Youth Nation

Yesterday, we met Pastor Emmanuel, of Mais Gate, Haiti. Pastor Emmanuel has served as the youth pastor at his church, La Bonne Nouvelle, for the last ten years. Today, he hear his word on the youth of Haiti, their faith and hopes, and how youth from abroad can encourage them.

“There are a lot of youth who were affected by this event who want a future. Right now, they’re pained to look to the future, because they’ve had everything taken away. I feel really troubled when I talk about Haiti’s situation because there are so many problems at every level: economic, political, cultural, sometimes spiritual.

Our schools hardly function anymore. The youth hope to go school, go to college, to have something to survive, buy food, find housing. They’re living on the margins. They feel alone because they’ve lost people close to them, their parents, their schools.

Now, some schools are reorganizing. But these schools are starting to reopen, they’re asking that the children pay tuition each month and no one has any money. It costs $50 for one month of school for a 15-year-old. Public schools are almost non-existent and the ones that exist are all facing terrible problems and are all about to close anyway.

So I tell the youth to have hope in God and in prayer. And it’s in prayer that they can take hope in a greater soul.

What I would like to share with other youth from other countries, is to come visit our youth, to give them a new sense of hope, to encourage them in their suffering. Because the way of hope in Haiti has obstacles and darkness.

After January 12, we had so many countries that came to help us, so we really saw that we can really count on our friends from the exterior. When we see Haiti in the news–on CNN, BBC, and all the big press agencies from all over the world–it will open the youth’s eyes to see that Haiti counts in the eyes of the international community. That pluri-cultural exchange would renew a lot of hope among our youth.

Hope isn’t something you can see, but if youth come from the outside and encourage us, the Haitian youth will think, There is hope. We can rebuild. It’s those words that those youth from the exterior are going to tell us. Haiti has a second chance, it can rise from the ashes, it can have hope. So, let’s do it!

The best thing for foreigners to do is to integrate themselves in the daily life of the Haitians, help them and counsel them. Integration means sleeping, living, eating with the Haitians, helping us in our daily lives. The foreigners can share with us their story and their way of life, the Bible, how they see the gospel, how they see the church of today. It’s important to have people who speak French (and we try to have people who speak English) so that there are good translators.

We have such similar praise and worship styles, too. Sometimes we sing American-style worship songs in English.

Our brothers should think of coming to see us and really see how we live. And, I’d like to send a really big thank you for participation from this mission [CHC].

I think of Matthew. “I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” That’s that Jesus visiting, Jesus is the living example. And he encourages us to do it, too.”