Grandma’s House! This is the theme that best captures a week in Haiti spent by twelve of the loveliest people one could hope to meet. We had 4 returning Britsionaries, 8 newbies, and were also joined by Shelby from BLB who has not been back to Britney’s Home since she was hired full time. I have to thank her right off the bat, because not only did she trust me enough to allow me to fully lead the group, despite her having far more experience than me. She had the humility to spend the week, in her words, “as a Britsionary for the first time since my first trip.” This team had a remarkable pedigree, one that I feel contributed in a major way to what has been by far my favorite week I have ever spent in Haiti. Every single member of our team was either a student themselves or a person who worked with youth professionally in a variety of capacities. We had seven teachers alone!! This commonality would become the thread that held together a tapestry of unique talents and abilities that has made me reflect on just how powerful a “service week” at Grandma’s house in Haiti can truly be.

We had a smooth ride and arrival to Brit’s Home. We were welcomed in the traditional and beautiful way: one first enters Brit’s Home, hearing a rendition of Hallelujah and then being crushed with love and affection. At our first rooftop reflection we explored, in great depth and details, Britney’s flaws, imperfections, and her reasons for coming to Haiti. We explored whether it seemed Britney had come to Haiti for Facebook pictures or to boost her resume or to heal some part of herself that was broken. We reached the conclusion, that no she had met the people of Haiti and decided to dedicate herself to standing beside them. I then asked the group to spend the rest of week, taking every single chance they could get, to evaluate: why did they come to Haiti, truthfully, and what was real reason they picked up that Blue book and got on the plane? Next, I gave them another notion to evaluate all week long: if you were ever to return to Brit’s Home or Haiti, why would you come back? Is the reason the same or different? At week’s end, the fruits of this reflection were profound and inspiring.

Sunday morning, as expected, was filled with praise and worship and sweat!!!! But our team didn’t seem to mind as they embraced our sweaty kids and each other praising the Lord. After a quick lunch, we were off to explore the wonderful town of Grand Goave. It was then that we were going to encounter a woman who would come to challenge our group, love our group, and empower our group to experience a build week that was just like every other in some ways, but entirely unique in a lot of small ones. Marie Francios is a visually striking woman well into her seventies or eighties. We drove halfway up the Mountain to Petit Goave and took a right into a very secluded neighborhood with about five homes around and nothing else. It was there that Madona introduced us to Marie Francios and her son, who was in his fifties. I could see the wind fall out of my group’s collective sails a bit. That night at reflection we dug into this. The group’s honesty was refreshing and brought out a phenomenal realization. Many in our group had an image in their heads of the family we would be building a house for: a mother and father and a bunch of adorable little ones. We talked about how we felt about Marie Francois, how badly we wanted her to have a home, and our hope that maybe her home could be a gathering place for the many young children we saw in her neighborhood. At the time, we could not have foreseen just how correct our assumption and hope was going to be.

The next day at the job site we met our co-workers for the week and began the process of building that yellow and blue safe haven. I was so impressed at how the Britsionaries did not shy away from the Haitian construction team but genuinely wanted to laugh, smile, and connect with them. Tom, our only male team member and a 6’4” mountain of sweetness, actually went up to many of them at the end of the day and through a butchered kreyol phrase he had learned hours before, told them that it was so nice to have met them. I was very touched. However, I think the most important realization on the job-site came because of music. We had a portable speaker that was playing a collection of Country, Top 40, 90’s jams, tom pitts, and angry metal-folk music. At first only a few kids came over to listen to the music. By the end of the day, there had to have been almost thirty people at the job site. Immediately realizing this, our construction breaks became impromptu dance sessions with the little kids, while Nikki and Katie handed out sunflower seeds and trail mix to the entire work crew and all of our invited guests. Even now writing this blog, I am experiencing an excess of liquid in my eyes thinking about the beauty of that moment. Amanda said it first and best, “music, food, dancing, and family” we’ve got a party!

Through a little digging via our wonderful companions and translators, Francky and Madona, we came to find out that most of these teens and almost all of the little kids were the grandchildren of Marie Francois. At that moment, we realized we were not building a house for an older woman who lived entirely alone. We were building the venue that would host probably every important event to take place in that neighborhood for the next twenty-five years. We were building a waterproof shelter for those kids to retreat to when their home might take on too much water. We were building the universal human experience of Grandma’s house right there in Grand Goave. Buckets of concrete moved a little faster after this. Hammer’s crashed a little harder, but to say spirits soared would be an immense understatement. It began what would be a week-long summer camp for the kids in the neighborhood, filled with dance routines and an including an hour-long praise and worship session in the back of a broken down tap tap (haitian truck taxi) that will stay with me for a long time.

