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Starfish on the Shore
A Haitian pastor's compassion reminded me that God is calling each of us to share His hope—one need at a time.
By Julie Ferwerda
 1 of 3
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." —James 1:27, NIV
Perhaps you've heard this parable. An elderly gentleman stooped along the shore, carefully and intentionally throwing one object after another into the sea. A curious passerby moved in for a closer look.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm throwing these starfish back to the sea … before they die."
"What's the point?" the younger man looked around at the hundreds of starfish washed up from a storm. "There are so many, you're not going to make a difference."
Without hesitation, the old man threw another helpless creature to safety. "I will for this one." And so he made his way down the beach, one starfish at a time.
I hate to admit it, but most of my life I've been the cynical onlooker. There's so much poverty and suffering in this world. What can I do to make a difference? I'm only one person—there's really no point in trying. Right?
That was before my recent visit to a Haitian orphanage … before suffering became a name and a face. I accompanied Hopegivers International, one of many global relief ministries that are making a difference for the oppressed and lonely people of this world, on a short-term mission trip. In addition to donations, the success of ministries like Hopegivers is largely made possible through workers in the field, namely indigenous people, who are willing to offer aid and to share the gospel among their own, sometimes under the threat of persecution.
One such man in Haiti is Pastor Willio Joseph. Like the man on the beach, Willio is also working his way down the shore of poverty to make a difference for every helpless and needy person he meets.
Children from the Haitian orphanage
God sent angels
A 30-year-old Haitian native, Pastor Willio remembers well what suffering is like. In his relatively small hometown of Oanaminthe (pronounced "wanna-a-mint") in northern Haiti, he brings abandoned kids to his 500-square-foot cinderblock home, where they sleep wall-to-wall on thin blankets spread out on cold cement floors.
About a year ago, he found he could no longer afford to take care of the then 18 kids, many with life-threatening health problems. Things got so bad that he was only able to feed the kids one meal every two or three days. Out of money and answers, he bowed his head and asked God to send help soon if there was any chance for them to survive.
Shortly afterward he was at his local "Internet café," which is nothing more than a few computers running off a gas-powered generator, when he entered the word "hope" into a search engine. When Hopegivers' website came up, he quickly typed out a desperate plea for food and help, not really expecting an answer any time soon.
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