Haiti, Day 1
Jonathan Chan's reflections on our first day in Haiti with Kent Annan, author of Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle.
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The last time I craned my head to see out the window of a landing plane, the water was dotted with as many yachts as the medical ships I saw here. If I wasn't sure Haiti would be quite different than the last 9 countries I visited this year, I was sure now. After passing through the chaos of passport control and baggage claim, we were out on the street where UN convoys and trucks crammed with Haitians were crawling along. We met up with members of the Haiti Partners team, 2 Haitians and an American driving beat-up Nissans. Our first stop was the former site of a university that one of our guides attended. He was in the 6-story building when it collapsed, killing nearly 250 people. As he told us his testimony, a garbage truck pulled up and men jumped out in masks and gloves. More bodies had been found in the rubble, and they were pulling them out. We stood alongside the work crew and all watched in silence before moving on.
During our long car ride through the city, we saw building after building that had been demolished, innumerable tent cities, and the ads of dozens of aid agencies and NGOs. Right now, we're staying out in the hills above Port-Au-Prince. Tomorrow, we head to a number of villages on the outskirts of the city where Haiti Partners is rebuilding schools and empowering local leaders to direct their communities' development.
So why are we here? First, many of us believe that the situation in Haiti will define the development community for years to come. Over sixty governments recently pledged billions in assistance to a country that is already highly dependent on external aid. By some accounts, there are more than 1,000 NGOs on the ground, creating a massive coordination problem for a government that has little central planning capacity. Haiti will be a microcosm of the best and worst in international development. Haiti Partners is pioneering much of the best in aid.
For the Church, it is yet another Kairos, that fragile, fleeting instant of truth and opportunity that cries out above our daily diet of distraction. That nearly a quarter of a million people died is not a natural disaster, it is the crime of a system propagated on the arrogant self-rule of humanity, strengthened by every silent voice and submission. Against the stranglehold of sin and death, will the global Church find within itself the same power that conquered the grave, the same love that poured from His hands and brow? As Haiti suffers, will the rest of the body suffer alongside it, knowing that the day will come when they must do the same for us?
Finally, for me, this is another step in a transition that I don't fully understand. Over the last year, I've grown more and more restless with my life and work in Williamsburg. While I've gained invaluable experience and had the opportunity to remain a part of the IV community, a part of me is ready for what's next. The other part of me is petrified. But I'm here, and like I imagine Peter doing all those years ago, I'm dipping my feet in the water and trying to summon the courage to actually get out of the boat.
Posted by Dave Zimmerman
at May 21, 2010 7:16 AM
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