I’d seen almost all my life. And to be honest, I felt very numb. I still hurt deeply for those whose hearts were clearly in pain. Overall, though, I viewed the poverty I saw as “Well, it’s normal for them”…wow, even as I type it I’m ashamed those words even went through my mind. But they did. I knew in my heart conditions would improve as a result of God working through FH and the community, but I thought the people would be ok as time passed waiting for that change to take place. They would be ok because it’s all “normal” for them. I now realize this is not the case. Things are not ok. A 15 year old crying every night because her father is handicapped and her mother is sick is not ok. Will things get better for her? I’m believing they will. But I’m not going to stop praying and acting until they are. I’m not going to write it off as “normal” for her. I’m not going to numb my heart just because the pain is always there.
America is the same way. We are not “ok” just waiting for change to take place. We are not “ok” leaving our lives in the gluttonous, material-centered state they’re in. It is not ok for this to be “normal” for us. In the same way we want the materially poor to recognize the need for God’s reconciliation, so should we, the materially rich, recognize the same need. Our spiritual poverty is as blinding as the material poverty found in developing countries. Should we be allowed to sit and do nothing about our poverty while the materially poor are expected to “stop being lazy” and “work harder”, as if the materially poor could work any harder than the overwhelming toil that’s required to survive? No, we must work just as hard, EVERY DAY, to correct and clean up the poverty we’ve become so used to. If we don’t, then we’re all just walking by the piles of rubble that’s lining the streets of our hearts.
I praise God for all the work He's done and is continuing to do in the Haitian people and in my heart. I'm so grateful to be surrounded by amazing friends and family that challenge me to always seek more in Christ!!! Thank God he works through people's relationships instead of just projects like latrines! :)
