Monday, November 15th, 2010--Home

(Doug)
On Saturday, most of us go into Port-au-Prince, just to see the city.  Most of the first timers are appalled at the conditions there--the crowding, the garbage, the rubble.  I see some good things.  The city is alive again.  People are out walking the streets and going about their normal business.  Everywhere, by hand, little by little, rubble is being dug away, buildings are being repaired.  Much has been done since January.  Unfortunately, most of the rebuilding appears to be just replacing buildings in the exact same spot as the old ones--no plan towards re-inventing the city, making it better, but I know I expect too much.  The tent cities are still everywhere.  We go all the way up the mountain.  At the top, we can see all of Port-au-Prince laid out below us, a sight both awesome and awful.  On the way back, the driver of one of our vans has a family emergency and so can't take us back to Fonds.  I volunteer to drive.  Driving at night through the streets of Port-au-Prince is an exercise in patience and depth perception.  Traffic lanes are merely a suggestion, cars and trucks often approach head-on, intersections are a game of who wants it more, and sudden stops are the norm.  Potholes also help keep me jumping.  It's another experience I won't soon forget.
Saturday night, everyone is tired.  We drift off to bed or gather in knots of 2 or 3 to talk.  Sunday is a long travel day.  The Oregon group is heading out Monday, so we've said our goodbyes the night before.  The day starts a 3:30 am Central time, Fonds-->Port-au-Prince-->Ft. Lauderdale--> Dallas-->Kansas City.  The team says our last goodbyes and everyone splits for home.
Chantel and I talk on our way home.  We know that people will ask us "How was it?"  That is a very difficult question to answer, especially in a sentence or two.  It was a lot of different emotions and experiences and even smells.  Chantel says she can still smell the OR there.  We were exhilarated, crushed, torn, inspired, entertained, drained--at different times, and sometimes all at the same time.  It is too much to process, much less relate to someone who wasn't there.  What did we do there?--what did we accomplish?  Chantel says something that rings true to me.  She says that whatever level of medical care that she was able to give to the patients that she tended, when she was finished, they knew that she loved them.  That echoes what Betty Prophete, our host at the Haitian Christian Mission said.  Her highest praise for us was that the people that we treated said that they could tell we cared.  I don't proselytize about my faith much.  It's not how I'm wired, but one of my dear friends told me to not get caught up in myself, to allow God to work through me and give him the glory.  I've tried to do that this week.  I've tried to open myself to the experience and just let it flow.  I'm very proud of our team and our approach this week.   I would serve, and probably will serve, with them again.  I want to thank them and to thank everyone at home who supported them and everyone who supported all of us.  This was not a one man show, by any means, and I will work on my fellow team members to get them to share their stories.

God Bless

Doug