Entering Another World...kind of.

After I returned from Haiti the first time (September 2010), I read the book "Mountains beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. It's about the quest of Dr. Paul Farmer - a fierce advocate for the poor and a doctor specializing in diseases that ravage third world countries.

Dr. Farmer is from Boston, but he lives in Haiti and has married a H

aitian woman. The title of the book comes from a Haitian saying used when someone is facing a challenge...a challenge so big it seems like you are climbing "mountains beyond mountains."

Kidder essentially travels with Dr. Farmer for an entire year as he advocates to medical schools, community doctors and governments for approval of stronger anti-tuberculosis medication for people in Haiti, Cuba, Russia and Peru.

One of my favorite quotes from the book comes from a conversation between Kidder and Dr. Farmer during a layover in Paris on their way from Haiti

to Russia.

As Kidder looks around the cafe in the airport they are eating lunch in, he contemplates out loud the beauty of the marble floors, mahogany tables and porcelain cups.

Kidder: "Just looking around, it hits me what a different world Paris is from Haiti!"

Farmer: "Well, that presumption would be wrong. Because, Haiti is only 5,000 miles from here and it's not a different world. The mistake is that too many people justifying it as a "different world" when it clearly is not."

Ouch....that realization hit me as much as it hit Kidder when he was having the conversation with Dr. Farmer in Paris.

Even though the sounds, smells, problems and overall mess that Haiti

is seems like a world away, it's not. Especially not from Charlotte - only 1,200 miles.

So, as we head to Haiti on Saturday, I'm trying to remember it is NOT a different world. We live in the same world yet we have such different lives. However, we

have the same God and Savior who loves the people of Charlotte as much as He loves the people of Haiti. He doesn't see our differences, he just LOVES US!

I'll be contemplating this throughout the week as I experience Haiti and open myself up to the possibility of being God's vessel for change and hope.

- Caylene

"God Save Haiti" - from voicesofhaiti.com