Love Letters

I am the Hope for Kids coordinator for my church. We sponsor children for school in Haiti through an organization called Reciprocal Ministries Inc. We are also part of the sister church program that they coordinate. Our sister church, who we committed to pray for, visit, care for, and assist in any way we can, is in a small village called Les Abricots. It's a tiny village right on the beach, although it's not a beach that you and I could hop into without catching something and I don't mean fish!

Anyways, we sponsor 35+ kids for school and today I received some thank you letters from the kids. Some are uplifting and some are so sad. These kids have been through so much. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, hunger, cholera outbreaks, and this is just in the past year. There is no insurance, no medicaid, no grief counselors, no one to diagnose post traumatic stress disorder. In some cases, there is no longer a mommy or daddy. Or sister or brother. My heart breaks for this country. And I know it isn't the only one this way. But it's so close to us, so close to Jamaica with it's resorts. It's attached to the Dominican Republic for crying out loud! You look around Haiti and you just wonder WHY. It's natural landscape is something postcards are made of. So much wrong. And so much still so good. When I see their smiles it is something I can't explain. And even though when I go there, all I have to offer are some words and hugs, they act as though I have given them the world. In reality, I come back with so much more. I have gotten to see a lot wonderful places in my life that a lot of people will never see. I have had vodka out of a glass made of ice on an island in Sweden. I have walked the streets of Prague and London and been in castles and churches in Scotland. And I have visited orphanages in Ethiopia and and villages in Haiti. I have wondered often why I have been privy to see these places around the world. 10 years ago I had never been anywhere and wouldn't have thought in a million years that I would see these places. And I have to think that there must be a reason. I have seen ridiculous extravagance and poverty I never could have imagined. So I figure that there must be a purpose. I don't know what that purpose is. And I pray that God will show me whatever it is. I know that sometimes I think I know what that is or maybe what I hope it is or want it to be. But there is one thing that I am sure of. That is that my most treasured visit and the place where my answer probably lies is where the beauty was in the people and our relationship with them and in a church made out of cinderblocks and a dirt floor.


"Dear Sponsor,

Today is a great day for me to write this letter to you. How are you and your activities? I'm doing well praise be to God.

I think you for helping me go to school. My father is unable to do so for me and my mom has died.

I love you so much and I wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2011.

Exanta"