My Story: The Schiltz Family

So, I had a daughter dead set on a trip to Haiti and it was up to dear old dad to make this happen. After all, I’d asked! We attend Alpharetta Presbyterian Church in Alpharetta, Georgia and I’d heard of trips through a group of partner churches that Alpharetta was involved with. Vaguely remembering this, I thought this could be the way to fulfill Caroline’s birthday wish.

I spoke to our church liaison to the Haiti Partner group. I found out they were taking a trip to Haiti, actually to an island off the coast called La Gonâve. I started asking questions. Lots of them. This was all uncomfortable to me. I like electricity, air conditioning, three meals a day, my own truck. How do we get there? Where do we stay? What do we bring? What will we do there?

I received enough answers to bite the bullet and signed my daughter and me up for the next trip to La Gonâve. I could “play the part” and get through this. Caroline would get her wish to serve. In a few short days, I would be back home. Mission accomplished.

We gathered school supplies, clothes, shoes, eye glasses, and construction tools- all donated by friends and local merchants.

The day arrived. We loaded our items in crates, to be loaded onto a state-of-the-art airplane at the $1.4 billion dollar international terminal. At our gate, I noticed obvious missionary types. They were all filling water bottles, over and over; this made me panic a bit. Was this the last clean water we would see? Again, I’m uncomfortable. Caroline is smiling.

An uneventful flight ensued to Port-au-Prince. Beautiful sky-blue seas beneath us calmed me a bit. Then we started the descent. I looked at the ground and saw a bit of a mess. I’m a home builder and the houses looked stacked on top of each other; hundreds of thousands were visible as we landed. Now I was nervous again. Caroline was excited. I told myself that it was game time and quit being so selfish.

We landed and entered the PAP airport. I could see cracks in the airport floor from the 2010 earthquake that killed over 300,000 souls. We worked our way through Customs and loaded into a reserved van for the drive to a hotel. Port au Prince was an eye opener. So many people. Street vendors, animals in the road, and trucks filled with bananas, cows tied to trees, open air markets, motorcycles everywhere, and certainly many folks living in poverty.

Our bus rolled out of the congestion, north up Highway 1 into mainly rural areas. The road hugged the coast, the sun was setting. I could see boats on the water and the lights of Port-au-Prince behind us. I had an unusual sense of calm. I just accepted it.

We pulled into a really nice hotel, called Wahoo Bay. We went to the pool, swam in the blue ocean and could see La Gonâve across the water. We had a great relaxing supper and went to bed. Years later, I asked why Wahoo Bay? I was told it was a great transition from our lives in the United States to a different way of life in La Gonâve. It also demonstrates the beauty and potential of Haiti.

We had a fantastic breakfast at Wahoo Bay with fresh juices and great huevos rancheros. I told myself that we’d be back there in a few days, eating breakfast again, and I would be fine in the meantime. Caroline was still smiling.

We took a tap tap (an open-air taxi) from the hotel to a wharf filled with people. Some selling items, some waiting for boat transportation to La Gonâve, and some just hanging around. We boarded a ferry, along with dozens of people, for the 45-minute ride to La Gonâve. Our group traveled on the top deck of the ferry, sitting on bags of rice, oats, boxes of food. I sat on a casket. We traveled with live goats and chickens. I suddenly realized that the people on La Gonâve get everything by way of transport from the mainland. I was impressed that these people were able to live their lives with such inconvenience. It looked like quite an ordeal just to get the basics.

We landed on the island and started the process of unloading our belongings into a truck. We were met by a thin, tall man with a great attitude and bright smile. He was comforting. He spoke English. This man’s name was Claude. I was relieved to find my “first friend” on La Gonâve.

Leaving the wharf, the first thing I noticed was a sow pig and piglets laying in a puddle on the dirt road. Not something one sees every day in the U.S. We arrived at St. Francis school in Anse a Galets, our headquarters and home for the week. We were welcomed by a deep-voiced clergyman named Pere Vil, the Priest-in Charge and the main contact with the La Gonâve Haiti Partners. He led a parish of 10 churches who helped their communities with healthcare, education, infrastructure needs, micro-finance, food insecurities, etc. This man was impressive. When he spoke, people listened. We ate supper with Pere Vil and discussed the week. Alpharetta Presbyterian’s sister church and school on La Gonâve is in a community called Ticotelette, a rough ride of about an hour up the mountainside from Anse a Galets.

The next morning, a Sunday, Claude took us up the rough road to worship with the people of our sister church of Les St. Innocents. As we arrived, we heard the congregation singing loudly. A welcome song that literally had me on the verge of tears. They were truly excited to see us. We introduced ourselves by way of a few great interpreters. Smiles all around. We worshiped with them, with short pauses so our interpreters could relay the gospel lessons to us. We held hands and prayed together. I thought at the same time, 11:00 AM in Alpharetta, Georgia, we were all worshiping the same God. How awesome. I could tell they were Christians by their love.

The week went on, with our trips up and down the mountain to work with the community to accomplish tasks together with the supplies we brought. We worked on the gutter slope (to cisterns) with zip ties and used our donated tools to build much needed school desk/church pews (one and the same). We demonstrated the building technique and turned the group loose to create the benches. Caroline’s group played games, created artwork, danced, played soccer, and generally just had fun. Now everybody was smiling.

Before our trip, Caroline saw a small, inflatable, solar light on the show “Shark Tank;” she contacted the entrepreneurs who made the presentation on TV and they gladly sent her boxes full of these lights. We delivered the lights to homes in the area. On a return trip, we were told, yes, they still work and you can see the solar light glow across the hillside. I also found out that the hammers, saws, and screwdrivers we brought were being offered by the church to the community like a library book, to be “checked out” for home repairs, etc.

The people of La Gonâve and the community of Ti Cotelette made me feel like a different man. I could feel God’s love in me. I could feel appreciation for our visit without physically doing hardly anything for them. They could tell we were Christians by our love.

My prior hesitation and pessimistic attitude about the trip was based on uncertainty. I found God will fill your heart with the love and peace that I found while serving in a “ministry of presence” in a land so unlike mine. God filled me with a peace I had never felt before. As hard as life is on that island, somebody noted, ”I’ve seen more frowns in the Wal-Mart in Alpharetta, Georgia than along the dirt roads connecting these communities on an island that even Haiti forgets.”

I look back and clearly see that God was calling me to experience this. I did not want to go. I have explained that. Now I feel like it was one of the most important experiences in my life.The trip clearly taught me to listen to God, not my own selfish thoughts.

Today, both Caroline and I serve on the Board of the Partnership. I am not sure how you go from my original mindset to helping lead the organization. It is not for me to figure out. God laid it all out in front of me. Now I will listen.

Randy Schiltz