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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Giving a Little 'Moore'
June 04, 2008 | Ice Hockey
June 4, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - While most college students look for `fun in the sun' once the academic year closes, hockey's Brian Moore began his summer with a 10-day mission trip to Haiti with the Active Christians Today. The ACT group closed the month of May helping in the town of Port au Paix at a children's home. Read on learn how Moore helped to affect the lives of those less fortunate, and how they reciprocated with lessons of their own.
For photo's from Moore's Haitian Mission click here
If I had to characterize my mission trip with Active Christians Today (ACT) in Haiti in one word, it would have to be "intense". The condition of this third world country was already intense before we got there because of the rising food prices across the world. On April 18th riots began all over Haiti due to the rise in food prices and there was concern that our mission trip would not take place. However, in due time the turmoil declined and the mission trip went forward.
The night before we left for Haiti, we spent the evening at the ACT house right off of Wooster St. [in Bowling Green, Ohio]. We prayed and got to know the other members of the mission team that would be going down to Haiti for ten days. The following morning we woke up at 3:30am to drive to the Detroit airport for a 7:30 a.m. flight. Our first flight took us to the Miami International Airport and then from there we flew into Port au Prince, the capitol city of Haiti. Right from when we got off the plane I knew that this was a different world. We didn't use a normal terminal to get off but rather walked off the plane right on the runway. We then went through customs and experienced our first taste of Haitian culture, the "tap taps." "Tap taps" are trucks with built in benches for hauling anything. We loaded two of them, which is a process in itself because there were numerous people waiting outside the airport to help foreigners load their luggage into "tap taps" in hopes of getting paid for it. The chaos of it all was something I had never experienced and it was the first sign of how poor these people are and how far they would go to earn any kind of money.
After we loaded up we then spent the night in a guest house in Port au Prince. It was the last time we would get a taste of a somewhat affluent community because the guest house had a pool, showers, and electricity. The following morning we boarded a plane and flew to Port au Paix, the town where our mission trip would take place. We were picked up in a "tap tap" by the head missionary's son Daniel. As expected by the leader of our mission team, Dave Warner, our luggage did not arrive in Port au Paix the same time we did.
Our ride in the "tap tap" from the dirt strip airport to the mission was a culture shock to say the least; sitting off the back of that truck and observing the surrounding community was something I had only ever seen on CNN. There were woman carrying all sorts of things on their heads, others riding donkeys and mules, stray animals running around, and kids with very little clothing playing with all sorts of make-shift toys.
Once arriving to the children's home, which is the orphanage where our mission took place, we got situated on the roof of the mission by setting up our tents and air mattresses. Our luggage with all of our supplies didn't arrive until a day later so in the meantime we just played with the children and got used to our surroundings. It was then, while observing everything, that I realized that this place is a world of contrasts. The smiles on the children's faces were beautiful, and you could look of into the distance and see the beautiful island of Tortuga along with the beautiful ocean that separated the island from the mainland. You could also look up at the rolling mountains of Haiti and be amazed by its beautiful greenery, but once you looked closer to where you were standing you were brought back to the reality of this third world country. There was trash lying everywhere and these beautiful children were running around among everything, and quite often without any shoes on.
During our down time we were able to talk to the few Haitian kids who spoke a little English along with the Haitian Pastor there, Pastor Andy and his family. For the rest of my life I will never forget the conversation a few of us on the mission team had with Pastor Andy. We were talking about something that had to do with the fifty some odd Haitian orphans that were living in the children's home, and the topic of American born orphans came up. Pastor Andy interrupted us because he could not understand that there were orphans in America. We tried to explain it to him but he still had a hard time believing that there would be orphans in America since there is so much to go around. It was then that it dawned on me that he didn't understand that there are people in America that don't want their children and put them up for adoption.
In Haiti, the people literally cannot afford to have a child so they give them away. I was told that one child was found tied to a pole because his parents tried to offer him as a sacrifice to the voodoo demons that they felt were haunting them. However, it still seemed to be a foreign concept to Pastor Andy for people to give up their children because they were an inconvenience to their daily routine, not because they were incapable of raising their child. After that conversation I definitely felt embarrassed to be an American because of how incredibly selfish we so often are.
Once our luggage arrived our mission officially began. Like any Christian mission trip, the overall purpose is to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people by showing a serving and loving attitude along with discipleship. Throughout our time we did two Vacation Bible Schools, one of which was at a church by the airport that was a one room church with no roof. It was there that we also assisted in a food give away where we served everyone that attended the Vacation Bible School with one plate of rice and beans. That experience almost brought tears to my eyes to see how much that meant to them and to see how aggressive some of them became to receive their food. Some of us on the mission team were worried that there wouldn't be enough food for everyone but we prayed that God would provide and there was actually some left over for the Pastor and his family, but he refused to eat and instead gave it all to the people that came.
The second major project we did was painting the walls of the children's home compound where we were staying. We painted the walls white and the bars red. Two colors which are unforgiving on the eyes under the Haitian sun. This was another culture shock because of the crowd that we would attract while painting the walls. The Haitian children who were going to school in the church building next to us would come over during their recess and watch us paint. They seemed so fascinated in something that most American children would be disillusioned with.
The final aspect of our mission trip was the home visits. For me this was the most exciting part of our mission trip. I felt like it was being on the front lines of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To do this we got out of the compound and walked with Pastor Andy to the surrounding areas to visit some of the members of his church's congregation. We would go into their home and pray with them for anything they asked us to pray for. Almost every prayer was for healing or strength. We then would give the family a big zip lock back full of toiletries and other hygienic products that are in very short supply in Haiti.
What fascinated me the most about our home visits was the enthusiasm the Haitian people showed toward prayer. Almost all of them saw our back pack's full of gifts but they insisted upon prayer first. For me, seeing their spirituality was the pivotal moment of the entire mission trip. To see people with so little still put so much stock into something that most people in America seem to feel is outdated or not needed was impressive.
Even with all of this depravity that we witnessed throughout the rest of our time there, I would have to say that the Haitian people became missionaries to us. I felt like the Haitian people understood the privilege of life. In America we believe that we have a right to have the necessities of life. The people of Haiti understand that everything one experiences in life is a privilege. Even down to the very next breath you take, because tomorrow is not promised. So to teach them about having a strong relationship with Christ was something that I think all of us on the mission team ended up reminding ourselves of, because in the American society where everyone has so much we often lose sight of the fact that the only true guarantee in life that we have is that it will one day end, so all one can do is know the Lord and live everyday with the intention of leaving the world a better place than what you left it.
