Adventures in Haiti - Part 2

Yesterday, I shared about how most of our work days were spent in Haiti, however, we did have some time to drive around after work and take in the sights, people and overall culture.

One of my favorite things to see in Haiti was their public transportation.  They call it a tap-tap and if you are walking anywhere near one, you had better use caution.  They do not stop for anything--unless of course you are a paying customer!  The tap-tap is usually a brightly colored truck with an addition on the
back, however, we also saw several mini-vans used in like manner with no sliding door on the side.  If you look closely, you can see people hanging off the back--this is the norm--they try to cram in as many people as possible.

The people of Haiti spend most of the day outside--many of them are vendors along the street selling just about anything you can imagine (food, clothing, medicine, water, furniture, etc...).



This woman is creating some kind of meat, rice and veggie mixture in a fried tortilla to sell to the passerby



The Haitian people carry everything on their head--this was my most favorite part of Haitian culture!

It amazed me that most of these people were already out and about before 6:00 am, and they stayed out until well after our work day was finished.  On that note, I do have to mention their increadible work ethic.  Jobs are hard to come by in Haiti and we were able to hire a few locals to help with our wall project. 

I've never seen anyone work as hard as the Haitian men working with us--and their salary for the day amounted to about $6.00 US currency (I should point out that this is a decent wage in Haiti).

The earthquake's devestation was also a sight to see and trust me, it was not a good one. 

There was a tremendous amount of garbage everywhere!

We traveled to the presidential palace which, as you can see, is not habitable any more....

As we were taking it all in, there were a few vendors outside the gates who converged upon us.  As we were bartering over a painting, one of them told my husband that the palace was called the "devil's house" because their  government is so corrupt.

We also stopped at a cathedral that was destroyed by the earthquake. 

Here we encountered a mother begging for food for her baby--which brings me to another sobering reality of Haiti--the people are desperate.  They don't have government programs for housing or food like we do in the United States.  Most of them rely on what they can sell on the streets to support their families.  Matter of fact, it was not uncommon to be asked for gifts, money or food during our entire stay. Regardless of our actual financial situation--we are American, so to the Haitian people, we are wealthy.

We also had the opportunity to travel outside of city to the countryside.  One of our first stops was a mass grave site called St. Christopher's.  Thousands of  unnamed Haitians are buried here--the overwhelming loss of life is perhaps the worst of the earthquake's devastation. 

Below (in the distance) is pictured a tent village made possible by Samaritan's Purse .  This is one of the few relief efforts we encountered during our stay.

I realize that it all seems very hopeless, but God can use even the most hopeless of situations for His glory!  I learned so much during our trip about living simply and trusting God to meet my daily needs. 

More to come, my friends!  Stick with me....

Adventures in Haiti - Part 1

My husband and I headed off on our missions/work trip to Haiti this past June 28-July 5, 2011.  There is so much to tell that I could just write pages and pages, so I've decided to break it into several posts.  This was my first trip overseas and let me tell you....I will never be the same.

We arrived in the Port-Au-Prince airport and were immediatly hit in the face with a wall of heat.  The airport was filled with wall-to-wall people all scrambling to get their luggage.  We waited and watched for our luggage for about two hours and then headed out into the gaunlet of people all trying to "help" us with our luggage.  If you didn't have a tight grip, you were no longer carrying your luggage.

"The Wall"

We arrived to the compound where we would be staying and took a tour of the facility and work site.  Our main objective was to complete a security wall that was damaged in the 2010 earthquake.  We also painted three rooms and helped with a few other odd jobs.

Our living quarters seemed like a 5 star hotel compared to the living conditions of the rest of the city.  We had indoor plumbing, electricity and most importatnly, clean water to drink.  Apart from the occasional cockroach, we learned how to adapt quite well to our surroundings.

We started our mornings around 4:30 am--there's nothing like morning devotions on a rooftop overlooking the city... 

We ate our breakfast and had a short group meeting around 6:30 am and were at the worksite by 7:00 am.  The work was intense in the Haitian sun, but we had a job to do and everyone pitched in wholeheartedly.  We would break for lunch around noon everyday--which also served as "nap time" for some of us.

Sean and I had the pleasure of preparing dinner every night for the group.  Food in Port-Au-Prince is very expensive and in some cases, not safe to eat.  We planned the menu, went food shopping before we left (I love Aldi's) and everyone packed a suitcase full of food to take with us. 

We did actually do a bit of grocery shopping while we were there for some fresh veggies and hamburger that we were assured was ok for us to eat. 

 

Red Bell Peppers (about $5.00 American)



Haitian Grocery Store

After dinner we enjoyed taking it easy on the balcony or roof, singing silly songs or playing games (Settler's of Catan even made an apperance--I could write a whole blog on my love for this game). 

"Navy Showers" (turning off the water in between shampooing, etc...) became the way we ended our day.  There were two outdoor showers and one indoor shower--our water was gravity fed from large tanks on the roof and had to be brought in by truck. 

Rooftop Water Tanks (AKA our indoor plumbing)

We would meet again for group devotions and worship songs before heading off to bed--most of us crashed around 10:00 or 11:00 pm and if we were lucky--slept through the night....

More to come....stay tuned.....