When the earthquake hit in Jan 2010, I saw the news on the internet 20 min after it happened. I read that it was a 7 plus magnitude in Port-au-Prince and that a handful of people were killed. I was at work and left for home completely shaken and trembling because I KNEW that this was going to be catastrophic. (Haiti is very close to me because I spent 6 yrs there as a child of missionary parents) I wept all the way home. I prayed and prayed for the injured and the survivors and the huge trauma that was going on at that very minute. Next day we started hearing that my worst fears were very real. I was so incredibly moved in my heart for the Haitian people that it surprised me. I felt like my own family was dying and then I realised how much I loved Haiti.
My brother in law and my sis Anthony and Darla have been in Haiti for a couple years by this time so I didn’t hesitate long. I bought a ticket and went to Haiti to see what could be done.. After a few days, Anthony and Darla told me that they had an idea for me. Their thought was that our family should move to Haiti and start a medical clinic in the mountain area, not even connected to the earthquake damaged area. I had already seen some of the daily mountain needs…. the burn victims, malnutrition, the maternity needs, and the lack of medical attention in the whole Southeast Haiti area. So this idea hit me in an incredibly warm, solid way. I prayed and called upon God for direction like I have never done for something before. I called my wife Candace in Ontario and explained what I was experiencing. She said this was an answer to our prayers and she was ready to go.
That evening I went down the hill and talked to our Haitian church brother Enil Henry, to ask him a few questions about what he thought of such a thing. We had a great talk till late at night. I asked him what he would think if we started some kind of clinic project and he got VERY excited. He told me that “by all means you really need to do this thing”, “in fact I will say it this way, think of all the people who will suffer if you do NOT do it.” He went on and told me the needs of that mountain community and they were the very same things that I had been thinking of. Nutrition, expectant mother’s needs, children’s medical problems and deworming, and also helping the people learn how to grow crops that will produce enough that they can feed their families. I staggered back to the house, crawled into my sleeping bag, and hardly slept that night. It seemed God was so close, and I spent the night praying, sleeping, waking, and praying some more. Everything seemed clear and solid that this was the thing for our family to pursue.
Many questions still unanswered about how this could work, but I had no doubts about the call that I felt.