Loving Our Neighbor

by Sarah Morris (IMPACT Intern)

Perhaps one of the most beautiful things about the Gospel is that it is so simple. Jesus never actually called us to change the world, He asked us to love our neighbor. We look at the world, at the enormity of death, starvation, slavery, and feel overwhelmed and crippled. We feel as though there’s nothing we could do that could even begin to touch these problems, so we’re tempted to instead ignore them or protect ourselves with all the reasons we can’t help. 

Jesus’ ministry was about relationships, about people. And while we all claim to know this, we fail to truly appreciate what this means for our own lives. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your skills are, He’s inviting you to be a part of His story. If you can hold the hand of a child, you are needed. If you can look someone in the eye and smile, you are needed. IMPACT’s most recent trip to Haiti was a powerful picture of the breathtaking simplicity of the Gospel.  EMTs, PA’s, nurses and physicians who went expecting to work in difficult and incredibly busy clinics did do some clinics but also spent time rocking children to sleep or teaching a spelling class. 

This argument may be old news, but the value of short term missions goes beyond whatever encouragement or assistance may be offered to resident brothers and sisters.  Short term trips open the door for one of life’s greatest miracles – to look through another’s eyes for an instant.  Until you go, statistics are just statistics and not people with faces and families and stories. It’s hard to change your life for statistics. It’s hard to live drastically different than your neighbors in order to help change 26,001 starving to 26,000. But if you can choose not to sacrifice the American dream so that Johnny and Wilna and Abigail, precious faces whom you’ve kissed, have enough to eat….well now that just might actually happen. Perhaps short-term trips are not “short term” at all, but simply the catalyst for lifelong mission, wherever one chooses to live. They create the habit of loving your neighbor, of opening our eyes to the truth that anyone and everyone is our neighbor. 

Break it Down

I received this picture shortly after we returned from Haiti two weeks ago.  What happened in me is that I read each of these and as I was reading them, I realized that I knew the names and stories of and had interacted with people in Haiti that live in extreme poverty, malnutrition, illness and suffering.  In my head, I broke down each of these things and pictures flashed through my mind of stories and people I'd interacted with just days before.  I'll do my best to give you a taste...

"If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world." 

Meet Madame Raymon (a.k.a. Mama).  This selfless woman feeds over 25 people per day in a TINY little kitchen in Montrouis, Haiti - you don't go hungry when she's in the kitchen.  She manages an orphanage and her own family lives almost 2 hours away in Port-Au-Prince.  For years, she's not had anywhere to store her pantry goods.  Two weeks ago, these two (Andy & Stephen) built her shelves.  This, my friends is her happy dance.  And this, my friends is incredible that because of the work New Vision is doing, 15 orphans have food on the table, clothes on their back, a roof over their head and a place to sleep.  

They are richer than over 75% of people in their own country - their own neighborhood and we see them as poor.  

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"If you have money in the bank, your wallet and some spare change, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy."

Meet Roodley (pronounced Woodley).  He is one of the fisherman in the program New Vision has running in Montrouis.  The goal for these men is to create for them a sustainable business by using their skills as fisherman to catch as many fish as possible.  New Vision buys the fish from them and either feeds their own community with it (through local refugee women/former prostitutes being paid to cook for the elderly in the village or through selling it to other local missions organizations and businesses).  This will create enough income for these men to provide for their families and eventually open bank accounts.  Some of these men were ready to open bank accounts and then Dr. Kerry realized that there was a problem - none of them could read or write; therefore, they can't sign their name at the bank.  Back to square one.  Roodley is learning how to read and write (you can see his name across the top of the page).  

Roodley is entering into the 8% of the world's wealthy and overcoming the cycle of poverty in Haiti.

(Click here to read more about what one of our interns is learning about poverty, teaching and living in community)

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"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million people who will not survive this week." 

Meet the people in the village of Montrouis.  We did medical clinics here and in a few other villages.  A grandmother, desperate for hope and desperate for help brought her infant granddaughter to our clinic.  Time kept passing, none of our doctors or nurses could find a vein - her veins were collapsed from such severe dehydration and malnutrition.  There was nothing we could do and so we simply pleaded with her Creator to heal her little body and we sent them home knowing that without a miracle, this precious one wouldn't make it more than a few more weeks.

  

 Most people in Montrouis have no source of clean water.  It's such a simple thing that we don't even think twice about - drinkable water pours from our faucets and hoses, even when we are only using it to hydrate our plants.  This is where many families get their water.  Around this water source you'll find human waste and often you'll see animals using this as their urinal.  New Vision's long-term goal is to have filtered water, a deep latrine and a gas stove in each home in Montrouis. 

 This will certainly bring more health than illness and decrease the chances of these people being included in that statistic.

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"If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the agony of imprisonment or torture or the horrible pangs of starvation, you are luckier than 500 million people alive and suffering." 

Meet Jean Patrick (a.k.a. JP).  He is living with and being adopted by an American family who resides in Haiti. Why? Because he is the product of experiencing danger and witnessing torture - because of these things, JP is now an orphan.  His mother died when he was very young.  His father got remarried to a woman who sold bananas and was involved in witchcraft.  Essentially, because of his step-mother being involved in murder, his father was drug into the street, a tire thrown over his head and burned... JP watched this happen.  

This is one of the girls in our child sponsorship program and a few children in the local village - these precious ones have yet to experience relief from the pangs of starvation.  The lighter-colored hair is a symptom of severe malnutrition.  The distended bellies and flesh and bones - starvation.  With help, New Vision currently feeds 1500 kids, one meal per day in surrounding villages.  

Pray that this number can increase so that Montrouis will no longer be part of that 500 million.

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"If you can read this message, you are more fortunate than 3 billion people in the world who cannot read at all." 

 Meet the women of the feeding program.  (Click here to read more from one of our interns about her relationship with these women) These 12 women and the 12 men of the fishing program are part of New Vision's ministry mentioned a few paragraphs above.  They are provided jobs where they are paid in a "voucher system" (click to read more from one of our interns), they are provided an income, a discipleship program in Creole where they are being taught about Jesus and why he matters to them, and they are being taught to read and write in Creole and in English.  Our interns are VERY involved in this program and are starting with things they use everyday or words they know.

Being literate people will change everything for them - it provides them with a job, a future, opportunities for their family and hope.  (Click here to read more about our interns' running the literacy program) 

We are thankful that New Vision has a heart for these people and that literacy is on the top of the list of life skills for people in their program. 

As an organization, IMPACT is blessed to be part of what New Vision is doing in Haiti.  While we recognize how much we have, we also see with our own eyes what our neighbor does not.  We pray that we will continue to be part of the solution.  Pray for Haiti.  Pray for our 6 interns living there.  Life there is not easy. Pray for the New Vision staff.  Pray about how you might be involved.  Pray that IMPACT may continue to be agents of "eswpa" HOPE both in Haiti and across the globe.