Senior Zoe Norr spoke passionately about her summer internship with Charis Ministries in Haiti, where she worked for two months. She needed that passion to tackle the challenges of medical and mission work in remote Haitian villages.
The ministry was founded by her extended family members Malcolm and Joy Henderson.
“It was really cool to be able to learn from them what missions work looks like,” Norr said. “They really try to reach the unreached places.”
Norr and her group would regularly hike 10 miles up a mountain — crossing seven rivers — to perform surgeries in villages that couldn’t be reached by vehicles.
“Sicknesses that would usually be taken care of here — like the flu — could really kill them because they don’t have good medical services,” said Norr. Tumors posed one of the biggest medical problems.
But Norr believes spiritual issues are really at the heart of Haiti’s poverty. The ministry provides medical attention, but it also focuses on less tangible problems, such as Vodou.
“Vodou is very big — it’s part of the culture,” Norr said, noting that Vodou in Haiti is a different form of the “Voodoo” most people think of.
Vodou priests make a living by healing people through demonic powers and demanding that the demons be paid back. Norr said this perpetuates the poverty — both physical and spiritual — in Haiti.
As part of their mission work, the interns went into Vodou camps and lead Bible studies with Vodou priests, which Norr described as “awesome and nerve-wracking.”
“We’d give them the gospel and they’d say, ‘We’ll come to Jesus after we pay back the demons,’” Norr said. The missionaries would then explain that, though there is suffering in this life, life on earth is short compared to the eternal life offered by Christ for those who believe.
Their ministry often effected visible change.
“It was neat to see the change in people [we ministered to],” Norr said. One Vodou priest became a Christian and a totally different man, “always smiling and hugging people,” she said. A woman who became paralyzed after suffering a stroke healed over a few weeks as the group prayed for her — something Norr calls “a huge miracle.”
Norr said the trip changed her life too.
“It really showed me how important it is to show Christ’s love and tell people the gospel,” she said. She also pointed out how distracted our culture is from truly important, spiritual matters that are more obvious in Haiti.
She’s interested in the medical field, but she didn’t come back from Haiti with a specific career goal.
“I understand a lot better now about trusting in God,” Norr said. She also said she would love to go back to Haiti, although she doesn’t know when.
And she doesn’t hesitate when asked if she would recommend such a trip to other students.
“Oh, yeah. I would definitely say to pursue it,” she said. “It just strengthened my faith so much.”
