From February 8th until February 12th, I was blessed with the opportunity to go on a mission trip to the beautiful country of Haiti. My time would be spent mainly with the children of the churches and schools our group (International Strategic Alliance) helps with. Amongst the malnutrition, devastation, and poverty I saw stunning beauty, seemingly endless sunshine, and the collective culture and love of 10.3 million people.

Five days changed my life.

Here are the five lessons I took away from those lovely, blissful children that I’ve been mulling over nonstop for the last week:

HAITI.

Some quick background on this country, to set the scene. Officially the Republic of Haiti, it is a French sovereign state. The name ‘Haiti’ means “land of high mountains”, which I can attest to absolutely being true. Very beautiful, densely wooded, extensive mountains. The people speak French Creole and are as a whole, ultra kind.

(Everyone I met called me “brother Dillon”. As a Minnesotan who knows all about Minnesota nice, this was exactly that – but Haitian style.)

Haiti’s motto from their coat of arms: “Union Makes Strength.” This seemed to ring true throughout the villages we visited. The Haitians were all a very stoic and culturally intertwined people.

I decided to do the takeaways and lessons I learned in an acronym (H.A.I.T.I) fashion because the individuals I met had such pride, such patriotism, in their nation. In a different way from a college kid yelling “‘Merica”, crushing a beer, and pointing at the flag hanging on his wall type of patriotism (guilty). The Haitians had a deep sense of dedication to God and country that went far past just “being proud”.

It was incredible.

So without further ado, here are the five lessons I took from children I played soccer with, women I met, and men that conversed with me.

H-ave something to believe in.

This fact was present everywhere. As sure as the streets were dirty and the buildings were weathered, was their belief in the fact things can get better. They believe heavily in God, and they celebrated him constantly and with vigor.

Our group had a heavy affiliation with the church in a small village near Cap Haitian. We would visit in the evening, typically around 4 or 5pm, and celebrations would already be under way. Most times, rain or shine, these celebrations would go three hours or more before being adjourned and the participants would head home to bed.

It was incredible to see all of the people dressed up in their cleanest clothes (they took so much care in making sure everything was perfect. I mean they looked ten times better than I did easily) while singing and dancing their hearts out and forgetting about whatever tribulations the day might have had.

They believed that things were good.

Lesson: Have something to believe in. For the Haitians, it was God. It didn’t matter if something bad had happened recently or if they were lacking something or even if they were hungry or thirsty – they just gave it up to God and focused on themselves. We could practice this in our society with many things. What will you believe in and give everything to?

A-lways smile.

I’ll say it again. Always, always, always smile.

Those of you I talked to before I left knew how nervous I was to meet the kids I’d be spending time with. I joked that kids are the only ones who are still honest in this world and that if they don’t like you, they aren’t afraid to let you know.

Well when I first saw all of the school children from the other side of tinted glass in our vehicle, I was terrified. I hardly have jokes for adults, how was I supposed to make a bunch of kids laugh?

However, I opened that car door, armed with two soccer balls and a smile of my own, and I strutted right up to the school. The kids came running. Granted, they only wanted the soccer balls I was holding, but they were smiling nonetheless.

From there, the littlest ones would hold on to my shirt or my hand or my shorts as I tried to kick the ball around with the elder children. It was adorable and those moments were extremely life changing. Some of the happiest moments in my life have now come from playing soccer with children whom I didn’t speak the same language as. I was like a mama duck with a bunch of little ducklings.

And every single time I made eye contact with anyone, they would smile right back.

Lesson: I don’t want to run this into the ground….BUT FRICKEN SMILE, GOT IT? It’s easy and we absolutely all can do it.

I-nvest in yourself and those important to you.

Haiti is an extremely poor country. Very beautiful, yes, but very poor. I tried not to let the trash or disorder or run down buildings distract me. However, it was tough not to glance here and there.

Segue into the people I was around. Every one of them were so incredibly gorgeous, all the time, and it blew my mind. I’ve mentioned before how proud of a people they are, well I got to see it first hand. Let’s just say that I was wearing my typical cargo shorts and golf polo getup pretty consistently, and there wasn’t a single time that I was more dressed up than any Haitian.

The men were strong and dark and handsome; the women were stunningly attractive and maternal in the ways they acted; the children were blissful balls of energy and open mindedness; I loved everyone I met. In their colorful outfits, they were like models that didn’t know they were models.

On top of that, I was able to converse with several individuals, even though I can’t speak French. This is testament to the fact that just about everyone I interacted with wanted to further their education. Parents wanted the best for their kids. Kids wanted to learn. Adults wanted to expand their knowledge of the world. I could keep going on and on…

They took pride in themselves.

Education is important. The church is important. Life is important.

Lesson: Investing in yourself and those that are important doesn’t have to be monetary. It can be with love, it can be with just a couple extra thoughts. Either way, TAKE PRIDE.

T-oday is the most important day. 

How often do we hear this in our society? How many of us truly live according to this? I’d like to think lots of us do, however, the fact remains that we are more or less a future based culture.

Things are never good enough right this second. I’m extremely guilty of this statement. Also, setting goals is part of these statements, which is why the lesson I learned from Haiti about appreciating today (not each and every day, simply today) was difficult for me to fathom.

The minute I set foot in Haiti, this was apparent. People are out and about to provide, to make money, to eat…to survive. It didn’t matter if tomorrow was Friday and the weekend was here or if there was a big game on next week or if summer was coming up, what mattered was that day. Today. If that day included school, go do your damn best at school. If it was church, go sing your heart out and praise as loud as possible. If it was finding food, then go find food.

Whatever it was, it was happening in that moment and you better believe these lovely individuals would be fully conscious in those exact moments.

Here in America, sometimes this is lost, whether or not we want to admit it. We worry about paying a cell phone bill or if the people on our social media like us or not…in Haiti I’m sure they may worry about these things as well, but in a completely minor tone.

Lesson: There are way too many things out there, focus on today. Focus on being your best just for today. Growth comes over time, but only if we believe in the importance of today.

I-nspire without trying to inspire.

This segment took the longest for me to articulate and write up. It’s such a hard thing to find words for. It’s a hard thing to describe without being able to point it out to you as we talk.

It’s the reason that Haiti has part of my heart moving forward. Not like, literally has part of my heart, but metaphorically.

It’s the reason I’ll continue to go back.

I saw inspiration everywhere in Haiti. I saw it in the women waiting in line at the doctor’s office or in the men’s faces that were hard at work near the airport.

I saw it in the kids eyes I played soccer with. (I was actually more squinting in a sense because I was exhausted from running around with them…)

This inspiration didn’t come from anything specific. It was the fact that these people were doing their damn best at things I wouldn’t have thought twice about back in America. It made me think twice about my motivations in life. I wondered silently to myself “well, why wake up early and work out? Or why do I spend time promoting a business? Or why do I sit around and watch tv?”

I never really came up with an exact answer.

However, I took some time to mentally answer those questions. The real interpretation of why I was there in Haiti might simply “just because people like me were blessed to have the opportunity to do a little part.

Whatever the underlying motives are, I was inspired to do things in my life to the extent the people of Haiti do things in theirs.

They inspired me without trying to inspire me.

This is the ultimate goal: Be inspirational, without being inspirational.

Lesson: Let cool things move us. Be fricken inspired by anything and everything that might be beautiful or simplistic or advanced or intricate…but be (and live) inspired.

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This country was unforgettable and I look forward to going back and learning more lessons. I plan to grow the group that goes. If you have any questions about the time I spent there, please reach out.

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Dillon Pomeroy | (952) 836-5644 | dillonpomeroy@gmail.com