Haiti February 2011: Day 7

It’s Saturday morning and the work is done. We built one last house yesterday during what felt like the hottest day of the entire week. Despite the heat, there was something special going on as we put this last one together. We had a rhythm that I enjoyed as we took turns integrating our various elements of the building contruction.

We sort of knew that we weren’t attempting to build two houses today, but didn’t rush through this last one. If you can imagine, I savored it. I knew that it signaled the end of my time in Haiti spending time with the families in that community. In fact, when it was time to go, we all held hands and said warm, friendly goodbyes. I was incredibly touched as one of the boys, who seemed to always stay close to me, began to tear as we left. I guess we did build more than just houses.

As a team, we prayed together a lot yesterday morning, very hopeful for the brightest future for the country and the people that we’ve connected with but at the end of the day we kept things pretty light. We just kept things simple and stayed together as we enjoyed our last night in Haiti and our last night together. I often think that our hi-tech “stuff” can easily separate us—making us more independent and self-sufficient but also insulated – reducing our impulse to connect with others. So it’s been great to be thrown together without all the usual trappings of my lifestyle at home – I know that I let people in and appreciate them letting me in as well.

So for me the big reveal is that this trip probably does more for me than for Haiti. I can remember trying to decide whether I could “handle” coming out here, “can I make the time,” “do I have the wherewithall?” I’m so glad that I followed the call and came. I made a contribution to an important effort, I made new friends, I gained a better perspective, I laughed with the children and sang out loud with my team and in all of that, definitely came out the better for all of it.

I’m excited for the next team who makes that decision. Quite frankly, the week flew by…