Five Days in Haiti: A Woman Named Mary

I met many memorable people on this trip. From fellow sponsors, to Compassion staff, to Haitian kids and adults. But if I were to pick one person I met who made the biggest impression on me and whom I will never forget, it would be Mary.

Mary, in the pink shirt, Oveeus, our translator, Becca, co-leader of our group, and in the background, Child Survival Program Compassion staff member

I met Mary on our first home visit. A third of our group went to her home, and the others visited 2 different homes nearby. Our group walked thru a fairly narrow street, with concrete walls on both sides. Then we turned into an even narrower alley. This was where Mary lives. Her back wall was the concrete wall of the alley. She had a few wooden poles holding up some old sheets of metal and a bit of a flimsy old tarp. She had a table and a pot to cook in over a small charcoal fire. Very little else.

Thanks to Lynn for this photo

What Mary did have was - well, I have trouble finding words to describe it. First, let me tell you Mary’s story.

One day a young mother with twin baby boys came to where Mary lives. She was friendly to Mary (though Mary did not know her and they were not related). The twins’ mother told Mary she would help her, and she took Mary’s water container to fill it. She never came back. Mary has been taking care of the twin boys ever since. They were 15 months old when we visited.

Mary has a son, but he went to Port-au-Prince (to try to find work?) so he doesn’t help her. She told us she does not know what she would do, if it were not for the Child Survival Program. She said she has been so blessed by their help - with food and medicine for the babies and the love of the staff.

Becca, our Compassion co-leader, asked Mary to describe a typical day. Mary said,
“I sit here, and if it is a good day, I have something to eat.” Asked what the boys eat, she said “They eat anything. They like everything.” (We brought with us a box of staples, so hopefully they had "good days" for quite awhile after we left).

So, what does Mary have? She doesn’t have a shelter that is fit to live in. Some days she has food, somedays not. But she is blessed by God with love -- love for the boys, love from the Compassion staff who visit her, love from her neighbors who help her. She answered Becca’s questions about her belief in God and her love for Jesus with a resounding “Yes”.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. –Psalm 91:1

What can we learn from Mary? Juli Jarvis, who writes a blog called "Sheep Droppings" said it better than I can. In her blog post titled "A New Kind of Shelter", she says “I met people in Haiti that do not have very good shelters to live in, but who do understand and experience this greater shelter of God Himself. They have complete peace, trust, contentment and joy, even in spite of deep poverty and difficulty. This is why we need the poor as much as they need us; we need to grasp hold of this kind of faith and certainty, too, and we can learn from their great example of contentment and quiet faith.”

I have been debating whether I would share with you what I wrote in my journal the night after our visit to Mary. It seemed a bit melodramatic when I re-read it for the first time since I came back from Haiti. But after thinking it over, I realized what it says is exactly how I felt that day. So here it is:

November 8, 2012
Earthquake in Haiti

There was an earthquake in Haiti today
It didn’t make the news
No buildings were damaged
No lives were lost
It may have been of record duration though
It lasted much of the day and into the night.
The epicenter was in my heart.

It began in the morning
But the shaking was the most violent
At the home of an amazing woman named Mary.
Minor flooding occurred there, in the form of tears.
The shaking began to subside when I heard Mary speak
And saw Mary smile
and saw Mary hug twin blessings from God.

Mary has nothing that in America
we would not haul to the dump.
But Mary has more than many of us.
Mary has courage
Mary has faith
Mary has Jesus.