A group of students from Southern Nazarene University (SNU) traveled to Haiti in May to host medical clinics, vacation Bible school and football (soccer) camp evangelism. Our trip was planned to bring relief to the earthquake-ravaged people in Haiti who are still trying to rebuild lives that were traumatized and destroyed when the quake hit on January 12.
A small seminary campus, Seminaire Nazareen Theologique, which was left strong, is an icon of God’s hope for these people. Pastor Walliere Pierre, president of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) Haiti, and students from the seminary campus have been ministering to the youth of Haiti through football (called soccer in some countries). Children, who now make their beds in the streets, come to this ministry with hope in their hearts. They find strength in their teachers and in their words. These teachers bring possibility amidst an endless battle of pain.
As the children arrive early every Saturday morning, they are led to the campus’ unadorned chapel. On May 22 I was blessed to see this glimpse of God’s kingdom. My friend, Simeon Jean, taught nearly 100 of Haiti’s youth about love and football. Despite the language barrier, I still felt the passion that permeated that small chapel. I heard young teenage boys cry out “Amen!” to Simeon’s words. I saw eager boys, perhaps 8 or 9 years old, praying with their heads bowed and their eyes firmly closed. I experienced God in that place.
“How do you show love while playing soccer?” Simeon asked the boys.
So many voices spoke out with answers to his questions. The attentive young men in that room know what love is. They understand what it means to have only love when their lives are emptied of everything except chaos and fear.
“Love is like your first step. It is what God gave us to share, so just do it,” my friend Mardochee taught me.
The Haitian culture is fundamentally ingrained in love. Indeed, these young warriors and all of Haiti understand a literal translation of what love is.
After a message beautifully expressed by Simeon, the boys were released to play football. Football, the hope of livelihood for so many in Haiti, is played with grace and dignity in Haiti. When one falls down another is there to pick up his brother.
As the adults that run this ministry watch the football game, the youngest children go to stand by their mentors, who are their teachers and their heroes. A bright permanent smile flashed across the faces of the boys when Pastor Walliere’s arms encircled the small shoulders of the young children. A sense of happiness and contentment surrounded that campus.
In addition to teaching and playing, every other Saturday includes teaching the children an occupational skill. A skill may be as simple as making a candle, but may offer these young people a hope for the future.
All of the ministries that happen on this seminary campus offer such hope in Haiti. Restoration is much more than rebuilding. Restoration sustains faith in the hopeless. Expectation and a brotherhood survive despite unimaginable heartache.
I saw God’s kingdom rise up out of the darkness in Haiti. I saw God’s word taught with passion. I felt myself change after meeting the people surrounded by poverty. I felt love and acceptance as I visited a pain-stricken nation. I saw a broken country become one that is fighting its way back. I felt God’s presence everywhere in Haiti.
-- Hope Bowers is a second year nursing student at Southern Nazarene University, and is considering international medical mission work in the future.