Reflections on Day One in Haiti

We are here.  I will say that flying into Port Au Prince took me off guard, in terms of the emotion that I felt as we circled over the city before landing. I was in a middle seat, seated between two Haitian women and the emotion that subtly oozed from them found its way to me as we came in to land.  As I leaned to look out the window with the the woman next to me, we could see the tent cities scattered across the city in various locations.  From the air, just a glimpse of the structural damage was visible.  Before we had begun to land, my seatmate had asked me, "Is this your first time to Haiti?" of which my response was "yes".  She simply smiled sadly and said, "it is not very good".  As we came to land in her country, I felt overwhelmed by the experiences of these people, their lives and their pain and the faith and hope intermingled in.  I felt the tears coming and fought hard to hold them back.  I understood how I felt arrivng here and couldn't even begin to fathom how it felt to look over one's own homeland and see what lay beneath us.

We survived the airport and the rather aggressive baggage handlers!  They are anxious to make money to feed their families and it's a real trick to limit the ones that help you and get them paid properly. We were met by two MCC staffers and driven through PAP to the Guesthouse where we are settling in now.  As we drove, we began to see the first signs, up close, of the destruction of buildings.  People were milling about, going here and there, but as they walked in the streets, I could not help but envision how these same streets were scattered with death and sorrow only weeks ago.  Two things struck me as we drove...one was of a series of swing sets built into the ground, right in the midst of the streets.  There were children swinging with smiles on their faces and it seemed to be a odd glimpse of innocence in the midst of what would have been chaos.  Live goes on.  There was also a large sign spray painted on one of the building walls that read simply, "SOS. We need help".  I couldn't help but wonder what story unfolded beneath this broken home.

The guesthouse is lovely and as you can see, right now I have internet access which is wonderful!  The building has been declared structurally sound but there are a few who have chosen to sleep outside in tents anyways.  I am one of them!  It's cooler to sleep outside and we have mattresses out there so that will make it much more comfortable.  And the best part!!!....flushing toilets!! although as the age old saying goes, "if it's mellow, let it yellow. If it's brown, flush it down" (:  The MCC staff have been great so far and we feel very welcomed and cared for.  Tomorrow our work will begin and day by day they will assess where we are best needed in the area.

We took a long walk tonight, up towards Petionville.  I am not sure how to describe the images we saw, without being able to post pictures.  When I get home, I will post some for sure.  We walked alongside buildings that had completely "pancaked" - just leveled several floors into one.  It was an eery feeling to realize that beneath the mounds and mounds of rubble, people lay.  I will say though, that when you get close enough, the smell reaches you and the evidence of the rotting of flesh and who knows what all else, cannot be ignored. 

A young, shoeless boy approached us on the street, looking for money.  The whites of his eyes were yellowed and his hair had an orange tinge, revealing the malaria and malnutrition that is likely ravaging his body.  His lower legs and ankles were swollen and as he walked the streets in his barefeet, I wondered how cut up the bottom of his feet are.  Where does this boy go at night?  Where does he sleep?  Who cares for him?  There is no doubt in my mind that he is just one of many of the orphaned faces that have identified Haiti for too many years.

We are preparing to eat tonight.  I am grateful for the provision of food, especially in light of our walk "up" and back "down" the hill.

Below are some photos of the destruction...again, impossible to capture on film how stunning this is in person, but these are my attempts.  The first two were taken on the drive from the airport; the rest are from our walk up to Petionville.

 This last picture is the Caribbean Market...what's left of it.  We were told this was the market that the man was pulled from 28 days after the quake.  You'll notice a young man walking on top of the rubble, near the centre of the picture.  He was collecting scrap metal.  I still can't believe he was even walking on it.