Dream on, Josue

Mark and Josue

Claiming to know the will of God is tricky business.  As our church community continues to move along a path that leads to Haiti we have been taking slow and careful steps.  One of our primary partners along the way is Josue Octeus.  Recently I spent an evening with Josue and we began to clarify the dreams Josue has for Haiti.

Josue is the President of Evangelical Churches of Haiti, a seventy-five church network that has a presence throughout Haiti, but a strong presence in the  Northwest part of Haiti.  In the near future three of us from the U.S. will join Josue in Haiti and begin to get a stronger sense of the dream that Josue wants to become a reality.

A few days ago, I traveled to Lineville, Alabama to spend time with Josue.  Josue is completing his training at SIFAT.  SIFAT stands for Servants In Faith And Technology.  For over twenty years SIFAT has been training leaders like Josue in practices that will provide solutions to the common problems of the developing world.  When I was on the SIFAT campus, 175 acres in the middle of wooded, rural Alabama, I met Josue’s classmates; men and women from Asia, The Caribbean, Africa and South America.  These community leaders are being trained in practices such as:

• Smokeless cook stoves (many believe smoke inhalation to be one of the leading causes of respiratory disease and death associated with respiratory disease, in the developing world)
• Composting toilets which provide a safe and healthy solution in areas without the sanitation infrastructure most of us take for granted
• Water purification
• Small scale sustainable agri and aqua culture
• Alternative energy
• Adult literacy

SIFAT offers more areas of training, but this list offers a sense of the kind of training Josue and his friends were able to receive at SIFAT.  

 
One of the things I love about the SIFAT model is this: SIFAT trains leaders who in turn are able to train others in their countries and in there areas of influence. This is not a model that takes financial resources for the developed world and throws it toward the the undeveloped world.  This is an education and training model that equips and empowers community leaders who can pass the training on.  

But, back to Josue’s dream.  Josue believes in order to create opportunity to solve the development issues in Haiti, it is necessary to raise money.  Josue also believes Haitians should contribute to the solutions. Josue has invited us to help build a chicken farm in Haiti. The chicken farm will provide jobs and a low cost, reliable source of protein in the community.  This farm was Josue’s dream before his training at SIFAT and this is still Josue’s dream.  But after his training in Alabama, Josue’s dream is getting bigger.  I could see it in his eyes.  It is a humbling and profound experience to look into the eyes of a friend and see the dreams within.  

Claiming to know the will of God is tricky business...or is it.  If we believe the will of God to be that we practice humility and compassion and generosity with those who God puts in our path, it seems knowing the will of God is not so complicated.  God has put Haiti on our path. God has put Josue on our path.  We have a chance to dream with a good Haitian man, who wants to help create a healthier, safer Haiti.  Dream on Josue, dream on and God willing, we will dream with you.

For those who have ears, let them hear

One of the obstacles I find in my work with Haitians is language. I know I need to learn to speak and understand Haitian Creole, but so far, no. My failure with the language is frustrating, but it creates a weakness that puts me in a healthy place of dependency. I need my closest Haitian friends to help me when I am in a time and place where Haitian Creole are the only words. And, as we know, words are important. Words lead to understanding and understanding leads to reconciliation and reconciliation leads to peace inside and outside.

I went to First Haitian Baptist Church yesterday. The service had already started when I arrived, so I sat in the parking lot and listened to the voices of Haiti filling the air inside and outside of the building. It was a hot, humid Sunday morning in Kansas City. I was asked to come to the church to meet a visiting pastor from St. Louis.

I am not sure why it felt right to sit in the parking lot and listen, but it did. And so I sat and listened to the hymns in Haitian. I have been with the Haitian church long enough to recognize particular hymns. I have started to hear and recognize certain tunes, and even begun to follow the cadence of the words and the music. What I do not yet understand are the words, the language. My ears and my mind have not yet been able to turn the sounds into language, at least not completely. I recognize a few words but to be able to give and receive in Haitian Creole is still beyond my reach.

After a time, I walked across the street from the parking lot to the church and up the stairs from the sidewalk to the front door. I went inside and found a seat near the back. I smiled at familiar faces and they smiled at me. All around me Haitian voices me were singing and praying and I could only listen quietly and strain toward understanding. At a point it occurred to me I was trying too hard to understand the words. At a point it occurred to me that what I should do is to quit trying to hear the voices of praise and prayer and try to feel the voices of praise and prayer. I had been working, straining to understand the words.

The elements of the service were very familiar, much like many Christian worship services: songs, prayers, offering and sermon. The Preacher from St. Louis came to the pulpit and though the words were unfamiliar, the posture, the pattern and the cadence were familiar. This man engaged and charmed the listeners. This man challenged the listeners. This man took us along with him through words, but also through body language and expression. I understood few words he spoke, but I could tell he was a gifted preacher.

I understood few words, but for some reason, on two occasions during the sermon, this man spoke in English. The entire sermon was in Haitian Creole, except for two occasions. The first words in English caught me off guard. It happened so quickly that I missed the meaning of the English. But it occurred to me that In a Haitian service any English spoken was spoken for me, offered to me as a word that I needed to hear. And so, the next time English came from this man, I was ready for it. The stream of Creole was suddenly, without warning interrupted and I heard these words: “We make our living from what we receive; we make our life from what we give.” I think I needed to hear these words. Who among us does not need to hear these words?

Yesterday I was sitting in the center of Haitian language and Haitian culture. Yesterday I was given the words I needed to hear. I told this story to a friend later in the day. My friend’s response: “I know you heard the words in English. Are you sure the words were spoken in English?” Hard to say, I suppose I heard what I needed to hear.

Later, under a shade tree in the parking lot, a friend, a women from Haiti spoke to me in her best English. She gently told me “you need to learn Creole”. She is right, of course she is right. Still, as I learn, I hope I can continue to hear what I need to hear when it comes to me: “We make our living from what we receive; we make our life from what we give.”