CONASPEH And the Reason For Mission In Haiti

Today started with a trip to CONASPEH, a name many of us have been familiar with for a while, and to be able to go ourselves (or return, as was the case for two of our chaperones) was an honor to us all. We were able to visit the classrooms, meet students and teachers, and introduce ourselves and our mission to a multitude of individuals; this became quite an adventure with raucous cheering, singing and clapping, and interrogations of members from our youth group. After seeing the school, which has been completely reconstructed since the earthquake, the youth had the opportunity to socialize with Haitian students and grow our limited Creole and our knowledge of Haitian education and culture. Meeting the students was fun and talking with them helped us as we form our ideas about what it's like to live in Haiti and what it means to be Haitian. We then went, after sadly departing from our new friends (who we hope to see again on Friday) to the National History Museum, which is an interesting sight, as it resides underground. This museum was truly amazing, not only because for the first time I saw a king's actual crown in person, but because it widened our perspective and helped us fully understand what the history of Haiti is, for which I'm incredibly grateful especially because of how relevant their history remains in the situation of the country. We left the museum to visit a statue not far away commemorating the Hatian revolution. It was then that one of us ventured to bargain with a kind, and quite persistent (seeing as he'd followed us from the museum) art vendor. Next we returned to Walls Guest House, where we spent most of the remainder of the day having fun and bonding with each other, while swimming, playing cards, and singing in the rain.
Overall today was extremely fun, as has been a lot of our time on the mission trip, which made me wonder if there was more we could be doing, more ways to help than just to be there and learn, but I realized that meaningful mission comes through learning and sharing and understanding, not just physical labor, which doesn't provide real relief for the situation in Haiti or the Haitians. I don't believe Haiti's problems are something we can fix in a mission trip. Haiti will change at the hands of Haitians and in order to serve the purpose of positive change in Haiti we have to do what we can to support these people and their idea for Haiti. The first step in doing that is learning about Haiti and the Haitians and allowing them to learn from and about us. Today one of the bishops remarked that true mission is sharing, not charity, and that is exactly what I've found to be true. We could give all we want, our time, energy, money, but we could never give Haiti a lasting solution to any problem.
-Abigail