Something Worth Working Towards is Never Easy ...

Ensure you read part one of Jenny's incredible journey to Haiti: Part One

Despite all of these shocking conditions these people live in, theyʼre still happy and focused on the things that matter-their loved ones. The 25 of us all traveled in one big bus around the city to our hotel. I couldnʼt help but wave to the people that I caught eye contact with almost saying to them “stay strong you are loved.”

It was such a fulfilling and heart warming experience having almost every soul that I waved to wave back. Big smiles on their face and a look of importance as if someone noticed them, someone cared. They didnʼt judge, they didnʼt care if we were ugly, or big, uneducated or jobless. They care that you have a big heart, that you acknowledge their existence and say that it may not be ok now but will be soon.

I was blessed to be able to work at the mobile clinic one of the days which was run out of a Church built by Myrlande, Andyʼs #1 customer! It was an incredibly amazing experience being able to have hands on contact with over 100 patients that day, speaking to them in French, and seeing in their eyes how much they just wanted to feel better.

Their symptoms included mostly headaches, stomach aches, and some back or chest pain. One man asked if I could give him vitamins since he didnʼt have enough food to get full. I also met a 18 year old girl who was pregnant and experiencing morning sickness, I told her that was normal when expecting and she was very shocked but relieved. It was sad to hear the Doctor tell me afterwards that most of the symptoms they have are caused by dehydration and lack of food.

This really made me think about the things we take for granted every day, things we even waste and too many times even complain about are bare necessities in life that these kind people of Haiti do not have.

The clinic we are building is in the city of Jachmel, 3 hours south of Port Au Prince. It will service over 800,000 people, some will walk over 25 miles to get there. So if someone is concerned with where their money is going and asks if this clinic is even going to make a difference I can proudly say yes.

Throughout the week of building we threw all of our garbage in one long ditch to be cleaned up at the end. It was full of many things, bloody napkins from cleaning up injuries, old food, small animal droppings just overall garbage. I was transferring it into garbage bags with 4 other people who including myself all had gloves on, except for one. I looked over to see a Haitian worker so focused on getting the job done right, no complaining, no excuses just working hard. He had no gloves on.

I turned to my friend and said I donʼt know whatʼs worse the fact that heʼs cleaning up all this garbage without gloves, or the fact that he doesnʼt know that, thatʼs wrong. It was as if he was just so happy that someone gave him a job to do, even though it wasnʼt a big job it was important and he took pride in that. After taking that moment in and realizing how pure of a heart these people had I went to find gloves and gave them to him to put on.

My trip to Haiti was full of love and joy, the experience allowed me to look at life with a perspective of gratitude and overall appreciation for everything I have in my life. Spending the time, money, effort and making the decision to go to a third world country is not an easy one. A good friend once told me that something worth working towards is never easy, thatʼs what makes it great.