News from Haiti

Today's trip to the mailbox brought me something that I have been waiting for since January 12, 2010 when the earthquake shook Haiti.  It was a letter from our 13 year-old sponsored child from Port-au-Prince.  I met Shelda when I went to Haiti last October.  She is a cute girl from the Delmas section of Port-au-Prince.  The day I met her is a day I'll never forget.  When our group arrived at the Compassion project in Delmas, the Compassion workers went to locate Shelda so that we could meet.  One of the reasons for our visit to this particular project was to see a reverse-osmosis water system that the project provided as an income generating source for the church/school.  As we were hearing how it worked, Shelda was brought to me and told to follow me.  It was a bit awkward- I really had come to meet Shelda and spend time with her.  I handed the video camera to another member of our group so that I could focus on Shelda.  After I introduced her to my family through pictures, we were taken to the upstairs of the church where I met her mother and grandmother.  That was a surprise and an honor to meet other members of her family.

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking, playing games and walking around a park.  The time was very special and something that I'll always cherish.  When the earthquake hit, my family immediately began to pray for Shelda and her family.  Images of the Delmas area only increased my fear that she may not have survived.  The buildings in that area are very crude at best and literally on top of one another.  The streets resemble narrow alleyways.  So the buildings had nowhere to fall but into the choked streets where people gather.

We received a phone call from Compassion about the first of March- a month and a half after the earthquake- and they informed us that Shelda had survived although she was injured.  Their family lost their home but that was all the information we could get.  What about the rest of her family?  How bad are her injuries?  We were relieved on one hand, but then anxious to get a more complete story.  So we have continued to pray.  And we have sent letters to her.  Compassion encouraged us to ask questions about the earthquake as a way for Shelda to work through the tragedy that she survived.  So we did ask questions.

The letter I received today said thank you for the support that we sent immediately after we heard she survived.  It helped with food and shelter.  She said she lost a brother.  As I read that, my heart paused because in that instant I knew she felt personal pain in losing a family member.  I'm sure she lost some friends, but when you lose a family member, the hurt is that much deeper.  She tells us her house was destroyed and that the Compassion project was damaged.  She asked if we watched the earthquake on the T.V.  She thanks us again for sponsoring her and asks God to bless us.

What I wouldn't do to go down and just hold her and her family.  I realize that even though I have suffered personal tragedy- this was different because of the terror and the incredible devastation.  Feeling useless, I return to praying because that's all I can do for now.  I long to see the big, beautiful smile of a thirteen year old Haitian child.  God, watch over her and her family.  Be their strength, be their light, protect them and provide for their safety.  Amen