Monday, March 21, 2011

t minus 5

In 5 days I'll be heading to Haiti.

You know when you plan for a trip, and you think you have all of the time in the world to do what you need to do? I thought that was where I was, until today, when I realized....5 days!

I know everything will get done. That the pieces will fall into place. That someone else can fill my shoes back here at home while I'm gone.

But I am a little daunted at the doorway I am about to step through.

I feel as if there's a door labeled "LIFE CHANGE" that I am about to walk through....again. Last Fall, when I got on a plane headed for Burundi, I didn't have a clue I was walking through that door, not really. I was being obedient, thinking all I had to do was do my thing in Africa, leave, come home, and resume life.

Well, we all know how that worked out.

It's always eye opening to walk into another piece of the world and into another culture. You suddenly feel very self-conscious for being American. Sometimes, us Americans, myself included, get a little carried away with our enthusiasm for our own country. Sometimes we forget there are billions of other people on this planet. We forget how very rich we truly are.

I dare say when I set foot in Haiti, I'll have a lump in my throat for the next 7 days. All those news reports I have seen, all the stories I have read will become live and in person right before my eyes.

I'll see the devastation.

I'll see the suffering,

I'll see the pain.

I'll see the ones holding their hands out asking for help.

I'll see the look of desperation in their eyes.

I'll see them asking "Why isn't somebody doing more?"

Just as my trip to Burundi turned me upside down and inside out, Haiti is surely to do the same, and then some. Some people can go on a trip like I did to Burundi and come home and readjust like it never happened. But others can come home, like me, and never be the same again.

That's why I am going to Haiti, because I don't want to be the same person I was 6 months ago. I want to be the person who can come home and stir the masses to get of their duffs and help. We're not all called to go set foot in Haiti, Burundi or other places on this planet, but we are called tohelp.

My 7 days in Haiti will only do so much, but when I get home, if I can stir an army of folks to make a difference...that is where hope for Haiti begins.

Jenny Schmitt

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