Finding Heaven in Haiti

My story about Jay and Rachel Bennett, two local physicians' assistants who took a medical missions trip to Haiti, ran today in the Wilmington StarNews. 

This was definitely one of those stories I would have loved some more time and space to work with. Not to complain. I still really like how it came out.

Here's the first bit. 

The rooster started crowing at 3:30 in the morning. The donkeys started making their noise, too. By 5 a.m., Jay and Rachel Bennett were awake, rising, quite literally, to a new world than the one they’d left yesterday, a world where rubble was where homes once stood and where kids weren’t guaranteed meals, much less dessert.

They were in Haiti as a medical team, on a missions trip with a group from Wilmington.

Jay began the day as usual, reading the Bible, praying and journaling. Rachel, too. But soon someone came rushing to them. They weren’t supposed to begin holding clinics until tomorrow; today was to be used in preparation for the next seven. But a mother had come with a sick baby.

Of course, Jay and Rachel agreed to see her. She couldn’t speak English, so the local pastor, Charles Amicy, translated. The child had had diarrhea for the past two days, she said. Then she pulled back the blanket she’d wrapped her baby in.

His eyes were open but unblinking. Unmoving. Immediately, Jay and Rachel knew. Still, they checked for a pulse, and they listened for breathing. But they heard nothing.

For a full minute, all they could do was stare at each other, wondering what to say. Then Amicy asked, “Is he gone?”

They could only nod. Amicy told the mother.

And that’s how their trip to Haiti began.

Click here to read the full story.