The "haves" and the "have nots"

Many of you already know that I’m working at a school consisting of Haitian students from elite families as well as missionaries’ kids. 

It’s been a confronting experience to live in Haiti and experience both wealth and poverty on a daily basis.  I will try to explain though I’m still processing these thoughts and feelings….

Back home in Australia I lived among the middle class.  I could walk down the street without being “different”; I could carry bags of groceries to my car without looking wealthy.  My daily errands were “normal” to most Australians; my possessions were nothing out of the norm for the society I lived in.

Now that I’m in Haiti I feel like I’ve automatically entered a different class through no effort of my own. My material wealth has not changed but I feel like I’ve moved to the upper class.  I’m one of the few who can afford to buy imported food, such as cereal, from the supermarket; I live in a comfortable home as opposed to a tent or in a slum city; I have a maid who cleans my home twice a week and washes my clothes; I have a job, as opposed to the 80% who don’t… and the list goes on. 

Why is this confronting? 

I’m not the type who likes to be noticed.  But here in Haiti I cannot hide! As a white person I am now the minority.  Heads turn wherever my colleagues and I walk; we are “different” from the majority in Haiti; different in physical appearance, cultural background, education and ownership of material possessions.

I am still trying to work through this uncomfortable feeling of having more than most. I’ve been reading an excellent book by Corbett and Fikkert, titled “When helping hurts”. I know that giving handouts of food and money will not satisfy this uncomfortable feeling; nor will it help these people become independent.  The book strongly suggests that handouts are not the solution to alleviating poverty; they often do more harm than good by reinforcing that white people are superior to the “poor” as well as affirming the feelings of shame associated with poverty.

But all this head knowledge is hard to swallow whenever you walk down the street and a child asks you for money or something to eat.  What should my response be?  

I’m not seeking your answers; I don’t believe there is a right formula for each unique situation. But I am seeking God’s answer… He loves these people and I know He wants to restore their lives.

What does it look like to partner with God and His purpose in Haiti?