Hope Floats (by Gordon Gilchrist)

...or, more to the point, hope stays dry. I am done taking damaged building pictures. I can’t take another. I have seen enough darkness. I know it is there; I don’t need any more reminding. I need all my attention to be focussed on looking to the light. Hope is contagious. I caught it from the people in Camp Thor.

Things have changed in Port au Prince in the last month--some good, some not so good. I want to build on the good. When we arrived at Camp Thor a month ago, the mood was one of desperation, despair, and just a hint of hope. Not everyone believed that we would do anything other than look and leave--a pattern they had witnessed many times before. The mood that dominated was the never-ending tension in the camp. Sometimes it would flare up and then ebb a bit, but it was always there.

Today the predominant mood in Camp Thor is hope. People are smiling; kids are playing, making kites and laughing. Don’t get me wrong: there are huge problems still, but the mood has switched from tension to hope. There has not been a food delivery since ABW delivered food last month; the water money has dried up, so to speak; and employment is still scarce. But even in the face of all this, hope rises above all.

Why the change? Well, water makes a huge difference. Being able to wash your clothes, your hair, drink without fearing disease--these are huge factors--but the shelter project has added even more hope. Eleven men have steady work and will continue to have a job after this project ends. Families have a chance to be dry during the rain as soon as the roof is done. They move into the shelters during the night and move out during the day to complete the work. I noticed that my pictures taken in the camp this time have many smiling faces.

With such massive problems, why smile? Too many of us concentrate on what we don’t have instead of concentrating on what we do have. I admire the hope that floats through the camp. Some rubbed off on me, and I too have more hope. We all need to spend more time thinking about what we have and be thankful.

Out of the Darkness and Into the Light

I have never experienced pitch black nor pure light. My life has been spent in the continuum between darkness and light. December 21st is a banner day in my house, because that is when the hope for more light begins. This has been a particularly dark fall. I quit writing this blog after Christmas partly because I wasn't sure if anyone was still reading it and partly because I didn't feel I had anything worth saying. It seems the days are getting longer now, however, and the light has returned to my life.

I believe we require a balance between darkness and light in our daily life. Too much of either is not healthy. Our lives can appear dark for many reasons: short days, no power, or tinted glasses to name a few. But I think sometimes the darkness is there simply because I forget to open my eyes and see. Often the light is there, has been there perhaps for many years, but I just don't open my eyes to see.

En route to Haiti as part of A Better World's assistance team for that devastated country, I arrived in the Dominican Republic and was asked what I thought of Santa Domingo last night. I had to reply that it was "dark." We had landed during the night and had no reference for what it would look like in the morning. But in spite of the darkness last night, morning came--as it always does.

Sometimes things look dark just because of what we compare it to. That's what the contrast slider is for! A little fiddling with the contrast control can fix this particular problem in a hurry. Being here in Haiti has quickly moved my contrast slider to the bright side for my life! Darkness and light are relative terms that cannot be expressed in isolation. Our lives are best viewed in relative terms, too. Recent events have reminded me of the importance of opening my eyes to see. The days are getting longer and relatively speaking, my future's so bright, I have to wear shades!

Keep the people of Haiti in your hearts, your prayers, or at least in the front of your mind.

P.S. Write a comment every now and then so I know you are out there.