It Is Good To Feel Hungry

One of my college roommates and teammates leaves today for Haiti, for a city called Jacmel, about 25 miles south of Port au Prince. She is going with a team to rebuild some homes, visit children in an orphanage, and share the Gospel. As I think of Haiti and what she is about to witness, the work she is about to do, the love she can share, and the work she and her team can do, I am in tears. Not just a small tear trickling out of my eye, but many, many tears. There are things about Haiti I do not miss-- the heat and humidity and drenching my scrubs multiple times a day (after a week of oppressive heat and humidity in WI, how did I ever survive in Haiti?), the dirt and dust everywhere, the lack of fresh running water... but there are so many things I do miss and feel as though a part of me was left behind in Haiti and lives and breathes to hear how the people and patients are doing there. Yesterday I was in surgery all day, and we had a couple of long cases. I lost track of time and didn't realize it was as late as it was already, and on a break between cases, did not think to eat lunch. As I scrubbed my arms and hands and donned the gown and gloves, I came to the conclusion that it is good for me to feel hunger now and then and to not be able to immediately satisfy it with a sack lunch, a trip to my pantry (or even the luxurious refrigerator), or to a drivethru restaurant. I felt hunger, albeit minor hunger pangs. And as I was hungry, I thought of all those patients and hospital staff and translators who are lucky to get one meal a day. One meal. They work on empty, hungry stomachs daily. They go to sleep hungry and wake up hungry. They live hungry.

This picture was taken by a NY Times staff member reporting on orphans in PAP (Credit: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times). Yes, I cried for this baby, too, and her twin sister, all the ones like her who are malnourished and struggling to survive in Haiti and who have nothing. I cried for the husbands mourning the awful deaths of their wives, the mothers mourning their babies being crushed, the children suffering night terrors from PTSD after losing their parents and brothers and sisters. And yet, they go on. They struggle to find work to buy food and care for their remaning family. They work to rebuild their homes and lives, and to find medical care for their loved ones.

³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25: 37-40

So, go, Amanda. Go to Haiti and make a difference; build a house for even one family, clothe a woman, feed and play with a child, bring bandages and medical supplies, make a disciple. My thoughts, prayers, and heart are all with you as you go. Be changed and make a change, even if it's just one person-- it can be for eternity.


For more pictures and to read about the orphans in just one orphanage there, go to slideshow and article.