The Arrival

So today we arrived in Haiti. We got here at about 9:00 this morning after a full day of travel yesterday. I will let someone else go into the Blessings we received during that day alone.

I was asked to blog about my first impression of Haiti as I got to go on a very cool adventure on our drive to the compound. I’ll go into that in a minute.

The day before we took off and the first day of flying I was a little on edge about coming here. I am still not sure why, I was not afraid of anything we may encounter, nor was I concerned about the flight, I was just uneasy. I am sorry I can’t explain it any better than just uneasy. Anyway to my point, the moment the wheels of the plane hit the ground in Haiti, like I mean the instant the wheels touched, I was in a whole new mood. I was at peace, I was ready for whatever came my way, all I wanted to do was get off that plane and get started with whatever God had for me during this trip.

We got off the plane and got through customs, Marc had come to the airport to meet us and was able to get us a phone and line up a few guys to help with our bags (the outside of the airport is whole blog so again I leave that for someone else). We got all the bags loaded in Marc’s truck and the containers loaded on to the top of the van. Everyone had a seat for the ride back except for one of the security guards, Jemsly. Marc asked Jemsly if he would mind riding in the back of the pick up with the luggage bags. Jemsly said “No problem” (I am assuming it was all in French and happened very fast) and he jumped in the back on top of the suit cases and settled in for the ride. Now I kinda felt bad that I would get to sit in the truck in the air conditioned cab while Jemsly rode in the back by himself. However I hadn’t ridden in the back of a pick up since I was like ten and never done it through Haiti so I asked if I could ride back there with Jemsly.

If you want to experience something with all your senses this is the way to do it. I not only had a 360 view of the entire trip but all the smells, sounds, heat, just everything. It was a lot of fun and it must have looked fun, hence me writing this post, but it was so much more than fun.

At times I was pretty sure we were near death. Rules of the road like we have in Canada are not even remotely followed here. Amazingly though (just thought of this now) I didn’t see one accident. The only two rules I seen that were commonly known to all the drivers whoever has the biggest vehicle wins the showdown and honk to let the little guy know you are showing him you are bigger. I think that is pretty much it. Jemsly asked me if I knew how to drive. I said yes but that I would not make it very far here. If I drove like this at home they would lock me up and throw away the key. He just about fell out of the truck he was laughing so hard.

The smells are incredible here maybe because of the heat and humidity. In Port Au Prince it smells like driving through the city dump and looks like it too. I don’t want to sound rude but that is the truth. I can not explain the amount of waste any other way than to picture millions of people moving into the city dump and building a city in, around and on top of it. Even a picture doesn’t show it well. You can tell that it looks dirty but it is truly more than a little bit of garbage.

Then you move to the more rural communities and you can smell the fresh ocean breeze. Someone cooking a very tasty lunch for their family and the fire they are using to cook with. The smells of tropical forests not sure how to explain that one, a greenhouse I guess, would be the best way to describe it.

The sights are a little overwhelming to think about. I don’t know what I was expecting to see when I read about the poverty when we prepared for this trip but this was not it. I guess what I had in my minds eye was what I have been shown in TV and Movies. Seeing it in real life watching it happen in front of you is a lot to take in. Seeing a kid my daughters’ age sitting with his blind grandma asking for money as we drove by so skinny I have know idea how they walked to the side of the street. That was one, two foot section of the side of the road of miles upon miles of the same thing. I guess they are the lucky ones that are able to make it to the side of the road.

Then you look up to the mountains and it so beautiful that you can hardly take your eyes off of it. The buildings up in the mountains look like they have been there a thousand years and you can’t help but to think back about how beautiful this place must have been while first settling.

We got to the Haiti Arise compound after two hours of driving through all of that over and over. You go from little cities to rural areas (nothing like at home of course) over and over until you get to the compound. Which really is an oasis in a desert filth. I know that sounds horrible but it really is the only way to put it.

HAM has clean water for the people of the area to take away. This place is a safe place for teens to come and hang out and play music and just be kids while my new friend Jemsly makes sure they and us are safe. So this is a very long winded way of saying that we are here we are safe and we have all had some laughs and some real God moments in our first day here. There will be more to come of that I am positive.

Some prayer and praise items
Praise
We are all safe here in the compound and have all our luggage.
We are all feeling OK no illnesses.

Prayer
The medical team will be getting into the nuts and bolts of accessing things here tomorrow. Please pray that they will have a successful day.
Prayer for other teams as they try and get a sense of the needs and prioritise those needs.

God Bless,