Wet Eyes

By Curt Holland

I like airports and love to travel, although I’m not sure why. Airports are where my three young daughters remember saying good-bye to their me-ma and papa, and seeing them cry until it hurt. My mom always asked, “Why do you want to return to your country of ministry?”

My answer was always the same, “The people!”

As I sat listening to the conversation of the most recent team with The Hanna Project in Central Asia, I was reminded of those wet eyes. Most nights we had a debriefing time about the various activities of the day. Without fail, someone would have wet eyes during our discussions.

The love many THP workers have developed over the years for the people they serve is profound. Why would volunteers give up vacation time and financial treasures to share their talents (and sweat) working from sunup to sundown in a faraway land?

Now, I know. Those wet eyes are their heartfelt emotions spilling out so others can see them. Those wet eyes are not from 12-plus hours on a cramped airplane, or from enduring the challenging local cuisine for days on end. It is not because THP team members have “extra” cash lying around their houses or under their sofa cushions.

No, their wet eyes demonstrate that team members’ hearts are with people with whom they have rubbed shoulders, poured cement, and painted walls over the years. Wet eyes happen when members give their time to provide “Help, Hope, and Healing” to those who need it most. Their actions always seem to bounce back, and they become the ones who receive love, kindness, and gratitude in many ways. Their hands become calloused, their backs sometimes ache, but their hearts are always filled until they flood over into wet eyes.

Do you love people? Are you willing to endure the difficulty of long plane rides and strange foods to demonstrate love for people in faraway places? If you answered yes to some or all of these questions, The Hanna Project has a place for you. Come and join us in 2017. We can’t guarantee much when it comes to airports, work details, and especially, food, but we can guarantee you wet eyes if you let your heart become full.

About the Writer: Curt Holland is director of The Hanna Project, a non-governmental organization with the mission of bringing help, hope, and healing to those in need around the world. Learn more: https://hannaproject.com.