Haiti- Day 2- A Family Affair

Today was another interesting, tumultuous, and emotional day. The plan for the day was to take a quick trip to visit some family that we’ve never seen before...at least I’ve never seen them before. We all woke up at 4:00 am after having gone to sleep at the most indecent of hours laughing and re-living the crazy parts of the trip. The plan was to get on the road by 5:00 am, be where we needed to be by at least 8:30 and leave out by 1:00. The quote that comes to mind for me is “life is what happens when you’re busy planning it”….and so it did. We were coming up a mountain when our front right tire locked and we almost crashed into something. We got the car to back up but it wouldn’t go forward. Needless to say, things weren’t going according to plan. We spent almost 2 hours on the side of the HOT road bargaining with some mechanics about what they could possibly do for us. Luckily, God sent us someone who was genuinely trying to help us without scamming us because they could of…and we would’ve had no choice but to have fallen for it. After a while, the car gets fixed and we get back on the road. We figure, we’ve come too far to stop now, so onward and upward.  We even stopped by a beautiful beach for a breath of fresh air on the way to our destination.


We planned a surprise meeting with our family. They only thought that one person was coming, but what they didn’t know was that brothers that they hadn’t seen in 28 years were about to show up. It had been so long that they didn’t even recognize them. As the cameras rolled, we saw them try to figure out who they were and when they realized it was their brothers, it was nothing but love and amazement. We met cousins, uncles, nephews, and nieces. They cooked for us and we captured all of it on film. The climactic moment came when we did the final interview with the brothers and they expressed how they felt. It was such an emotional moment that you had no choice but to break down and give in to the moment. Tears of happiness, sadness, guilt, pain, anguish, and hope fell from the eyes of our family. The reality of the situation hit like a ton of bricks. It is so easy to be oblivious when you don’t see something, but when you do, no longer can you deny the truth. It was hard to see the heinous conditions that a family member has to endure and seeing that fueled a desire to be of help from everyone. A desire to maintain consistent communication rose up within us all. A desire to know that you are doing your part in helping someone’s future, developed. I can truly say that though it’s been 28 years, timing is everything, and this was when it was meant to happen. I know my grandfather is smiling down on us now with such joy that everything has come full circle.


For about an hour on the way back to our hotel, it was quiet. Everyone was in their own moment of reflection. At the end of the day, it made everyone better, even those who weren’t related.


Well, before I continue to go on and on, I’ll stop here. A word of wisdom before I go, don’t wait for time, because it won’t wait for you. Whatever you have to do or whatever you can do, do it now.

See you tomorrow...





Until next time...keep the forward movement...