Haiti retrospect: Part One

When I try to quickly sum up our recent experience in Haiti I say it was the hardest yet most amazing thing I have done.  Ever.  In my life.  It will probably take a few posts to tell about Haiti.  

Nothing about getting to Haiti was easy.  We were supposed to fly from KC to Chicago and then catch a flight to Miami on Friday.  Then on Saturday morning catch a flight to Port au Prince Haiti.  It sounded easy!  Instead our flight to Chicago got postponed to the point that it was going to leave KC about 5 minutes before we were scheduled to catch a flight in Chicago.  So, I got on the phone to rebook.  We ended up getting to Miami at 3:30 am Saturday morning.  We did not get any sleep, we were there long enough to take a shower and meet up with Mary Beth.  Mary Beth works for NWHCM and it was certainly good to travel with someone who has been to Haiti before.  We got to Port au Prince, but our bags did not.  We had our carry on bags with a couple of days worth of clothes, our camera, journals, and other important things.  From Port au Prince we took a flight on Tortug Air to Port au Paix.  The 'runway' in Port au Paix was a dirt road.  From there we hopped in a tap tap (truck with some boards around the truck bed to sit on) and took an hour trip to the mission in St Louis du Nord.  The ride was our first real chance to see and feel and smell Haiti.  It is hard to comprehend all that confronts you right away.

We were told, or more accurately warned that the first day or two in Haiti would be the toughest.  They weren't joking!  It is hard to be surrounded by so much need and desperation.  I think it is so hard because you cannot escape it.  Here in the US if you encounter something that bothers you it is easy to turn away and go hide from what bothers you.  In Haiti that is not an option.  It forces you to be face to face with reality.  Nowhere to run to or hide for every time you turn around the reality of it all is there staring you in the face.  It is really hard to be there and not wonder why my life and the lives of the Haitian people are so different.  I did nothing to deserve my life and they, likewise, did nothing to deserve the hardships they face.  

The week started rough.  Arriving at the mission about 24 hours after we left with no sleep was not the ideal way to start out.  One thing that did surprise me was the natural beauty of Haiti.  There was alot of green and great views of the ocean.  In our next post we'll dive into some of our adventures in Haiti, but as I close this post I will leave you at the end of our first day.  In a place where nothing seems fair or right, without our bags, and very tired.  This was only the prelude to an amazing week.