Haiti Trip #1: The Haitian people are richer than you are

What?

Read it again and I will explain why it’s true.

Kevin, what are you snorting?  Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 40% unemployment and annual income in the hundreds per person.  It can’t be that the Haitian people are richer than we are in the United States.

Let me say it again: the Haitian people are richer than you are.

Why is this? Because they have things we as Americans DON’T VALUE.  And it makes them richer people in the quality of life they live.

Without knowing more than a handful of words in the Haitian language called Creole, it was very easy to discern that the Haitian people have a great sense of community and a faith that cannot be questioned.  See, America is geared toward independence.  Personal rights, property, possessions – these things dominate our history and development.  Haiti, however, is geared toward community.  You may like your air conditioning, carpeted floors, flushing toilets, and big  screen T.V.’s. C’mon, who doesn’t?  But the lack of these things in Haiti seems to bring them together.  So many times we saw people OUTSIDE their homes, enjoying fellowship with neighbors and family and whoever else seemed to be around.  And that included us.  Strange white people – invited right into their community.

And what of their faith?  Sure 90% of Americans claim to be Christian.  Then why doesn’t it look like it?  Because here, like other parts of the world, Christian is only a term.  It’s not a way of life driven out of conviction based on Scripture. In Haiti? The opposite.  In one stop on a random Tuesday afternoon we got to know a man whose rent was due and he had no way to pay it.  He faced losing his home and the shelter that protected his family.  We prayed for him . . . then he led his family in singing praise songs.  No stress lines of worry, no panic in his voice.  Deep, genuine, faith.

I’d tell all the stories we heard, but suffice it to say this was not an isolated incident.

Community built on love for each other and faith that runs deep through trial?  Yes, American friends, the Haitian people are richer than the average American.  And the salaries these rich values pay sow deep seeds of joy and peace into their community living that truly made me envious.