Left By the Side of the Road

As my mom and I were heading to the airport last Tues. we noticed something on the side of the road in front of us. As we came closer we recognized it was simply a big bag of trash that a truck had dropped. My mind flashed back to a couple of days before I came out of Haiti, a scene that weighs heavy on my heart and in my prayers.

On this particular day I was trying to wrap up some unfinished business for the groups we have coming in at the end of Jan. I went to go find Jocelyn to relay a few messages and ask him a few questions. I knocked on his door to see if he was home…no answer. Then I heard a young boy yelling my name down the street for my help. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but as I approached closer I recognized an elderly woman, in her 70’s, she had a torn, dirty, gown with dust and dirt caked on her from head to toe. I could tell by her weight and size that she was malnourished and in need of food. I probably could have picked her up myself and carried her home. She was throwing rocks at this boy. Yelling at him to get away with tears in her eyes and anger on her face. I recognized her…I had stopped one day to chat and get to know a group of elderly woman that were sitting outside under a tree and she was one of them. That particular day I asked if I could pray for them and they gave me a resounding YES, PLEASE. I gave them each kisses and told them that Jesus loved them and that I would continue to pray for them. 

I asked the young boy what he was doing. I was afraid he was picking on her or giving her a hard time,(which is common) but he told me he was trying to help her. He wasn’t family, so I wasn’t quite so sure he was actually helping. I calmed her down and asked if she needed help. She told me no and then I asked why she was sitting by the side of the road. She told me she was left there that no one would take care of her, that she was hungry and that no one would help her clean up. I asked her where she lived and she pointed down to where I had just come from. Before I arrived at this point I witnessed many people sitting outside their homes, but none were helping this sweet woman who I began to call Mama. I sat down with her and asked her if she could walk. She told me she could. I asked why she was sitting there again. She told me the same things and told me no one cares. At this moment there were people coming around and standing. I asked them if they knew her. They told me yes and told me she was crazy. I asked why they say this and they told me because she goes off walking on her own and doesn’t know how to get back. That she calls them names and uses bad language with them…that she has no idea where she is. I asked them where she lived and they pointed to the same place she told me. I told them…for someone who doesn’t know where she is, she knows where she lives. I asked “why is it that you are all gathering around this woman now that I am here? You all were alle sitting outside your homes and you could see what this young boy was doing…why did you not help her? She is worthy of respect, no matter if she is sick or not. She is your elder and you are to be looking out for her not allowing her to sit by the side of the road.”  At this point I was speaking with tears in my eyes and her grandson…who was actually translating for me (I didn’t know he was her grandson until I began speaking with the emotion I had). I asked again with even more emotion “Why are you now concerned about helping when I am here? You weren’t helping before!!!” They all just looked at me, probably thinking I was just as foolish, but I didn’t care. I was upset in the way they treated her and how they saw her. I was angered and frustrated that I couldn’t do more and that she was being treated like that bag of garbage I saw on the side of the road.

I asked Mama if I could help her walk home and she said yes. Her grandson took one side and took the other and we walked her home and sat her outside her home with her daughter and her sister. She told them I was her friend and that I cared for her. I had a long conversation with her grandson in how to treat his grandmother and with the respect that she deserves. I walked back home with such a heaviness in my heart. I wanted to give her food and clothing, but I knew that wasn’t what she needed or what this whole opportunity was about. I believe this day was meant for this corner of the community to see the importance of taking care of those left by the side of the road. Whether that is an elderly person, special needs child/adult, or baby(orphaned or not). In Haiti you will witness the disregard of all of these, any human life is not to be treated like garbage…we are all precious and worthy in God’s eyes. We are to defend the helpless not leave them by the side of the road!!!

The following day I ran into Mama again and she called out to me with such a joy and love in her voice. She looked a little cleaner than the day before and her countenance was more beautiful. I asked her if I could pray with her and she said yes, oh, yes.

Please join with me to pray for those that are left on the roadside. The elderly, special needs and children that are in need of love. Pray for their lives to be changed by the One who loves them unconditionally. Pray that Jesus will be revealed to them in ways that will hold strong in their hearts. Pray that the strongholds that have been passed down from generation to generation would be broken and that a revival would sweep across this land. Pray for the hearts of this community to be softened and for God’s truth to take root.

(the garbage bag that was dropped by the side of the road…the man stopped and turned back to pick up what he dropped, Oh how I pray for the people in this little corner to remember to do the same…to look out for Mama!!)

“Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds- his name is the Lord- and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” Psalm 67:4-5

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