Haiti Reflection: Rebuilding

In Fondwa, there is a school down the hill from the orphanage.  Family Health Ministries works closely with the school, including sponsorship programs for both students and teachers.  It is a school serving hundreds of students from the surrounding area, and it apparently has the reputation of being the best school in the area and among the best in that particular District of Haiti…

Prior to the earthquake, the school was housed in a two-story concrete building with double-digit classrooms and a large courtyard area for recreation.  The facility was the result of years of prayers, fundraising, and labors.  Here is what is left of that building…

Students are still showing up and classes go on.  They meet in tents or in the open air.  Weather can be tricky.  Here is a glimpse into current conditions….

Our team of 5 men from the states and 5 local men spent 2 ½ days building two large “temporary” classrooms.  A couple of shots of the (almost) finished product…

Now anyone who knows me well knows that my contributions to the effort were limited.  I’m not very handy, and my construction experience is…let’s say “limited.”  It didn’t take long for our Haitian co-workers to figure that out, and there were moments of playful joking throughout the week at my expense….

But I found ways to contribute as part of the team – calculating fractions and taking measurements and carrying supplies up and down the hill and sawing (LOTS of sawing) and taking inventory of our wood and helping us move “strategically” to help our supplies and planning stay ahead of those actually hammering plywood and making rafters.  And as part of the team, I was proud of the results.  Hopefully our classrooms will be a small part of helping this community and students begin to get back on its feet…

Rebuilding is hard.  I’ve seen lots of lives that end up in rubble at one point or another.  Divorce.  Infertility.  Cancer.  Addiction.  Bankruptcy.  Infidelity.  And the list goes on.   Rebuilding from rubble begins…with realizing classes can and do go on and deciding to still show up.  I got a glimpse of an entire nation living this reality right now, an entire nation filled with millions of people and thousands of communities trying to continue to show up, hoping and believing that life can and will go on…

Rebuilding is easier when everyone comes together and shares what they have (and what they can do) for the greater good.  This is at the heart of the new testament vision of the church – one body, many parts, many gifts, one Spirit, united for God’s glory and purpose.  People give generously of what they have to ensure there are none among them in need.  People share different roles in the life of the community, making different contributions as they have ability…

We need community to rebuild.  And we need communities to come alongside individuals – or communities or nations – in isolation, to help them rebuild, to be tangible reminders that there is still hope, that there are possibilities for the future…

Because sometimes, we all need others to help remind us to keep showing up…