When I woke up at 2:00am Saturday morning to head to the airport, the only thought running through my head was, “I hope this team is as excited as I am.” It has been almost a year since I have been back to Haiti, and having a team of mostly first time visitors with a few returnees made the anticipation of getting to Brit’s Home even stronger. This week I was privileged to watch a group of 14 strangers from all over the country (and one from across the pond) come together and call each other family while falling in love with the Haitian culture and community.

This was my seventh trip to Brit’s Home, and every time we arrive to the children singing I tear up. Being welcomed into their environment with so much love and joy will never get old. The tears continued as we attended church Sunday morning at Mission of Hope International, listening to the countless worship songs and prayers. Sunday is always my favorite day because everyone on the team becomes fully immersed in the Grand Goave community. Between attending church, visiting the Food for the Poor fishing village, and spending the afternoon playing with the children, you begin to understand why Britney fell in love with this country.

Being the team leader, I tried to anticipate every possible circumstance that could happen throughout the week. But in typical “it’s Haiti” fashion I did not plan on rain for three days straight. It was warmer and sunnier in Massachusetts than it was in Haiti! While the weather had me worried about the build-a-home project, the team embraced the cold and the mud like this was nothing new to them. No one complained about the six inches of mud they trudged through getting to the work site each morning, even when they had to carry all of the plywood to the worksite from Brit’s home. Everyone put their heart and soul into building this house for a family of eight, and I will always remember their positivity, dedication, and cooperation while building this home.

Another first for myself and the team was experiencing Flag Day in Haiti. Although I knew the Haitian people are extremely proud of their heritage, I had no idea that Flag Day was so extravagantly celebrated. We joined the BLB staff and children at St. Francois school for an afternoon of singing, dancing, hugging and love all in honor of the Haitian Flag. A highlight of this afternoon was watching Christ-Love compete in a sack race against other children in the community. As he pulled ahead in the final stretch of the race everyone from BLB started screaming, cheering, running and finally lifting him in the air as he crossed the finish line in 1st place. It was a win for the entire BLB family with everyone celebrating like Christ-Love had won a gold medal in the Olympics. 

After many days of hard work, dance parties, studying Creole, chasing children around the Field of Hope, sitting in on English classes, and hiking through the endless mud, I am blessed to say I have a new family within Team Sparkplug (named after our truck battery dying on multiple outings). People from all walks of life chose to come together to spend a week building a house for a family they’d never met, embracing the children at Brit’s home with open arms, and reminded me that faith, hope, and love are all you need. 

Shelby Hutchinson