haiti - anything is possible

the job i was assigned to do in haiti was dirty.  it was difficult.  but rewarding nonetheless.  rewarding for me in intangible ways.  it is where i learned that anything is possible.  we worked at frere manse.  the pastor's home.  but he was not the pastor of the church at the frere manse campus.  see.  it's complicated.  always.  but pastor fed lived at frere manse for the time being, and it was structurally damaged in the earthquake.  it needed to be repaired.  his real home,  that he and his wife violet {vee-o-let} lived in before the earthquake, was damaged beyond repair.  he was kind of our project manager.  or maybe she was.  anything is possible.

every day we would chip away at the stucco concrete-ish plaster that covered the brick/ rock layer of building beneath. we were careful not to get plaster in the water well inside.  {and it just dawned on me that they had inside water.  even if they did have to gather it in buckets to use.  that is no little thing.}  i used a hammer and pry bar for at least 5 hours a day.  i had gloves, a mask and goggles.  i also had blisters.  but, truly, i had very little in the way of aches and pains to complain about.  anything is possible.

i pushed myself further than i've ever gone physically.  simply because i wanted to work THAT hard every day.  i put aside any discomfort because i wanted hard, hard work.  but on the very last day, i stood on the ladder.  i made my way around the room chipping away.  my arms were done.  with a capital D.  in walks pastor tom, who oversees the guest house.  i said, "i think i will not be able to finish what is left of this room."  he said, "yes, you will.  anything is possible."

he was right, you know.  i found that anything is possible in haiti.  and those words have become my mantra.  anything is possible. 

{photo credit to my team member cathy whitlatch}

today a new leader was announced in haiti.  a rock star, now president.  anything is possible.  the woman who lost the election was one of the educated elite.  a likely candidate for president.  dismissed.  anything is possible. 

{photo credit to my team member cathy whitlatch}

i don't know what haiti will look like with a new leader.  because...{say it with me} anything is possible.  hurricanes, earthquakes, and cholera.  those things happen.  growth, survival, and hope.  those things happen, too.  someday hard work pays off.  someday there is a reward for the challenges endured.  not always on the time frame we choose.  i sit here so far away, now, from haiti.  knowing so little about it's complexities.  wondering about how far i travelled to put those pieces of faith together.  and i say a little prayer in my heart for the people who have put their hopes into this rock star.  for those who didn't.  that he can live up to their expectations.  maybe in this lifetime.  and the one thing i know deep inside is that especially in haiti, anything is possible.