AIM’s summer Haiti trips are wrapping up and Seth Barnes Jr. is in the process of debriefing staff and doing last minute ministry. While Haiti has recovered in many ways, they still feel the pain of January 12th. They recently met a man named Ramseys who lost most everyone he loved in the earthquake. And despite his pain, he’s learned to continue trusting the Lord in his journey.
A man named Ramseys recently took a group of us to his home that was destroyed in the quake. We walked into the enclosed area with the mountain of rubble that was his home and glanced around at bits of furniture, walls, doors and other things that piled up on the ground.
“I was not home in the afternoon of January 12th,” he told us. “It is not easy to talk about this. My dad was here, though, with my sister and her kid. This is where they found my dad,” he said, pointing. “It is not easy to talk about this,” he repeated. “He was eating dinner. They pulled my sister out here. Her son was tucked under her arm. They were both dead. It is not easy to talk about this.”
I envisioned what it must have been like, as the ground started to shake. She probably grabbed her son and didn’t know what to do but hold him close. It wasn’t long before the house collapsed around them. And as it did, she shielded her son with her own body.
“How do you do it?” one of the girls on the team asked Ramseys through tears. “How do you continue to follow God?”
I don’t remember all that he said, but one thing did stick with me. “This is life.”
