Sue's Painted Prayers

Jan. 20, 2010

Like many of you, I am sickened by the conditions in Haiti. After giving my money, I felt I wanted to do more, so I am painting prayers for the people of Haiti.
Prayer is an important part of my life. I am a United Methodist pastor and five years ago, I believe that God called me from the pulpit to the easel. I have been painting all of my life and it is my greatest passion outside of my family.
Today I finished my first oil painting that is a prayer for a Haitian child. I started another one yesterday and am about 1/3 of the way done with that one. I can see that it has at least as much possibilities as the first one, which I love.
In 1985, I took my first trip to Haiti to work at a United Methodist mission in Petit Guave. It was an eye opening experience for me! Baby Doc was still in power and there were posters with his photo on it plastered everywhere. The malnutrtion was so widespread, that few Haitians had escaped its effects. Many toddlers had enlarged stomachs and skinny arms and legs. Most adults were small in stature, some were the size of 10 year old children from the U.S.. Teens were the size of upper elementary kids from the U. S., but their feet were the regular size for a person their age. Only 15% of the population could read and that was about the same persentage for the kids there who had the opportunity to attend school.
I was shocked by the prison system. Haitians told us that if a loved one were arrested, no one knew about it usually, unless they saw it. Families were not notified by the government. This was especially tragic, because it was up to families to provide food for prisoners. Our tour guide told us that he heard on the radio one day that his father was being released from prison. The father had been missing for several years and no one in the family knew where he was. Somehow the father survived and was reunited with his family.
We visited Grace Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince where children were being treated for Tuberculosis. There was an older woman there from Canada who picked the chidren up one by one to rock them and comfort them. She said that it was hard for her to get out of bed in the morning, but that God helped her to get up so she could do her ministry to the sick kids. Holding the babies in that hospital myself broke my heart. Their breathing was labored and they were so skinny, it was unbelievable. I will never forget it for as long as I live.