This I know.

Yesterday I went to Port Au Prince with Miss Jackie to drop someone off at the airport and go shopping. As we drove through the city, I saw firsthand the devastating impact that the earthquake had on Port Au Prince. Half of the city consisted of what looked like a giant flea market on steroids. Common sitings include tent cities, crumbling buildings, guns, and guards.

Before heading back to Cange, we stopped by a warehouse to pick up food for the complex. As our driver loaded the food into the back of the truck (including live Guineas), Miss Jackie looked at the mountain of food behind us and the wine bottles safely tucked in a box next to our feet and said, "well, if the truck breaks down on the way back, I think we're gonna be just fine".

Last Wednesday, I mistook the "window" (see picture above) for a jungle gym. For about five minutes, I felt like a little monkey climbing in my natural habitat until a slight twisting movement caused the joint in my right elbow to dislocate. Humpty Dumpty came crashing down in spectacular fashion while Nicole rescued me took photos. This is the fourth time I've dislocated my elbow so it popped back into place shortly thereafter. Needless to say, the odds of me becoming an acrobat just went from 1% to 0. I'll confirm that statistic by paying the doctor a visit when I get back to the States.

This week is going to be busy. Nicole and I will be working on taking inventory at CFFL. I never thought I'd say this, but thank the LORD for Excel spreadsheets. I think Excel might actually have a real brain.

I will also be working with the school director to transmit any knowledge I may have retained from four years of college into the agriculture/entrepreneurship school curriculum. A majority of that "knowledge" consists of basic Excel data management and agriculture business planning spreadsheets that one of my favorite professors gave me. I specifically remember him saying to the class, "these Excel worksheets are a gift to you. They might not make sense to you now, but you will use them later". He was right.

Over the past two weeks, I've been assuming that God would "fill my cup" and neglecting to ask Him to fill my cup. Instead, I've been a sponge and soaked in the sadness and disparity of this place. Last week, I was introduced to two orphans in the Pediatric ward who've been crippled by Meningitis and were left to die at steps of the church. The school-aged children live in a tiny jail cell also known as a crib. The site made me feel sick to my stomach and it was all I could do to keep from bursting into tears right in front of them. They are not unique and I walked out of the clinic asking God why. Why are some people born into wonderful homes and families and why are some people sentenced to a life of misery from the second they enter the world?

Yesterday evening I felt the Lord gently tug on my heart and remind me to run to Him. As I watched the onset of a thunderstorm, I turned towards heaven and thought about Isaiah 49:15b-16, "Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands". The Lord is sovereign and good. I don't know why some people suffer more than others but I know this; God promises something far greater than a temporary absence of suffering. II Corinthians 4:16-18 says,"Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal".

Praise the Lord.

Mountains beyond Mountains: the house of Paul Farmer

Today, I paid a visit to the house of Paul Farmer, co-founder of the organization Zamni Lasante (Partners in Health). The house is across the street from the Zamni Lasante complex and is a little oasis of green in the midst of... brown.

Today a group of fifteen first year med students from Buffalo, NY, stopped by to tour the Zamni Lasante complex after volunteering in a nearby health clinic for five days. I did my best to make the tour interesting, but I'm convinced that I learned more from them than they learned from me. One girl spent a year working at a children's home in South Africa where she learned that the greatest impediment to helping people was cultural differences. Several others chimed in and said that, out of the 800+ patients they had seen over the past five days, a majority of ailments could have been prevented with proper nutrition. Child after child entered their clinic with an arm resting on their swollen bellies, complaining of a "stomachache".

Haitian meals often consist of starches that are deep fried in cooking oil. Canola oil is a staple in the food here and contributes greatly to the nation-wide epidemic of hypertension and obesity. The situation is ironic and sad. Cooking oil and American-importanted starches (such as white rice and flour) are cheaper and more accessible than real food. Children who lack proper nutrition experience weak muscles, chronic fatigue, depression, and a greater susceptibility to illnesses and infection. The problem is complicated because what happens in poverty-stricken families is a hunger-bingeing cycle that follows the economic conditions in the household. When resources come in, people buy cheap, abundant calories in the form of oil and flour that fill them up and stave off hunger. This leads to rapid fat storage which is a biological effect after a period of lower calorie intake or hunger. The problems that occur as a result of malnutrition and obesity are the source of many frustrations here.

The title of the book Mountains beyond Mountains references an old Haitian proverb that means that, as we overcome obstacles, others will follow. Medical treatment could be compared to one mountain in Cange and nutrition, another.

"The poorest parts of the world are by and large the places in which one can best view the worst of medicine and not because doctors in these countries have different ideas about what constitutes modern medicine. It’s the system and its limitations that are to blame"
- Paul Farmer

Haiti: Land of High Mountains

Today marks a week spent in Cange, Haiti.

I came here to visit my dear friend Nicole Bryant who is teaching English at a school called the Centre de Formation Fritz Lafontant School (CFFL). Founded in 2012, CFFL is a vocational school that was partners with an organization called Zamni Lasante. Since her arrival in January, Nicole has been living in the Zamni Lasante complex. The complex is a joint effort between Partners in Health, the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, and the Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries and features guest housing, an art center, a full-service hospital with two operating rooms, adult and pediatric inpatient wards, an infectious disease center, an outpatient clinic, a women’s health clinic, ophthalmology and general medicine clinics, a laboratory, a pharmaceutical warehouse, a Red Cross blood bank, radiographic services, and a dozen schools.

Over the next five weeks, my time will be split between volunteering at the art center, assisting with administrative tasks at CFFL, studying Creole, reading, hiking, swimming, traveling, and assisting in the planning of Nicole’s upcoming wedding in October (yay!).

If there is anything I have learned over the past few years, it is that God is a very big god and it is our delight to uncover the mysteries of His creation. The culture and the land in Haiti are incredibly different, yet similar to the United States in odd ways. Haiti is considered the most destitute and impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere yet, somehow, it is a country filled with people who exude contentment and joy in every day life. Spending time here has challenged me to redefine poverty and redefine my preconceived notions of what it means to be a missionary. I plan to unpack these concepts over the next several weeks, so stay tuned.

One of my favorite things about God is that He is not limited by time, space, nationality, or culture. He is not an American God and He is not a Haitian God. He is simply, God.

Isaiah 43:10-11 says, "You are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me."I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me"