Community College Volunteers Preparing for Haiti Trip

Watertown Daily Times | JCC volunteers preparing for Haiti trip

Here we go! This is great right? College kids giving up their spring break to go and make a difference. I love it. I love the idea behind it. I wish everyone shared the same compassion.

Please take a minute and read into the context of this article.

Some quotes that I'd like to call attention to in the article:

"We've talked about this being a life-changing experience," said Gail W. Miller, executive director of outreach at the college. "When you leave the ivory tower, so to speak, and you're doing something different in a community, it's a tremendous opportunity to learn. I don't think we will have the same thinking when we come back."

"I want to get down there and connect with the Haitian people and let them know they're not alone and they haven't been deserted," said student Barbara E. Roberts. "I want to do what I can to help brighten someone's day in a country that's so unstable."

"I'm not sure what to expect," Mr. Dobransky said. "I'm not sure we can brace ourselves for what we're going to see there."

No you probably can't brace yourself for what you are going to see there. There is absolutely no way to brace yourself. In a single day you can drive through one of the world's worst ghettos rife with crime, drug and human trafficking and unparalleled poverty then suddenly find yourself in one of the most beautiful tropical forests you have ever seen. Then suddenly, you turn a corner and beach front mansions spread out in front of you. There are filthy disease infested tent cities, clean and well organized tent cities. Ghettos with streets covered in refuse and neighborhoods like any you might see in any other Caribbean nation.

It is amazing to me to consider what it was like to see and experience it for the first time. On one hand it is far better than anyone probably realizes and on the other far worse. Probably the hardest question in the world to answer when you return home is, "So how was it?"

"Umm... eye-opening, heart-breaking, awe-inspiring, depressing, rewarding, stressful, edifying, humbling..." 


I want to describe for you the Haiti experience so that you can be inspired to step out of he comfort zone and serve the entire world. That's really not as easy as it sounds.


Right now my heart is certainly in Haiti. This undoubtedly because of the recent devastation and people that I met there. God wants us to have a heart for every corner of the planet though. As you consider your support for our mission, please also be in prayer about what God would have you do for (or in) other parts of the world as well.


Take a minute and let your heart break for a moment. Its good for you.