I was planning a youth trip to Haiti in 2015 and after weeks of discussing the objective of the trip, we realized that we weren’t going on a mission trip at all.

As it turns out, there was nothing we could do there that the people of Haiti could not do themselves. We were not doctors or engineers, we had no particularly useful or unique training that was scarce in Haiti.

Maybe we could paint something.
Hatians can paint.

Maybe we can dig wells.
Hatians can dig wells.

Even if the community we were going to visit in Haiti couldn’t do whatever “service” thing we were going to do, why wouldn’t we hire Hatians to do that work?

Free labor is not what the people in Haiti need. Frankly, I don’t know what they need aside from stability, security, health care and nutrition.

Ultimately, we were going to encounter the body of Christ in Haiti. We were going to understand who our brothers and sisters are, share the experiences of their daily lives, and share the love of Christ with each other.

We didn’t go on a mission trip. We went on a pilgrimage and it was beautiful.

Check out PeaceCycle for a ministry in Haiti that I wholeheartedly support.