The Observer

Greetings from Haiti! We made it safe and sound without any delays or mishaps...Yaayy!

Today's word for me was... Observing

 Today, for myself, I feel like I was just an observer of the events going on around me. Maybe it was just my way of dealing with the anticipation of being back in Haiti once again. I was looking closely for any improvements from the last time I was here. I did of course find some, but sadly much has also stayed the same.

One thing that struck me while driving to the guest house from the airport today was the huge contrast from the beautiful tropical scenery off in the distance, with its majestic green grassy mountains and warm sunny sky's as well as even seeing natures beauty strangely, woven in abundance amongst the dismantled, trashed filled  and pot holed streets with it's beautiful fuchsia colored flowers and thick green bushes and then focusing in on the hustle and bussel of down town Port Au Prince and the many impoverished neighborhood districts. The contrast just seems so surreal and conflicting.

This is when I realized my 17 year old daughter, Kennedy was experiencing this for the very first time, at that moment..Taking it all in..what was she thinking? I wondered this as we drove through the loud busseling traffic and through the trash filled streets in the dismantled and crumbling neighborhoods. I think the impact was immediate and painful for her, as I could see it in her face, the way she pressed her lips together and looked away from me when I asked her how she was doing. She was affected.  She said "mom, I feel so sad!" She pointed out a man lying on the sidewalk sleeping because there was no place else for him to go and she noticed the little Haitian girl who was playing, by simply hitting a cinder block with a big stick she had found for entertainment. No fancy toys, no gadgets here. This was her first experience with true poverty. I could see emotion's in her face. This week is going to be a journey, for all of us I think.

Please pray for us dear friends and family as we go forth this coming week in His name..to go where we are needed and not by where we are just wanting and with open hearts and open minds.

Jennifer Keller Sirianni