Job Description 101 - Empowerment

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me what I am going to do in Haiti, I would have all my financial support and then some! Seriously. And rightfully so! It's a great question and one that I'm glad people are asking and caring and showing their interest.

But, if I'm honest, I sometimes hate that question. It seems like such a hard question to answer with not just a one or two sentence explanation. I don't know how to adequately answer it, so...let me take the time now to share with you how I would love to respond every time that question is asked:

Number 1...I struggle with that question because it is a loaded way for me to be saying what I will be 'doing' in Haiti. How I will perform, what will I achieve, a way to be measured. And yes, all of those things can be good and can be good motivators. But for me, they can become bad, very bad!

Because in essence that is NOT the point for going to Haiti. If I go just to do good works and be a good person and perform and achieve, well then, I have missed the point! I will get burned out, beaten down, and exhausted. Because, it's not about ME and what I do and how I do it, it's about God. His will. His plan. His purposes. If I go and learn to be more like Jesus and use THAT change to selflessly serve others...out of the overflow of my heart change, THEN, I will have served my purpose. God empowering me!

Number 2...With that being said, can I safely go into more detail about my job in Haiti and what I will be doing? Absolutely!

One of the big reasons I feel more comfortable making this move to Haiti is because I firmly believe in what AwakenHaiti is doing. Their goal is to empower people, and to empower Haitians. Empower them to change and grow and develop. Not just come in and do things for them and say "This is how its done and we are here to help and we will do it this way and we will do it all for you." NO, that is so not it! It's about life change and giving people the means to help them help themselves. To teach, encourage, affirm, guide, and love them!

And, as I have been thinking about this concept and how much I believe in it, I found an actual biblical explanation for this idea of empowerment. This excerpt is from the book Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell:

     "Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.' And it was so." The next verse is significant. "The land produced vegetation." Notice that it doesn't say, "God produced vegetation." God empowers the land to do something. He gives it the capacity to produce trees and shrubs and plants and bushes that produce fruit and seeds. God empowers creation to make more."

     This happens again in Genesis 1:22 when God blesses the creatures of the water and sky and then says, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." Once again God gives creation - here it is fish and birds - the ability to multiply and make more. God doesn't make more fish: God gives fish the ability to make more.

     God empowers creation to make more and in doing so loads it with potential. It is going to grow and change and move and not be the same today as it was yesterday, and tomorrow it will move another day forward. Creation is loaded with potential and possibility and promise. 

AwakenHaiti believes this and I firmly believe this! We have been called to help empower people, with God's help, to live as they were fully created to live. To use the potential, possibility, and promise that god has given us!


So, what does this all look like for me and what I will be 'doing':

1. My main title is Girls Home Coordinator. This means I will be spending lots of time at the Good Samaritan Girls Home. I will be teaching, mentoring, guiding, and assessing each girl. Over the two years that I am in Haiti, there is a hope that some sort of transition program will develop for the girls as they reach the age to leave the orphanage. This will look like finding each girls talents and gifts and finding how that will work in her future. One example of this would be to train a few girls in dental health and then allow them to move to Canaan (see #2 below) and work in the Medical Clinic as a dental hygienist. Using all aspects AwakenHaiti to empower her to provide a future for herself!

2. Canaan - the tent city where earthquake survivors had to relocate. AwakenHaiti works here with a Haitian pastor and is doing lots of construction and rebuilding. We have built a school, church, a few homes, and will begin construction on a medical clinic this summer. I will get to help with this area in some aspects, as needed. But one of the main goals here is to teach members of the church in Canaan the skills to be able to build themselves, so that possibly, someday AwakenHaiti can hire them to continue leading this construction and provide work and an income for their families. Empowerment!

3. The final purpose of AwakenHaiti is to provide opportunities for teams to come down and serve for a week in Haiti. Again, I will get to help with these teams, as needed. Teams vary on what they do but usually along the lines of medical, construction, and/or relationship building. By doing this, AwakenHaiti is empowering these teams to grow and change outside of their everyday life in the US or Canada. And to then take what they learned in Haiti and use it in their daily life, to empower change in themselves and the people they come in contact with everyday!

So...there you have it! In a nutshell (a big nutshell)! Hopefully this captures not only the essence of what I will be doing, but also the details of what I will be doing and why I will be doing them.