Emotions in Haiti (Part 1)

     My eyes welled with tears many times on this trip.  I'm not an emotional guy.  I don't cry at weddings or funerals usually.   I don't get easily angered or upset.  In fact, I’ve even been told by my wife I'm not expressive enough.  I've been chastised before for not showing enough excitement over many things that she shares shares with me.  I think most husbands have probably experienced that.  My brother-in-law gave me some good advice shortly after we got married.  He said all new husbands need to "learn to do cartwheels."  Most men fail to show enough emotion in response to things we see in life.  I'm a typical guy in that respect, fairly reserved and quiet, and even a bit analytical.  So why do I feel my emotions bubbling up at so many things in Haiti?  Why did I cry so much on my first trip in July, and want to cry even more this time?  Rather than trying to analyze it, let me just share some of the events and let you react for yourself. 

     This was my third trip.  It was Sunday afternoon.  We were coming up the hill for the first time on the trip, our first greeting of the children. I had witnessed many things before, including the orphans greeting us as the bus (aka the Chuck Norris) rolled up the hill.  The children know the sound of the bus coming.  They gather near the school buildings and outside the medical clinic, some of the closest buildings to the road.   The jump and down excitedly.  Many run alongside the bus, racing it all the way up the road and round the corner of the church, where it will stop to let us out.  They don't know who is on the bus yet, they haven't met this group.  That doesn't dampen their enthusiasm.  They crowd the bus as it stops to let us off, barely making room for us to step off, grabbing hands, arms, and the edge of your shorts and pulling you off, eager to hug and greet, to give and receive love. You can overhear exchanges of 'what is your name?' being spoken by kids with Creole accents and our team recriprocating and often struggling with their beautiful Haitian names.  The kids don't care what you call them as long as you hug and love them.  A few of them have recognized familiar faces and fight through the crowds to get to their special friend.  Bigger hugs and even more passionate greetings are exchanged among those bon zanmi yo(good friends).  I’ve seen this before, it is wonderful to experience. 

     All of those things bless me as I watch from the back of bus, waiting my turn to get to the door.  There are some children walking around the bus looking in the windows to see if they can find a familiar face.  I see Mikenson, one of the oldest and tallest boys there, a kind and helpful young man. I call out his name and we first bump through the open window.  I see many other kids I know and I call out their names and wave to them.  It feels so good to be back.  My boy Kevinson sees me and jumps up and down excitedly.  He races around the bus towards the door to get in line to grab me when I come off.  I see Kettley, my wife Joy’s special friend from the summer.  She was the tough girl, an older teen and very standoffish when we saw her this summer, until she met my wife Joy.   She had an attitude and an edge to her.  She would mock Joy.  Joy would say mesi (which means thank you) to the kids for something they said or did.  Kettley would mesi (meh-see) with a pronounced attitude (when said that way, it means ‘whatever!’), trying to get under Joy's skin.  But Joy made it her mission to break through to Kettley.  Joy would give her "Meh-see" right back, with more animation.  The older teens around would crack up at that, and eventually Kettley cracked a smile.  Kettley picked an attitude fight with Joy and lost.  She warmed up to Joy, letting Joy love her and by the end of the week they were inseparable.  Kettley cried much when Joy left.  A picture that still brings tears to me is Joy and Kettley saying goodbye, with Kettley's hand pressed against the outside of the bus window and Joy's hand from the inside.  When three of us from our family came back in October, Kettley asked where Joy was.  When we told her Joy didnt come this time, she went off by herself to cry.  This time, Kettley's face split into a wide grin as she saw me and she hurried around towards the door to greet me too.

      But these aren't the greetings that brought tears to my eyes.  We had two special greetings that day.  Jeannie and JC Swafford were with us on the trip.  Jeannie had been here twice before on medical trips.  She and JC are members of Parkway Baptist, but Jeannie had jumped in with Longhollow on previous trips to use her medical skills.  She had just received her nursing degree a couple years ago, specifically obtained to help with mission work.  Actually, Jeannie had more than jumped in.  She and JC had begun the process of adopting one of the orphans named Sheldon.  He is 5 or 6 years old, all boy with lots of energy and a big smile.  This was JC's first trip and first time meeting Sheldon.  Video cameras were rolling to capture this special moment.  I'll confess I missed most of that exchange because I was near the back of the bus, witnessing a second special greeting.  Seth Huber was also on the trip.  He and his wife Rachel had begun the adoption process also, adopting little Bobby, a 3 year old boy who is arguably the cutest of the 'little guys' at the orphanage.  Bobby is a bit moody at a times and very difficut to coax a smile out of.  He doesn't like having his picture taken and doesn't speak much.  When he does, his favorite word is 'no'.  (In other words, Bobby is in many aspects, a typical 3 year old.)  Seth had made the trip in May and bonded with Bobby.  Rachel had just met him on the November trip.  I happened to be stuck in the back of the bus as people were trying to unload through the crowd of excited children when I looked out the left side of the bus and saw Seth finish hoisting Bobby up through the open window.  Bobby had a smile on his face like I've never seen before.  He looked at his dad, smiling as big as I’ve ever seen him smile.  He leaned into him and looked around at the chaos of children snatching adults, content that he already had his adult, his dad! (This was surely a rare feeling for him since the little guys struggle to get through the older kids to grab an adult before anyone else gets them).  When I saw Seth holding Bobby, matching the huge smile on Bobby's face with one equally big, the tears welled up.  What an immense privilege to witness such a special moment.  My eyes got blurry behind the video camera as I tried to get a good shot of them together.  As I reflect back on this moment, it strikes me that we will all experience this one day.  We will escape our troubled existence in this world when He comes to take us home.  I have no doubt my smile will be as big as Bobby's was that day.