Haiti Reflections

It’s the fourth day back from my three week mission trip in Haiti. I sit back in the middle of the day reflecting on a couple of occurrences from today.
I was driving today and I noticed how smooth, and quick the roads are. The traffic lights exist, and they regulate traffic expediently. I can’t help but think about my friends in Haiti, and how they lack amenities such as good roads, and traffic lights.
Shopping in Home Depot was an unexpectedly reflective event for me. In Haiti department stores largely don’t exist. Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or it’s equivalent are comprised of hundreds of different stores and stalls that could be spread across the entire city. A monthly household shopping experience at your favourite department store will take you a minimum of a whole day in Haiti, fighting traffic, pollution and frustrated people as you traverse the city. It is a tremendous blessing (and we are largely unaware of it) that you can buy multiple items under one roof. While shopping for our construction materials in Haiti we had to visit four different stores of which none of them was larger than the cash register area of a medium to small sized Home Depot.
I can’t help but think about the forces that are responsible for such dire lack of services in Haiti versus an excess that exists here in North America. Is it greedy Haitian rulers over decades colluding which preying opportunisitic corporations and affluent nations that are responsible? No one thinks about the average Haitian left holding the bag.
My heart goes out to the common man in Haiti who has to suffer. These precious souls are typically unaware of the reasons behind their plight. I wonder if they are better off not knowing at all. In fact the many I have met have known no other life, having growing up in a chaotic and oppressive world, they have learnt to survive with what they have.
May God’s hand be upon Haiti. May his peace, progress and prosperity rest on this nation. May he call forth intercessors and labourers both within and without, into this great harvest field.