I am leaving Haiti tomorrow, a beautiful mountainous island nation that Christopher Columbus called the “Pearl of the Caribbean.” Here I have witnessed the greatest poverty of the western hemisphere, compounded by January’s terrible earthquake which crippled whatever infrastructure this nation had.
Here I have climbed mountains, waded through streams, slogged through mud, rode a donkey to distant places, preached and taught in scorching heat, but have rarely felt happier. It is here that my wife’s grandfather (who is still alive at age 100) spent 35 years of his life, starting and building churches, schools, mission compounds and anything else that needed to be started and built. While I have put up with a few difficulties for 12 days, he and the couple that followed him have endured these difficulties during a combined 53 years of service to Haitians. As a monument to their work, there stands 17 churches, 6 primary schools, one high school, an orphanage, a bakery, a medical clinic (which treats 60 people a day), and several trade schools.
When one watches the people of Haiti, it becomes apparent that it doesn’t take a lot of material possessions to make people content, and even happy. It seems to me, that of the countries I have visited, Haitians are as content and happy—if not more so—than most of the rest. Even in the face of harsh poverty and natural disaster, they still seem to find a reason to rejoice.
For example, a little boy, who lost his parents and family in the earthquake, but is now living in the orphanage, smiles as he sucks the juice from a mango. Two women, carrying heavy loads on their heads for long distances, call out a friendly bonjour as we passed by. On Sunday morning, a lady in the church stands to sing a song of praise to God for His unfailing goodness, even though she lives in a shack with her children, and her husband was buried in the rubble of the recent earthquake.
And then there is Pastor John. After a busy Sunday morning interpreting my message and baptizing new converts, he treks to the mountainside in the scorching heat with other Haitian believers, because he had received word that a young married man requested the pastor to come to help him give up his voodoo paraphernalia and seek healing for his ailing wife. As the smoke of the consumed voodoo materials ascends to the sky, the believers and Pastor John pray, sing, and rejoice that another Haitian has turned to the Lord.
None of these individuals have much by way of this world’s goods, and some have suffered great loss, but they are surprisingly happy. Happy because they are alive, happy that they were not injured or killed in the recent earthquake, happy because they have food and clothing, happy because they know the Lord and have the privilege of serving Him.
I have observed the Haitian church worshipping God with an exuberance that brought tears to my eyes, warmth to my soul, and a sting to my conscience—my own worship being a bit deficient alongside theirs. I have learned from these sincere believers that praying, rejoicing, and praising God, and quite loudly at that, seems very “decent and in order”.
Here in Haiti I have had some thoughts about who the truly poverty stricken people of the world are. Just maybe it is not the people who call a little shack their home, who sleep on a straw mat, who feel blessed if they have a good mule, who would never dream of owning a car, and who are happy because they have a mountain stream nearby in which they can bathe. Perhaps the truly poor people are not those without a bank account, who have never heard of a 401K, know nothing of air conditioning, and have to walk miles to tend their gardens and/or attend church.
No, a visit to Haiti has reminded me that the truly poor people of earth are people who live with abundance and yet complain, who have surplus but don’t share it, who have enough but never cease desiring and striving for more. This is a poverty of spirit far more dangerous than poverty of possession. Haiti’s poverty can be cured by man; only God can cure the other kind.
I wrote this the day before I left Haiti, June 15, 2010
This is so beautiful, Dan! I so agree that those who suffer poverty of spirit are truly the poor of this world.
What a wonderful example the people of Haiti are to the world! They prove that God is where our riches lie, that He alone is all we Need! What a beautiful light that must shine from them!
Dan, This is July 23, and I just discovered this article. It is so interesting and so well written. I had been wanting to hear more about Haiti, and still want you to tell us sometime you can come up. I had gotten a new computer and even tho` he told me alot of things that are different than the old one, I didn`t remember them all, but I found where I had written how to find this site. These people have a way of convicting us by their contentment with so little. Lord, help me to want to be helped.