Wonderland

Welcome to my world of (Wonderland) most of you have heard of it before they call it Saint Vincent school for the handicapped in Port au Prince Haiti. I call it Wonderland because most of the time I come back from the trip full of many feelings. I wonder around in a dream like state of confusion and amazement. Having the story of God’s love and compassion play out in real time, like I have never felt or seen before. The power of the Holley Spirit is alive and thrives in a place where children dare to dream, of a better future, they have found there innate ability to love each other, help each other as brothers and sisters of a bigger family and force of Gods children. There zest for happiness is infectious their love for each other is so strong that they literally are teamed up together, for the greater good of all. It’s not unusual to see three or four of them walking together, one blind one deaf, one crippled, and together they take on all that life has to offer, the deaf one holds up the crippled one, or pushes him or her in a wheel chair, while the blind one holds the other end of the chair for safety. They do this with the beigest smile on their face and are laughing with each other, me on the other end of the hall my mouth is open and I just shake my head in amazement as the deaf girl flashes me the, I love you sing.

 If and when Jesus comes back to this earth I honestly expect him to know and be friends with these children. I actually have wondered if some of them can’t actually be him or her and he just hasn’t shown himself yet. It is honestly that magical there these children are constantly showing me what is important in life.

 The love of the children is common factor in all of the adults there they nurture and care for them as if they were their own. Is there ever a time when the children are frustrated and unhappy yes of course there are dealing with sever handicap’s can test the patients’ of any Saint. But there drive to overcome and succeed now that is what the school teaches and strives for its palatable you can taste it; it’s the very fiber of what makes me love them so. 

Am I happy when I am there? That’s something I wrestle with each time I go, it’s heartbreaking how little they have it’s a struggle for them in the past to just get enough food to develop normally. We play guess the child’s age a lot 14 year olds look to be 7 and dealing with that is a struggle. The anger of wanting to help more give them more is something I am working on but patients is not my strength.

Am I loved there yes completely and purely a fatherly love I hope. Big Boy is my nick name. They all come up and give me a hug usually patting or touching my belly it’s rare in Haiti to be my size so I think they want to see if it’s real.  With smiles on their faces and a look in their eyes that says in so many ways to me thanks for coming and making a difference. 

I hope we can together make a difference with these children lives thanks to our food packing event we have helped with the nourishment that was truly a blessing. The look in the Bishop of Haiti’s eyes when he started to tear up when he came to understand how we just gave his children all that food was something that I hope I will never forget. We touched him very deeply as you can imagine he was trying desperately to regain his composure he actually had to walk away for a moment to give a prayer of thanks. I am so happy that my church hade the spirit to hoist the packing event I feel that it was one of the best things I have been a part of it made me proud, and I was amazed at how we all came together to do something  that had such an impact on the children. After all it’s hard to worry about school when you are hungry and it’s hard to have energy to overcome your handicap’s without food .Most of what is wrong with the children has to do directly with a lack of proper nutrition.  

As Martin Luther King once said (I have a dream) I hope my church will take up the call for help that these children of God. They have been praying for us not only to feed them but actually adopt them into our Church family and help them to push that heavy stone they have to push that God gave them the burden of coping with their handy caps and not just surviving but excelling! I know in my heart they have the will and drive to succeed, they just need a little help to overcome the things they can’t control. My dream is that some day we can help the children actually go on to college? I never said it was a small dream or an easy one but then Gods work never is easy.  Remember in my story Jesus may actually be one of these children do you want to tell him or her that you didn’t want to help? Together we can make a tremendous impact on these children’s lives. I am sure there are many parables in the bible that my help drive home the point to you, but somehow they don’t compare with actually witnessing the presence of the Holy spirit loving and caring for some of the most blessed children I have ever experienced. Do me a favor and pray on it please!

John Mutin, paramedic