It’s always hard for me to know where to begin a story. If it were only as simple as “Once upon a
time..” The thing I love about a good
story is that if it is truly a good one, the beginning is further back than one
may ever know. People. Places.
Events. So much had to take place
for a story to even begin.
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| One of my first times to ever hold Titi. |
As best I
can tell you, this story begins when I began my internship at Mission of Hope
(MOH) in the fall of 2011. I had the
privilege of working with short term teams that would come down and serve for a
week in Haiti. MOH has a northern
property called Leveque. This is where
teams spent a great amount of their time because MOH was building permanent
block homes for people who were currently living in temporary tents. With dozens and dozens of homes being built,
there were dozens and dozens of homes to be painted. MOH would send teams out daily to Leveque to
paint homes. With all this time being
spent in Leveque, I quickly began to recognize children, families, moms and
dads. Among all these people, there were
two little ones who began to capture my heart.
Their names are Jetson and Titi.
Brothers. Every day when we would
arrive in Leveque, about a dozen children that would come running for the bus,
Jetson and Titi were always in the group.
I would scoop them up since they were both so little and kiss them till
they couldn’t stop giggling. Over time I
met their old brothers and their mom and dad and even their aunt. During this time of getting to know them I
learned that Jetson and Titi were living in a tent. This nearly broke my heart. Such sweet, loving, adorable boys, living in
such harsh conditions. However, I also
learned that their aunt had received a home from MOH and so the boys spent a good
amount of time there. As my internship
was coming to an end, I was offered a staff position to work with teams in
2012. I gladly accepted. So even though leaving Haiti in December for
a month was going to be hard, I knew that I would be able to see everyone when
I got back.
Or so I thought.
When I arrived back to MOH in January of 2012, I was so
excited to get out into the villages and see all the people that I had formed
friendships with. It was no secret that
Leveque was at the top of my list. I was
excited to see some of the families and children, but definitely the most
excited to see Jetson and Titi. It was a
Sunday afternoon, we were arriving in Leveque and I couldn’t help but scan the
children’s faces, eagerly looking for the two boys. They weren’t there. This didn’t concern me too much because they
could be at their aunt’s house. I
quickly made my way to the house. No one
was there. As I slowly walked back
towards the bus, I was amazed at how much Leveque had grown in the short 4
weeks I was gone. There were more homes
and less tents. I left Leveque that day
and assured myself that I would see them the following week. I knew that word would get out that MOH was
bringing people again and that the boys would be there. The next Sunday came and the boys were not
there. The next Sunday came and the same
result. For 5 weeks, I looked and the
boys were nowhere to be found. My heart
was heavy. What happened? Where had they gone?
I finally saw the aunt one day in late February. After talking with her I learned that the
boys, their siblings and parents had moved to Cabaret. Cabaret is a city between MOH and
Leveque. They couldn’t live in a tent
any longer and had an option to move into a block home and they made the
move. Leveque’s population is around
3,000. Cabaret… 70,000. I figured I would never see the boys
again. I asked if the boys would ever
come to Leveque to see her. She said
that they might, but she could never be sure of when. I asked her if I could come to her house and
check every time I was in Leveque. With
a big smile, she told me yes. Two weeks
later, the boys were there. As I walked
up to her house, I quickly recognized the giggles and laughter coming from the
yard. When I walked through the fence
the boys immediately ran to greet me. I
dropped to my knees, right in the dirt and hugged them both. Hot tears streamed down my face. I was so happy to see them. For the next 5 months, I went back to the
aunt’s house to check and see if the boys were there. Little did I know that one time in February would
be the only time I would see them in Leveque.
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| Reunited with Jetson! |
Mid July I was in Leveque and as I began to walk towards the
aunt’s house, I questioned myself. Why
do I still keep going? You know they
won’t be there. It’s been 7 months now since they moved and you’ve seen them
once. Why do you put yourself through
this? But I kept walking. When we got to the house it was quite. The boys weren’t there. It took everything in me not to break down
and cry. As I began to walk back towards
the bus with the translator, I saw the aunt coming up the road. I greeted her and asked if she had seen the
boys. So shook her head and said she
hadn’t. The translator began to speak
with her in Creole. They spoke longer
than I than I had expected. After they
finished, the translator looked at me and said, ‘I know where the boys live in
Cabaret. I have a friend that lives near
there.’ I couldn’t even speak. I just stared at him. Again, it took everything in me not to break
down and cry. I finally said, ‘Are you
sure? You are absolutely sure you know
where?’ He smiled. ‘Yes. I’m sure.’
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- -
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| Reunited with Titi! |
As we drove the roads of Cabaret, my heart began to
race. Would we really find them? Would this be the day I would get to see
them? We parked. We got out of the car and walked through a
metal gate. As we entered the yard, I
could hardly contain my excitement. And
then, there they were. I think their
level of surprise somehow outweighed my level of excitement. The shock quickly wore off and with screams
and giggles, they ran to meet me. There
was no holding back the tears now. I
scooped them up and held them so tight.
They spoke so quickly and at the exact same time. I couldn’t make out anything they were
saying. I didn’t even care. I had found them. After 7 long months, I had found them.
I’ve been back a handful of times since that day. It’s amazing how much I appreciate my time
with those boys because I learned that it could easily be taken away from
me. It makes me look at other
relationships in my life. It makes me
question if I appreciate the time I have with others, now fully knowing they
could be taken away. I pray that I would
appreciate and cherish the relationships I do have. I am also praying that these young boys and
their family come to know Christ. In my
last few visits I’ve learned that voodoo is predominate in their home. I know that the Lord has put them in my life
for a reason. I know that it will be a
journey. It almost feels as if the story
is really just beginning. I am so
thankful that I will be in Haiti for another year, working with MOH and I will
have the chance to see where this story takes me.
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| Most recent visit with the boys. Also getting to know a lot of their friends. |
