Beautifully Devastated....

Never having been out of the US before, I found myself just completely mesmerized by the many sights and sounds of this different culture.  Of course, I've been reading fairly extensively about Haiti since last year before John Wesley left for his first mission trip, but nothing could have really prepared me for actually BEING there!  Riding on the back of the tap-tap, or even inside the van we rented for the longer rides was such an experience!  Riding around from place to place was probably one of my favorite things, because I feel like it allowed me to get to really see Haiti.  We were up in the cool mountains, down in the hot busy city, and even out to the beautiful tropical beachfront.  Here's a video I took on one of our outings.  You'll probably get dizzy, but you'll get to see some of the streets of Haiti.

I loved seeing all the beautiful, colorful sights; but, of course, there was lots of heartbreak as well.  At one point, during our trip up the mountain from the airport to Lance and Mona's house, I said something like, "This is the most beautiful, most devastated place I've ever seen."  And it's true.  How can a place be at once so devastated, yet at the same time be so unspeakably beautiful?  I don't know, yet Haiti IS both at once.      

Beautiful palm trees flourish amongst the rubble.

 

Flowers bloom atop earthquake ruins.

You can see in this picture, what was once a picturesque hilly meadow is now a tent city (although not nearly as crowded or muddy as most that we saw) and there is evidence of the earthquake where you can see the mudslide area on the far hillside.

I was struck by this creek (or whatever) running beside one of the tent cities.  You can see the trash on the bank and all the tin shacks and tarp-houses nestled one against the other.  Mothers use this water to do their laundry and to bathe their children, and many probably use this water for cooking their meager meals.  The pigs use this water as a wallering hole, and the goats and dogs also use it freely.

I am including this picture (which I took from our van as we were driving, so it's a little blurry) because you can see the joyous way the little girls are playing and waving to us IN SPITE of their situation, living in a tent city.  You can see the mother in the background bent over washing their clothes by hand.  Some of their clothes are already hanging to dry.

                                     

As I mentioned, all the joyful tropical colors were everywhere you looked!  From painted tin huts, painted storefronts, painted tap-taps, and then the colors of the beautiful flowers which just spring up everywhere, of course.  I couldn't help but smile when I saw the fancy tap-taps.  I told my team mates that I was going to paint our bus like a tap-tap when we got home.  They think I'm joking.....  For those of you who may not know, in Haiti, a tap-tap is public transportation.  And tap-taps are ALWAYS crowded, but there is always room for one more!  It's not uncommon to see people hanging on the back or riding on the top of tap-taps.  Someday we're going to paint our bus and it will be THE UNDERWOOD FAMILY TAP-TAP...ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE!!!  Perfect slogan for us, right???

    

Sometimes, as in the picture above, a tap-tap is simply a pickup truck with high sides built onto the back with some seat benches built in.  Sometimes, however, as in the picture further down, they are more like a bus.  Some are extremely colorful like these, while others are more utilitarian in appearance.    

    

I really liked this tap-tap!  It was one of my favorites!    

    

Notice the plea, "Help Us" written in graffiti beside this storefront.

     

And here are a couple pictures of the gorgeous flowers that seem to bloom everywhere just to remind everyone that God is STILL here, He's still in control.  And if he cares about and provides nourishment for the flowers, how much more He must love and care about the precious PEOPLE of Haiti.