How does one choose who gets to go to school and who stays home?
Who is it, in this crowded village full of faces that melt into the heat of the day, Who is it that finds the very lost and broken? And how does one choose?
Navaline lives in a one room clay packed home with 11 siblings and 7 adults. There is one room and no bed. Hanging in an empty corner are a few pairs of socks and underwear, strangely thin and past the days of being overly useful. Little three year old Navaline hurries out from the home while holding her pants around her waist, only about 3 sizes too big.
Her mother lifts her up to a old wooden chair sitting precariously in the uneven dirt in the dust of her small yard. A pristine uniform appears, as if out of nowhere and is tugged over her little head filled with red bows and the clips that tell the community "I am lucky enough to go to St. Bart's ."
Hiding behind the grandmothers skirts is a petite little girl wearing only an old pair of underwear now clipped together with a safety pin. Once they would have been a brilliant white, now they are dingy and dirty with large brown spots on the rear end.
As I walked closer her eyes got larger and larger and she moved further and further away. Haitian children have the most amazing eyes... The pupils against their gorgeous dark skin allow such contrast and suggests such innocence. At many times though, as was today, their eyes are just as dingy and yellow as that recycled underwear, and those eyes that demand medical attention that they no doubt will never receive.
As this wee one hid again from what was probably the first white woman she had ever seen I reached into my handy dandy trusty backpack to pull out a lacrosse ball. It perfectly matched the mango she held in her right hand. Stretching my hand way out in front of me, with my palm flat and the ball resting in my fingers I offered her the small gift. It was like yesterday when I fed the goats bean pods from the trees and they didn't quite trust me, they'd tentatively feel me out until finally they would snatch the treat and run away. With both our arms outstretched towards one another, she softly lifted the ball while never letting her gaze leave my eyes and slowly pulled it to her chest and she toddled away, still unsure of these strangers in her midst but pleased she had a new toy.
All the while, Navaline is being primped and prodded, wiped and straightened so no one would have a clue that this little girl, lucky enough to be found by Pere Bruno, lived in a one room too small home filled with little more than dirt and love.
We picked that adorable Navaline up and plopped her on Elmer's lap for her first ride in a car as she held on tight with wide eyes and a nervous smile.
And off to school she goes hand in hand with her spanking new sponsor from Warrenton - Isabelle.
Today, I do believe, both Isabelle and Navaline were found. Lost and found is a wonderful image. Throughout scripture we here of the lost coin, the lost sheep and of course the lost son and over and over again, each time one is found the whole company of heaven rejoices. After being here, after living and breathing this air and tasting the sweetness of Haitian life I know that God is here. I know that God uses so many of these dear people to go out and find those that are lost and even those that don't know they are lost. And He brings them home. Just as I know that God is finding me here as well.
Today I give thanks because I too get to join the company of heaven and sing with the 700 angels here at St. Bart's... "How Great Thou Art!" Dad shared a wonderful closing last night after devotions that I'd like to use now... May grace be with all those that God loves... And to those that ONLY God loves.
Carrie
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