We were in Haiti for four days last week. But if you’re like me, you know that all the time needed to alter life permanently is just a moment. One phone call, one decision, one meeting, one look, and yes, even one pair of shoes can change life forever.
If you read Katie’s last post about our trip, you know the sort of thing I’m talking about. The moments in life where you’re not even sure if your heart is connected to your body anymore because it’s so broken, so wounded, so injured. I think everyone on my trip this week had many moments like that in Haiti.
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| Thousands of bodies lie in this mass grave in Port-au-Prince |
For a lot of us, it came when we had to turn kids and adults alike away because we ran out of their size or couldn’t fit them for shoes. It came in that moment when they walked away with the same dirty feet, beaten up by everything life has thrown down on the ground in front of them...
The challenges that they walk over daily are probably what breaks my heart most. Yes, they stumble over rocks and thorns, dirt and glass, but far more painful is life without someone to care for you. Far more painful is when your loved ones die in an earthquake or from malnutrition and hunger and war. Far more painful is the feeling of complete worthlessness, abandonment, the feeling that you have been forgotten.
Sometimes all I want to say to the people we give shoes to is, “I see you.” I want to tell them that they are not forgotten. Not only do I care about them, and the group of volunteers I brought, but that God himself—the God of the universe, loves them.
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| You are not forgotten. |
If and when you come on a trip—I hope your heart breaks, like mine does, like Katie’s does. I hope you shed tears for these people , for their tragedy; and for yourself and your tragedy. For all the wasted time you (and I) spend on ourselves.
But more than anything, I hope that when you look someone in the eyes after washing their feet, or holding their hand, or hearing their cry—that they don’t feel abandoned anymore. That they have hope because of that one interaction. That a moment of despair can change into a moment of triumph.
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| Hope. Triumph. Joy. |
When our hearts are broken for these things, I think we are in the right place. Only in that place can we deliver hope.
-Emily
-Emily
Beautifully said! Love it!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Emily. It is an intense experience being in a place where so much is wrong and you have the feeling that no human is wise enough or daring enough to solve the crisis of desperation. Touching another human being and giving them something of value and a sign of dignity is perhaps the best chance some of us have to let them know we care. You and Katie are bringing hope - droplets and sprinklings perhaps - but your efforts are felt. As Mother Teresa told us, we can do no great things - only small things with great love.
ReplyDeletelet your heart break so it can grow back strong, right Em? such beautiful words =)
ReplyDeleteWell expressed and certainly touched my heart. My question is why is it most often those with little do the most good. Just imagine if those with actually monetary reources put their energy and money behind more projects like this one. I wonder just how much good it would do and how much better as a human race we would be.
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