In the morning I awaken to the sounds of chicken, goats, and birds. I can hear the breeze blowing through the trees. And then I hear a baby laughing my heart is filled with joy. Then I walk to the home of the family who cooks for me . Julie, her daughter and niece are doing laundry. She asks me “Do you know how to wash Angelica?” No I don’t’ I have tried and think I am doing what it takes to wash the clothes by hand but I don’t make the right squishy noise. I wish I could help, but then again a piece of me is happy I don’t know how. And I know that it gives someone else a job too. It is a lot of work. Think of washing your whole family’s laundry by hand. Julie says life in Haiti is miserable. I ask because of the laundry? “Yes,” she responds, “ we don’t have machines like you do in your county.”
I am sad and I try and voice what I experience this morning – the beauty of Haiti. And yet as I watch Julie scrub and wash that white blouse by hand; I realize how complex it is to understand someone else’s point of view of their world. It is not a simple task to understand people where they are at and learn from them and discover what you might have to offer them to make the whole world a better place. And yet we need to continue to keep our mind open and try.
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