On Our Way To Haiti...

[From Friday, May 21, 2010]

We left our church just past midnight, headed toward Columbus to catch our flight to Miami. Harold drove our bus pulling our trailer behind to carry everyone’s luggage. Some of us slept a bit as we rode, others of us were too excited to really get to rest much.

We arrived in Columbus a couple hours before our flight was scheduled to depart (7:40 am), so we decided to try to get some breakfast at McDonald’s. Well, we didn’t realize that the dining area wouldn’t be open. So we drove back around the restaurant and Terecia got out and walked up to the drive-through, where she was informed that, for “safety reasons” they couldn’t serve pedestrians at the drive-through. We all thought that was hilarious. Terecia certainly doesn’t seem like a safety risk to any of us!!!

So, on to the airport we went. We got all our bags checked, scanned, and tagged. Then we had a few minutes to get a quick bite to eat before the plane took off.

When it came time to load the plane, we were all a bit taken aback by the size of it! It was SOOO small. There were two seats on one side of the aisle and one seat on the other. The aisle was barely big enough to walk through without hitting seated passengers. One of the teens on our team is quite tall and he wasn’t able to stand up without hunching his shoulders over and ducking. Several of us had never flown, and I hadn’t flown for over 20 years, so this small plane was quite the experience!

We had a 4 hour layover in Miami, where we had lunch at the airport and just hung out for awhile before boarding the plane to Port-au-Prince. This time is was a nice large plane and the flight wasn’t nearly as long. Looking out the windows down at the ocean and eventually seeing Haiti coming into view was amazing.

The airport was a surprise to me. I knew it probably wouldn’t be as modern as the ones we had been in earlier in the day, but I had NO CLUE.

Leaving the airport, going out into Port-au-Prince was such an intense heartbreaking experience for me. There’s not really a parking lot. The exit of the airport literally dumps out into the main street with tap-taps, SUV’s, buses, motos, and cars buzzing by honking loudly at each other and at us. Teenage boys (and even younger) would approach me saying, “Please, mom, I hungry. Give me dollar for eat.” Older men and women (hundreds of them) were standing there in the walkway, some seeming to look for someone or something, but most just waiting…for what I don’t know, and truthfully, I’m not sure they do either. Probably just waiting for the nightmare of the earthquake, the poverty, the hunger, and the hopelessness to end.

As we drug our baggage to the waiting van that was picking us up, we were all approached by countless men, wanting to help us with our luggage. They would say, “I help you, you give me little bit.” Then as we got loaded into the van and sat waiting to leave, those boys with empty eyes, empty bellies, and even emptier hearts would come to the windows of the van begging for whatever we would give. I remember one of them saying, “Don’t forget me.” And I'm telling the truth when I say I never will.

We rocketed away from the airport, honking our way up the streets of Port-au-Prince. There we saw some of the devastation from the earthquake. Buildings just crumbled to nothingness. So many people--beautiful, hard-working people. Women with huge bowls or baskets on their heads walking up the streets. Men milling about from place to place. Children in their school uniforms walking home for the evening. And children in rags walking aimlessly. So MANY people. The city was just teeming with humanity.

At one point on our way through the city streets, we were stopped in traffic and I happened to notice right outside my window, a little boy sitting LITERALLY in the middle of the street, just mere inches from our van. Well, he climbed on the back of our van, held onto the bumper and rode there for about 5 or 6 minutes. We were all freaking out. This little boy was no bigger than my Jared. He couldn’t have been more than about 7 or 8 years old, if that. I just wanted to get him and tan his hide for doing something so dangerous. LOL! But it wasn’t long till I got the clue that this was very normal in Haiti. Time for a culture check!

The second thing I noticed about Haiti was the beautiful flowering trees and the fruit trees. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Haiti is SO beautiful--beyond beautiful. Red flower trees, purple flower trees, pink flower trees, yellow flower trees, avacodo trees, mango trees, coffee trees, orange trees, “apricot” trees, banana trees, and the list GOES ON and ON!!!

The street vendors were selling potatoes, mangoes, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, spinach--anything you could think of! Ladies were sitting by the road cooking on their charcoal cook-stoves. They were cooking patays (a fried turnover filled with meat and vegetables) and other foods to sell to passersby. Haitian fast-food.

We finally arrived at Lance and Mona’s house where we were welcomed by a sweet group of little girls singing for us. These girls are neighbors or family members of Lance and Mona and they attend the mission’s church. The girls were so sweet. They loved singing for us and even more they loved seeing themselves on the camera!

We were all ready for bed pretty early that night. We blew up our air mattresses and got acquainted with the facilities and headed for bed. I’ve never heard such loud “peepers” as they have there! Lovely music to sleep by! I’ve always loved the sound of peepers, but these beat all I’ve ever heard. Love them!!! Then, of course, we got to enjoy the roosters who crow all night long. I actually did enjoy them--they made me feel right at home!