In memory of my mom, I gave 10% of my inheritance to my church’s fund for feeding Haitian school children. I can’t explain in a few words why these children have a special place in my heart. So, I wrote about it for my new unpublished book. Here is a draft of that chapter:
Chapter 9 – Second Haiti trip
My first missionary trip was successful. Not only did I make it there and back, I was energetic while I was there. I was able to contribute significantly to the various projects that we completed. Not only did I tolerate the Haitian heat, I thrived in it.
Most important is the reason that I wanted to go back. My motivation was generated by a small Haitian boy who crossed my path. Let’s face it, I am a sap when it comes to children.
On the fourth day of my first mission, they asked me if I wanted to go downtown to help pick up some corrugated roofing for a future project and I said: “Sure let’s go.”
In Haiti, most things are sold out of warehouses. There are not any retail stores like we have in the USA. The place we went to was nicknamed the “Home Depot” because the outside was orange and they sold construction material. That is where the similarity ended. It was just a warehouse full of lumber and other things like metal roofing. There was really no shopping. You told somebody what you wanted, and they brought it to your truck.
I and another missionary who came with us waited outside by the truck bed while a carpenter who was a more permanent mission resident went and bought the roofing. A cute little guy came up to me and started talking in Haitian. My guess was that he was about 7 years old. He smiled as he talked and occasionally, I heard the word “dollar.” This little guy had tons of personality and I did have a couple of dollars in my pocket which I could easily give to him. One of the rules we agreed to after we got to the mission is to not give anyone money, especially the children. The Haitians resented the missionaries giving money to the children because it caused family disunity.
It broke my heart that I could not reward this cute little guy for talking to me and making me feel wanted. I told the missionary about him and about my feelings. That little guy crossed my path and I wanted to show my love of Christ towards him and anyone else that crossed my path.
I could not really afford to go on that second trip to Haiti. I was running out of money. However, I remembered the poor widow of the temple that Jesus talked about:
Luke 21:1] As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. [2] He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. [3] “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. [4] All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
I want to do as Jesus teaches me, so, I went even though I couldn’t really afford it.
Starting the first day, I noticed that I was not tolerating the heat well. I needed to rest more often, and my neck started to severally ache. We were taking down and putting up a new roof on one of the mission houses. I thought that I was not used to reaching up over my head as much. I was also often dizzy.
On the fourth day, I woke up from a nap just before dinner. I got up too quickly. Before I knew what was happening, I fainted and collapsed on the floor. There was a chest freezer in front of me and I slid into the bottom of the freezer. My head smashed in the control section of the freezer. As I hit the floor, my jaw bounced off the floor. Even though I fainted, it hurt like heck. I must have made some loud noise hitting the floor and others came running to see what was happening. Fortunately, I was not seriously hurt, and the chest freezer kept on running.
That evening the mission leader, Dick came to me: “I’m concerned my friend, and I want you to help paint.”
The painting project was in the shade. I thought about it and decided I would do my best impression of Joe Biden after a man asked him if his mind was capable of being president.
I said to Dick: “Look fatty, you want to do some pushups with me. Let’s go right now.”
I then explained to Dick that I was trying to impersonate Joe Biden. Dick laughed at my antics. Dick had a good hearty laugh. Fortunately, for me Dick had seen the exchange between the 80 plus year overweight old man and Joe Biden.
I was embarrassed by not only my fainting, but that I was not tolerating the Haitian climate very well. I did all the painting that needed to be painted. I also helped on the roof after that. Anybody that knows me, knows that I like to keep my promises even if it kills me.
After the trip was over, I went to the doctor to see about my change in condition. The doctor said that since I lost 30 pounds, my blood pressure medication was too much and caused dizziness. I also was taking a diabetes medication called Jardiance which contributes to dehydration. I told Dick and my minister friend that I would have not gone to Haiti if I had known this. I apologized for being a burden. They graciously thanked me for going.
So, my future as a Haitian missionary had ended. I was sad because I still wanted to help that little cute Haitian boy and others like him.
My immediate future was that I was running out of money and I needed to sell my house to help resolve that problem.
If you want to learn more about Jim and Homey, please visit my website http://www.homeysadventures.com. You can read the first two chapters for free and also buy my book via the website. You can also buy my book from Amazon and other online retailers typing the words, “Homey’s Adventures by Jim Wish” into the search engine.
Jimwish.com 