7.23.2010

Today we went to Ansafleur. It is the voodoo capital of Haiti (and some say the world). We thought it might be a big trip because a few had been cancelled lately, but it ended up just being our group and a few staff members. It was great to be able to really hear the stories and learn about the culture from the people that are immersed in it. We were lead around by Josh, who has been here (for anything from 2 week trips to summer long trips) for the past 10 years or so.

We took the truck to Ansafleur. The ride was about an hour or so. We saw a lot of the country that way. We saw everything from the slums to the coastline.

We hiked up to the monument. There is a lot of history there. There was a church there and they had dedicated the land to Christianity (probably 200+ years ago). The church put up this HUGE cross in the mountains to declare the land for God. A while after that it was struck by lightning and it broke apart (obviously because it was the highest point which is why the lightning was attracted to it). The people thought it was a sign from Satan that he was angry with them and taking the land back. They also said that when the lightning struck that a small porcelain doll feel from the sky (it is a black doll with one eye open and one eye closed - somehow showing the impending doom coming). Now they worship the doll - St. Ange. How sad, huh?

The hike up to the monument was steep and rocky. It was difficult in most areas to keep stable. On the way up the hill there were many people stopped along the way. There were people worshipping and praying and sacrificing. They would pour alcohol on the rocks to burn them (make them into candles). The burning makes the rocks black (and quite satanic looking). We saw people along the way up to the monument that had rocks on their head. We asked Josh what they were doing. He said that just like we use the symbolism of heavy burdens and laying them at the feet of the cross (Jesus taking our yoke and giving us His), they were using the rocks as symbols.

Before I forget, we didn't take any pictures. We don't want it to be a spectacle or disrespectful. The mission has worked for a long time to allow people the ability to enter the monument and temple as guests, so we would not want to harm that relationship. We wanted to be sure that we are respectful of the culture. It is not to go in and flip tables, but to see how ingrained voodoo is in their culture.

Just like in America, there are sermons that Christians 'turn their ears off to' (like greed or giving), the Haitians turn their ears off to the monotheism sermons. They said that the country is 80% catholic, but 95% voodoo. They worship the same God as us, and they consider Him the 'good' god, but they also worship Satan and many other gods. They spend most of their time trying to keep all of these gods at bay and pleased with them (and why would they need to spend time pleasing a good god that isn't there to hurt them like most of the others are).

After we went to the monument, we walked over to the voodoo temple. People pay to stay there. They will stay there to pray or sacrifice for their sick friends or family members. They will stay there until they get word that the person is better or that they have died. They believe that if the person dies that they didn't pray enough or sacrifice enough.

We went upstairs into one of the small rooms. They were rooms for worship and prayer. There are 3 rooms. Each of them have a small doll in the wall (the ones that they say fell from the sky from Satan).

It was interesting what Josh said while we were up in the room. He said that it reminded him of one of the Numa videos. They happened to be painting in the room we went in. He said that in the video they were talking about how the word 'spirit' comes from the word 'breath' like when we breath in and we breath in the spirit (and when we stop breathing out spirit leaves our body). Josh said that he thought it was symbolic that it was hard to breath (literally because of the fumes) because it was spiritually so dark there, but that we still needed to breath so that we could let the spirit in that place.

After we came down from the worship room we walked through the compound and went out back. They had a small pond that they called their 'holy water'. They use it to cleanse their offerings before sacrificing them as well as for individual cleansing. It is sort of like a demonic baptism. They say that if the person drowns or something happens to them it was because they didn't have enough faith. The pond looks more like stagnate mud, but to them, they consider is holy.

[We were told on the following days trip to the temple that the group had witnessed a woman having sex with a goat and then slaughtering the goat. I am thankful that I was not there to witness that.]

We went over to a local restaurant for lunch. It was a small (but good) buffet. The lady made us all this great food (pasta salad, a spicy slaw, fried plantains, chicken, and rice and beans). I, of course, did not eat the meat, but everyone raved about it. The lady said that we could go to their private beach to swim if we wanted (I'm not sure if it is always an arrangement or not), so we gave her some money to let us on the property and headed over to the compound. The guys swam and the girls played with some of the kids around there and sat in the shade. The kids loved having their pictures taken and then looking at them - so we did that while they played in the water and then would run to the shore for a good while.

On the way back to campus Josh was going to get out at a home to visit. He asked us if we'd like to come along, so we all dot out. Apparently only about 30% of the orphans here actually have no family. The other 70% have family, but they just don't have the resources to care for them. It happened to be the mother's house of two of the orphans that stay at the mission (and Josh had them living with him for 2 months after school let out before they went back to stay with their mom for a few weeks). It was cool to get to sit on their porch, hang out and pray with them.

I wonder how hard it would be to have to admit that you can't care for your child and send them away. I guess if 70% are like that and it is so common that maybe it is more acceptable. It seems like that is a much better option (housing, schooling, care, etc), than some alternatives that people do in other areas - selling their kids, pimping them out (putting them into the sex trade), etc.

We got back just in time today (God has really blessed out timing this week). The down-pour started about 20 minutes after we got back. It was so loud that you could barely hear the person next to you speak. Hopefully the tropical depression leaves soon. Thankfully the rain has kept the temperatures down and the bugs away. I was worried when I saw the forecast (for Port au Prince) that the rain would make it so sticky, but it hasn't really. I mean we are constantly sticky feeling, but it isn't as humid as I thought it would be (I was picturing the rain evaporating from the ground so it looked like steam).

Josh told us a story while we were waiting to go on our hike to the monument. He said the story was originally from Jody (who was on staff for a while but just flew back to the USA). He said that we needed to put on our Jesus bubble and our Jesus smile. He was talking about Extreme Makeover Home Edition. When they chant 'Move That Bus' they show the families faces before they show the house. You can tell that the home is beautiful just by the looks on their faces. That is what we need to do. Show how good and beautiful our Lord is, just by the looks on our faces.