Mondays are supposed to be tough. But today was especially tough for me. Today was the day we were supposed to go back into our world, dress up, and conduct business as usual. It was not a typical Monday for me. My thoughts and emotions were running wild. I couldn’t concentrate. You would think that coming home to my soft bed, air conditioning, and a paying job would be exciting after spending a week in a third world country. At least that is how I thought I would feel before I left the States on July 31. I had no idea what to expect of Haiti.

Let me explain first that I have never really been outside of the country before; the closest to poverty I have experienced is seeing Atlanta’s homeless shelters. All I could think of this morning when I sat down at my desk is that right now in Haiti a mother of four is sitting on the side of a dirt road trying to sell homemade crafts so that she can feed her children. The problem is there are thousands of mothers in Haiti sitting on sides of roads selling things to feed their children. I also thought about the fact that today is the first day back to school for many children here in Atlanta. When the first bell rang in our schools there are children in Haiti that should be experiencing an education that are not able to. Thoughts like this have crossed my mind all day.

What I have experienced last week was so foreign to me that I had a very difficult time adjusting back to my life. Like everyone after the earthquake I watched the news and read the headlines in the papers but nothing compared to experiencing Haiti first hand. Haiti is no longer a distant world to me; I can now connect faces and smiles with it. I can see guys like Numa, Jude, and Jean Marc and know that there is hope. I can see the pastor and his wife of the church we visited and know that there is love.  I can see the widow of the house we were working on and know that there is grief. I can see the child that was getting beaten and know that there is anger. It is now personal.

-Adam