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"