Haiti as a Blessing

Lately, in preparation for my Haiti trip I have been watching all the news specials and documentaries about Haiti that I can get my hands on. I recently watched a Frontline special about that state of Haiti one year after the 2010 earthquake.

A Haitian man named Daniel was interviewed. He is a successful businessman who is putting Haitians to work building a power plant in Port au Prince-- at high cost to himself and his family. As one of the “business elite” Daniel is a target. His wife was kidnapped by gangsters and held for 10 days while he paid three different ransoms. When she was finally released she was so traumatized that she moved to the United States with their kids. He stayed in Haiti.

A soft-spoken man of incredible faith, this is what he said:
“Coming from Haiti feels like a burden. It feels like a heavy cannon ball tied to your ankles. It feels like a curse, really. I used to really feel that. Until it occurred to me that living in Haiti was a blessing. It’s an opportunity to touch Christ every day. In the person who can’t feed himself. And the men in the prison. And the kids who contacted AIDS and don’t have access to medicine.”

That statement blew my socks off. This is exactly the type of attitude I am going to be on the lookout for while I am in Haiti.