It is incredibly difficult to find a single word to describe the joy of nearly 400 Haitian children.The hope they have in the midst of a life marred by death and poverty is beautiful, hopeful, inspiring, gripping and heartbreaking.
It has been a week since the Living Hope and New Life churches returned from helping children in Haiti, but every bit of the overwhelming power of children is still freshly burned into the minds of the 23 people who served in Haiti.
This team was blessed to serve an orphanage and other children from the area surrounding Gressier, Haiti. The town is 15 miles west of the capitol of Port-au-Prince and 1 mile from the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake, which left hundreds of thousands dead or injured and destroyed the homes of one million more.
Yet in spite of those staggering numbers, malnutrition, bare feet, unthinkable living conditions and intense emotional scarring from the earthquake, not to mention the loss of parents and friends, these children were happy.
For these beautiful children, it was enough just to hold a hand, play a little game or listen to a language they didn’t even understand. They would run up to members of the team and hold on to any finger they could find, and the quickest were able to get piggyback rides. That was enough to make a difference in their day.
“In America, we have everything,” said Travis Rutledge, senior business management major. “Yet we always complain about having nothing.”
Many children had literally nothing but the clothes on their backs. Many lost their parents in the earthquake or were sent to an orphanage by parents who could not raise them. Many would not eat except for the one time each day we fed them.
Then they would sing, “mwen genyen jwa, jwa, jwa, andedan kè mwen.” I’ve got joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. How often we lose sight of the fact that it takes more than material possessions for that kind of joy.
We couldn’t help but compare this attitude to that of most of the children we interact with today. The children in Haiti were thrilled just to be spoken to, no matter what language. Sitting down to talk with most 8-year-olds in College Station would rarely have the same result.
“I think that the real driving force behind this problem is that our kids have too many diversions,” said Howard Tipton, the children’s minister at Living Hope. “When something important comes along, they couldn’t pay attention if they wanted.”
That observation is applicable to the rest of us as well. There are so many distractions in College Station that are not in Gressier. The difference was immediately observable both in the children and in the way the team interacted with one another. What can happen without the distractions of modern American life is amazing and precious.
When the only activity a child has is to love and be loved, he or she will cling to the opportunity. For many of those children, the only time they would be held that day was during the three hours every day they were with us. Sadly, we may have been the only ones to tell them, “mwen renmen ou,” I love you, that day.
It is impossible to spend time with Haitian children and not be forever changed. As the saying goes, children everywhere spell love the same: “T-I-M-E.” My plea is for Aggies to reach out to orphans in whatever way they can. Go outside your comfort zone and love on the future generation of children already cast aside. Take the time and see a life bigger than ourselves.