Resilience

I have posted about resilience before… it’s a recurring theme with Haiti. Last night I sat completely overwhelmed listening to my friends share about the night of the hurricane. They shared their stories factually, devoid of all emotion, except one: fear. The noise as hundred year old trees crashed down. The water and mud that rushed into their homes and moved the beds like boats, the heavy rain that poured for over 8 hours.

That was bad, the hearing. Then today, the seeing. I’m physically tired but emotionally spent. We went to visit our friend Samy’s home today. Let me tell you, we saw many terrible sites today, but seeing a site like this and knowing the family that suffered the loss is a whole different story.

As we walked through the field towards their home it felt like a war zone. Most mature trees were gone, pulled out of the ground by the roots, as if a small weed tugged out of a garden. The few trees that were left were barely holding on, the majority of their branches and leaves just gone. Then we saw the house, walls crumbled and roof sitting on the ground. But then, even worse, was the realization that they are still living there, a month later. We looked inside then crouched down to enter the 3 foot tall space that is their home. A bed, a shelf, crisp white shirts hanging on hangers, all inside the rubble that was once a home. I greeted my friend’s mom and I saw trauma in her eyes. This was not a hassle or a distress, this was a trauma their family endured.

When I told her “K-em kraze”, my heart is breaking, she just nodded. Then I asked her about that night, when Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti. Her eyes clouded over as she recalled the night. Pitch black, huddled in the home as it literally crumbled around them. There was no newscaster to warn them, no basement to flea to, nor shelter where they could evacuate. Horror.

We have an estimate to replace their home, $ 4800. Forty-eight hundred dollars to bless this family and resolve a tiny part of the incredible trauma they have endured. Today we promised them a home. I believe we can do this.

For such a time as this. Are you in?