The Return to Haiti and Healing
I moved to Haiti in August 2006 as a young single woman fresh out of college with my rose coloured glasses firmly in place. These glasses went so well with my, “I’m here to make a difference” attitude. It was an exciting time! I left Haiti in December 2016 utterly exhausted, with a broken spirit and layers upon layers of trauma. I had never imagined leaving Haiti so soon. I had planned to stay until I was ready to retire, but things got complicated. I started questioning whether I was willing to make the kind of sacrifices I had been making for a ministry whose focus had changed so drastically to things my conscience could not align with. Leaving was hard, but also so good. My spirit, my faith, my trust in mankind was broken beyond repair, or so I thought. I left Haiti having no desire to ever return. Just the thought of returning caused panic to rise throughout my entire body, but I also knew not returning could deeply hurt those I left behind. I tried. I really tried to return. I e