On the final approach to Port au Prince, our plane banked left and as I looked out the window I could see erosion and the effects of erosion on the landscape. Muddy waters washing down the jagged mountains, into streams and rivers leaving little vegetation in its wake. We flew in on final approach over a myriad of homes with no roofs and people scurrying in every direction. Haiti is roughly the size of Maryland. Its population in 2015 was 18.5M with an average age of 23 years of age. Per capita income is roughly $34 per week, (from the CIA World Fact Book).

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake of January 12, 2010 struck just 18 miles from Port au Prince. It not only killed about a hundred thousand people outright but put millions at risk of death from lack of clean water, food, medicine and shelter. Cholera was introduced to the nation by the Nepali UN forces in its aftermath killing at least 7,000 Haitians and sickened hundreds of thousands more. The ongoing Haiti cholera outbreak is the worst epidemic of cholera in recent history, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Four of us came from St. Therese of Lisieux Parish to Haiti in March 2017 to help rebuild St. Anthony the Hermit Church in Lori. It was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew. Our parish has been twinning with St. Anthony for two years, supporting teachers in their parish Catholic school. This parish community is in Le Grand Anse Department (State), and was directly in the path of the hurricane.

Jeremie is the nearest major city, population 55,000. There is an airport, but by motor vehicle, it is an eight-hour ride over the mountains from Port au Prince. The ride traverses challenging roads that are only partially paved and prone to flash flooding in the rainy season. From Jeremie, it’s a 90-minute ride past Marfranc. Finding a river crossing for four wheel vehicles is only possible when the river is low. We came to this area at the beginning of the rainy season. That meant crossing a footbridge over the rapidly rushing waters of the Grande Anse river. From there it is a two and a half hour walk up a slippery, rocky road/trail to Lori. Not many people visit Lori as tourists.

Imagine walking 2½ hours one way, carrying about 50 pounds of goods on your head, in humid heat or blinding rain. Maybe you go to market to buy charcoal for cooking, or other staples not available in the mountains. Maybe you carry mangos or breadfruit to sell by the side of the road or in the crowded market place of Marfranc. Either way you are competing with other sellers and buyers from other mountain villages. Competing to sell, competing to buy, competing just to stay alive.

Cell phone minutes? YES! In a land that is 80% mountainous, one thing available from the 21st century is cell phone service—pretty good service actually. Before cell phones came to Jeremie about 10 years ago, runners were used to get urgent messages from one place to another. You can replenish minutes at a mountain trailside hut (roughly 2’x4’x5’, covered in rusty galvanized sheet metal) just as easily as you can walk into a cell phone provider in a shopping mall in any major city in the USA. Electrical grid work is non-existent in the mountains, and electrical service is inconsistent in major cities.

In Lori we asked people through our interpreter, what is essential for their health needs? The overwhelming response was eye care, teeth care, and clean water. On our trip we carried 50 pairs of reading glasses ranging from 1.25 to 2.25 magnification. When I asked the pastor, Fr. Romain, if any of his 440 school children had special needs, he sent for some 7th and 8th graders. We had them try on glasses until they experienced no blur in reading. All 50 pairs were gone in a few minutes. There are many elderly with cataracts and other needs that we can’t resolve. The missionary clinic where cataract surgery is done for free has been damaged so the US and Haitian doctors are blocked for the time being. We are only hummingbirds. We do what we can.
 
In Jeremie and Port au Prince we met many volunteer groups from all over the US working in Haiti for a week or a month. They come and teach preventative tooth care, perform much needed medical operations (like cataract surgery), provide water purification filtration solutions, or volunteer in orphanages. Medical and dental teams have provided care in the Lori church but only rarely.  Village health workers in neighboring villages are the main source of care along with traditional birth attendants and herbalists.

Engineers have come to the area to build the foot bridges but they are few and far between. There is so much opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ, but we are only hummingbirds, covering a small patch of territory, doing what we can do. Collaboration is the key. Throwing money at a problem does not resolve it. After the earthquake in 2010, billions of dollars were raised world-wide for Haiti. Few of those dollars reached the people. We need to work with Haitians, sourcing materials locally and hiring local workers with fair wages, promoting the local economy, promoting the joy of self-sufficiency.

80% of diseases in developing countries are caused by unclean drinking water. We met a water purification team, The Gift of Water, Inc. from Indiana. For over 15 years, they have provided filtration technology in Haiti that purifies and cleans brown water laden with parasites, worms, E. coli, etc. to provide clean drinking water and prevent disease. They train a local community technician to oversee usage and resolve issues with their delivery. It consists of a red 5 gallon container and filter (for pathogens) that is mounted above a second 5 gallon container and filter (for clarity). The filters last about 4 years and inform you when they need to be changed out. The system costs $30 US. We need families to adopt families to provide clean, safe, healthy drinking water. We can’t do it all. We are only hummingbirds.

Haitian people often speak in parables. We met a man that spends hundreds of hours creating sequined art that tells a story. That is how and why stained glass windows were created, to teach those who were illiterate about the love of Jesus. This man tells the story of one hummingbird during a forest fire. All the other animals were larger, faster, and smarter than him. But they let fear of danger from the catastrophe keep them from taking water from a nearby lake to quench the flames destroying their homeland.

This hummingbird began to take mouthfuls of water from the lake and dropping them on the flames. “Why waste your time? One mouthful of water isn’t going to make a difference,” the other animals scoffed. The hummingbird replied, “Perhaps, but if enough hummingbirds collaborate, we can stop this catastrophe and save our homeland!” The question is, will you be a hummingbird and do what little you can, or walk away and let the catastrophe continue to burn?