Hey everyone. So I have had some confused or concerned responses to this blog post that I want to clear up. No one 'made me mad' and caused me to write this posting- I am staying with and with out teams while I am in Haiti and sometimes am the fly in the wall, so I may be aware of things that I wouldn't typically notice. I may get frustrated watching the same situations happen over and over again though. The point I was trying to get across is that YES come to Haiti, volunteer, support missionaries, do good as we are commanded to. But,
When we give of ourselves to help the poor, to give money or your time, you need to be aware and respectful of the situation we are in.
1)You know that saying "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish, feed him forever"? it's like that.
Why is it that kids, and adults alike, come up to me and tell me to "Give them $1" or give them my shoes, or my watch, and then expect me to? Well, because this behavior has been reinforced. This is us not being aware of the situation we are in and we are contributing to the poverty in 3 world countries when we do this. Then we get to go back to home to our lives and feel good about ourselves.
2) Secondly, if you went to stay with a friend for a weekend, and your friend did not have as nice of a house as you, or they did not have all the foods you liked. Would you complain? Most likely not, you probably wouldn't even mention it. If there hot water was broken you would tell them not to worry about it. You wouldn't complain and ask why they hadn't fixed it yet. That would be rude. So why is it when we come and stay in other countries we will complain about the food, or the lack of hot water, or the lack of AC to people who run the guesthouses we stay in and to the missionaries. Its not easy to have a group of people come in, you have pre planning, meals, accommodation, work and 'fun' things planned so they don't get worn out. Most places bend over backwards to accommodate teams that come in, and we complain. This is not being respectful or the people that have worked hard to make our trips work, and make both them, and us, feel bad about it. Is is how we act spoiled.
I know most of my blog posting have been uplifting and I sound excited. Don't get me wrong- I still am! And I have an uplifting and exciting blog for my past week in Seguin (coming soon!) my trip is still going amazing, and. Am in the process of planning my time in July. I hope this cleared up any confusion, and did not just expand and make the original post harder to follow.
Much love
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