Let it Rain

Apparently, we are in the rainy season, but we have not had a lot of rain lately. The cistern that fills with water for our daily use when it rains, is getting low. We may need to 'order a water truck' soon to fill the cistern. Since it is hot and humid most days, we look forward to the rain which usually comes in the evening and cools things down a bit for sleeping. When it rains the dust settles and everything feels fresh again. It's almost like I am a wilted flower that comes back to life with the rain.  

We engage all of our senses when it rains.  We hear the loud sound of water flowing and hitting the cement ground making most rainfalls sound like a torrential rain storm. Sometimes we stop what we're doing and either go outside or hang over the upper deck to feel the rain.  We can literally smell the dusty roads getting watered and the following day we can see that the dusty leaves and flowers have been dusted clean. We refrain from tasting the water until after it has been purified :)  

This is the view of a downpour taken from our upper deck during the rainy season in November.

 This is the rain that collected just outside of our kitchen door as it had no where to go.

It rained last night. In fact, it poured and came with a thunderstorm.  After singing in the rain so to speak, my heart sank at the thought of the homes where many people live in this city, especially since in the past month, I have had the opportunity to visit some Haitian homes and now have a fuller understanding of the hardship that rain can cause.  Although many people live in concrete structures like ours, I am painfully aware of the people who are living in inadequate structures with tin roofs and I wonder how they felt about the rain and thunderstorm last night.  I recalled the time we were on the road in our vehicle and witnessed how some people deal with the rain.  We noticed the lack of infrastructure for water drainage and wondered if we and others would make it through the streets without damage to our vehicles with the rising water (which is why we see so many vehicles with ‘snorkels’ - something I've never seen before moving to Haiti.)  As the water flowed down (Port-au-Prince is very hilly), it picked up the garbage that is all over the streets causing difficulty for some.  I saw a man standing in a few feet of water with a broom trying to make sure the sewer grate remained clear so the water would go down the hole rather than into his house.  

I also recalled some of the homes I saw a few weeks ago on a dry day. My friend, Brigitte, my daughter, Kristin and I went to visit young moms with their new babies in housing that was in a ravine not far from the office where John works. We walked down a steep path which I would not have wanted to walk down in the rain as it would have been treacherous, but it was the only way to the many homes below. Each home was a small room or two and was connected to the next dwelling.  There was no privacy.  You could talk to your neighbour from your living to hers.  All the houses were built out of concrete and covered with tin roofs.  The alley ways that wove their way through this ‘village’ of homes were not wide and would be very slippery when wet.  I noticed that we had to take a giant step over the threshold to get into each individual house and I realized the purpose was to keep the rain water from entering the houses, but the alleys would be flowing with water during rain.

 Bridgitt with some of the moms she visits regularly to support and encourage them.

Couldn't resist a few shots of us holding these adorable babies!

    

A week after those visits I went with another friend, Karen and my daughter, Erin to visit students from Adoration Christian Centre.  Erin taught Art at Adoration two days a week this year to Grades 1-10 and I have had the opportunity to lead a few seminars for the teachers.  Karen thought it would be a good idea for us to see how and where many of the students live and I had an additional interest in visiting a little girl named Ruth Cherline who is the sponsor child of Community Christian School in Drayton where I teach. I thought I was prepared after visiting homes with Brigitte the previous week, but I wasn’t.  One of the high school students took us to his neigbourhood and we walked through the winding concrete maze saying "Bon swa" and smiling to every person we met along the way.  My eyes were opened that day to conditions that I hadn't experienced yet in Haiti and it was hard, but the love of Christ flowing out of this lady was contagious.

Franklin was the Adoration student who took us to his neighbourhood.  

He is posing with his mom and nephew.  

We moved on to another neighbourhood so I could visit my school's sponsor child. All eyes were on me as I parked my SUV into a tiny space blocking the entrance to someone's home. The young men inside agreed to have us park there for a short time. When three ‘blan’ (white) women emerged with a ‘blan’ baby, the stares continued. We visited a woman who used to work at Adoration until she got sick with a debilitating disease. She was laying on a bed in a two room house that had many stairs to get up and I wondered how often she leaves that bed.  She was filled with joy to see Karen’s baby and seemed so happy to have visitors. Then we made a phone call to Ruth Cherline’s mom. While we waited for two people to meet us at our vehicle to show us the way to Ruth's house, we were standing beside dirty grey smelly water and at one point I had to do some ‘self-talk’ to stop the gag reflex as the smell was so repulsive.  The staring continued as we walked down the street.  I felt like a celebrity, but I really didn’t want to.  Ruth was expecting us as I had already told her that I would be visiting her at home.  We met her mom who quickly offered us a chair in the alley leading to her house and we graciously sat down. My school had sent a doll for me to give to Ruth which she seemed pleased with.  I was sad to learn that her dad and brother no longer live with her and her mom. What I did notice while walking down the street was students wearing Adoration uniforms who seemed to have a look of hope in their eyes and joy in their hearts and that was so good to see!  

Erin and I with Ruth, her mom and a little neighbourhood friend.

Our afternoon of visiting was sensory overload for both Erin and me.  It wasn’t until we got home when Erin and I shared our experience with John that both of us were in tears from our eye-opening and heart-wrenching experience. 

When I get these feelings, about the desperation of those around me and the size of the challenge being bigger than I can either understand or change, I can feel overwhelmed.  I long for a kind of blessing to fall from heaven, to come and make a refreshing and tangible change in this dry and dusty place.  I long for stuff that is beyond my capacity to do, or even to imagine.  It occurs to me that I am longing for what I know God longs for: justice, mercy, service, community, love, compassion and the renewal of all things.  I long for this for myself, for Haiti, and for little Ruth Cherline, whose hopeful eyes I can imagine as I write this. 

One day that real rain will come.  It will be refreshing for all, not just for the rich on the hill and a threat for the poor in the valley. Martin Luther King used to quote the prophet Amos about the day that ‘justice would roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.’ 

As I think about this, and though we've only made a hardly identifiable dent, I am glad to have been a part of the mission of God in Haiti.  I am thankful that our family could give some time and effort to show love to the people of Haiti through service.  Knowing that this work goes on – through the prayers and giving and presence of a community much larger than me – long after we leave will help me in leaving to know that though I have seen much pain I couldn’t heal, the One who makes the rain sees it all and has a plan. 

“Let it rain! Let it rain!  Open the flood gates of heaven.

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad.

Let the distant shores rejoice.

Cloud and thick darkness surround him.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

A fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side.

His lightning lights up the world.

The earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord.

Before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his righteousness.

And all people will see his glory!

We want to see your glory, God!

Do you want to see his glory?

Lift your voices, lift your hands!

Let it rain, let it rain. 

Open the floodgates of heaven”

Psalm 97 via Michael W. Smith.

P.S. You might have noticed that John’s ‘voice’ joined mine toward the end of this blog post.  He helped me ‘land the plane’ so to speak.  I’m sure it would have been a dead giveaway if I had included his idea to reference a band that he used to listen to called the ‘Clash’ from our younger years :)