Our team had a purpose, was focused, and driven to accomplish this united goal. They asked me to re-teach them the names of every single carpenter and mason so that they could greet them by name in the morning and when leaving the job site. They treated them like equals by teasing and laughing and joking alongside them. This team also nurtured each other physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Comfortability in our group was not a concern from the get-go. As a matter of fact, due to a few digestion issues amongst our team and the frequency and openness with which our squad discussed bowel movements, we named ourselves Team Mawon, which is the Haitian word for BROWN. If you’ve been to Haiti, you get it. If you haven’t, then you can imagine. But through all the nicks, scrapes, bumps, mini-fevers, and digestive issues, the team took genuine care of one another, and it was beautiful. The team also took care of two special people on our trip on their special day. Emily and Tom were experiencing their one-year anniversary on the roof in Haiti. Unbeknownst to them they were invited to private romantic dinner complete with cake at Fredo and Daphne’s Rooftop Restaurant. Biggest thank yous go out to Francky and the kitchen staff for their help in pulling that one off!

The week continued on in the same of fashion of faith, hope, and love for one another and the Haitians we were serving alongside. Before we knew it, it was Friday and we were presenting Marie Francois with her home, the quietest goat in all of Haiti, (SERIOUSLY, it did not make one noise in the 48 hours it was in our possession), and a custom cross for her to hang in her new home. This cross was made of a piece of string that held two wooden slats on Marie’s previous home and the metal that had held together the posts of her previous home. The metal was mangled, bent, and jagged. One of the Britsionaries, Amy, spent twenty minutes with a hammer bending and forcing the metal back into 7 uniform and smooth pieces. Once we got the metal back, Nikki tied the rope around it, forming a beautiful cross. On the back, she inscribed the initials of every Britsionary, Haitian worker, Shelby and me. At the bottom of the cross is an “A” with a heart over it. This is in remembrance of a wonderful little girl named Annie from Massachusetts, whom all of us carried in our hearts that week, but three Britsionaries in particular.

As we stood before Grandma’s house and turned it over to its wonderful new owner, we felt compelled to say a few words. We told Marie that, “We did not come to Haiti to build her a house with any pity or sorrow in our hearts, but rather as friends standing by her in a time of need.” Once again, a moment filled with excess water in the eyes. She smooched us each on the CHEEKS! Big wet grandma smooches delivered in a way only grandma can. After thirty minutes of goodbyes and hugs and even a little more dancing, we left her there on that hill with so much: a pregnant goat, a solar light to use after the sun went down, and a bed, on which her grand-kids were already jumping, and cooking supplies to last weeks or maybe months. However, with all that we had given we had received so much more. This is such a corny thing to say, and this is not lost on me, but truthfully, sometimes corny is good, because sometimes corny hits the nail on the head.

As I end this post and reflect on my first experience leading a group to Brit’s Home, I would like to share a few of the things that we as a group have learned. Firstly, service work is truly done best when the person you are serving and the people you are serving with do not feel served, rather supported by a friend, a fellow human being, and someone who experienced struggle, too. The second thing we learned is that with humility, love, and care, twelve separate people can become a genuine family that is capable of forming true bonds; that at night on the roof, that family can reflect on the some of the darkest and the brightest aspects of the human condition, so that each member of the family can move forward in their personal journeys. Finally, we learned that to label Brit’s Home an orphanage is a radical injustice. Kids in orphanages don’t have Papi Lens, men who love, direct and guide them through their lives. They certainly don’t have Mami Loves who are daily sources of love and compassion, who teach them the values that truly matter in life. Most certainly, children in orphanages don’t have Mami Cherylanns who provide meals and safety, along with unwavering love and support. Kids in orphanages do not have 65 permanent brothers and sisters who sacrifice and care for each other in ways that break ours heart every time we see them love another or care for one another (and we saw it too many times to count!) In light of this, I will no longer refer to BLB as an orphanage, and I don’t think any member of Team Mawon will. We simply can’t; not when we know the truth, the simple and remarkably corny truth, that Be Like is not an orphanage. It is, in fact, a family, one that all of the members of Team Mawon are now proud members of.