Haiti

How can I begin to describe the power of Haiti.  The power to pull your heart and show you a world so removed from your own, that it seems surreal.  But that feeling quickly passes as you look into the faces of children that are dirty, hungry and seemingly hopeless.  But no, they are not dirty - their spirits are pure;  they are not hungry, but have a joy that satisfies; and they are not hopeless, they spread their message of hope with their smile and their ever present touch.

I come among them a white stranger.  I don't look like them, speak like them or act like them.  Yet they crave my attention.  They want me to hold them, touch them, play with them and sing with them.  Yes, they want me, they can't wait for me to depart from the taptap for our dance of connectedness to begin.  And so we dance, and our barriers don't matter, our differences fall away.  They embrace me just the way that I am, and I them.

Today I held a little girl.  She "chose" me and would not let me go.  We danced, we sang, and I prayed for her.  We never said one word to each other -- she never spoke to me.  But there was a bond formed between us that I will never forget.  She will become for me the face of Haiti.  Her eyes were matted with green slop, her nose was constantly running, but when we looked into each others eyes, we spoke to each other a love that needed no words.  We quietly would turn and our eyes would lock, over and over again, and I fell in love with her.  I don't know her name, but I will never forget her sweet face.  It was a holy moment and I felt God's unconditional love in those great big brown eyes.

I will ever be changed -- in that one brief moment I felt God's overwhelming love for the people of Haiti and how his heart must grieve for their suffering.  I thank God for giving me a glimpse of his heart in the eyes of a beautiful little girl that I will not see again this side of heaven.  But she has my heart and the heart of God.  I will keep her in my prayers and maybe, one day, we will meet again.  We will worship the God who created us - her to a life of want and me to a life of plenty - and yet, one in Him.

Bonnie Weber