It took about an hour to dodge through traffic on roads that were roughly wide enough for 3 narrow cars squeezed side by side. How we managed to overtake a dump trunk while passing a tap tap (the local cabs, which are remarkably reminiscent of truck-style Mardi Gras floats), with motorcycles weaving between us and oncoming traffic and woman walking with their finely balanced loads on the side of the road, I'm still not sure. Amazingly enough, with no speed limits and drivers that would make New York cabbies blush, there seems to be far fewer wrecks in Haiti.
The compound has a warehouse made of shipping containers with all sorts of construction goodies in it, there's a dining hall with a super-fancy water filter so that I can drink water from the faucet (in that building only), and thank God they'll have coffee in the morning.
Once we all settled in we got to go see a local village and visit with some of the families there. I brought along one of those cheap, undersized, bouncy rubber balls that was painted to look like a soccer ball. Turned out that was a hit with the boys in the village. For a group of kids that doesn't own a soccer ball, they're pretty damn good at it...certainly taught the white guy some lessons.
The village was destitute. I mean obscenely poor. Children walking around with no clothes at all, covered in dust, playing around on old tires buried in the ground and using broken luggage as wheelbarrows to lug their little brothers around in. Some of the kids apparently attend the school on the compound, and many of them will be at Sunday school tomorrow morning. Clint even had one of them reading the Lord's Prayer pretty effectively before we left. Neat stuff. They have no idea what they don't have. It's eye-opening and heart-breaking at the same time. Bouncing the soccer ball off tin-rooved, cement-walled hobbit-sized huts where they lived, all I could wonder was what would happen if one of the kids running around barefoot sliced himself on a piece of rusty tin, which was not scarce.
Once we got back to camp, I started to get really excited about the sunset through the mountain tops, and more importantly, dinner. Right about when I had gotten to the roof of one of the buildings to see the sunset, one of the workers asked if we'd mind helping to unload a container. Hey, why not...I haven't done any manual labor yet...I might as well do an easy 30 minutes before I eat. Before I knew what was happening, the 30 minutes turned into an hour of unpacking boxes upon boxes of food that was sent here. We had an assembly to move these little buggers from the palate they were on into a shipping container for storage. WOW. My back now hates me from practically tossing these boxes full of mostly rice into stacks.
Finally, after exhausting my youthful strength on the last few boxes that were left, we finally went in to eat, which was incredible. Now I'm here covered in dust, wondering what to play for church tomorrow, because apparently the guests are always asked onstage to lead a worship song. But I'm quite content, having seen another part of the world today, knowing that I'm going to make some tangible (no matter how small) difference in the world. Plus there's a really cute white kitty roaming for scraps from dinner, keeping me company.
Oh, did I mention one of the girls in another group here does acupuncture???
Oh yeah, and I remembered to take my Malaria pill.
Wow, Brian. I think it's incredible that you're there helping out. "They have no idea what they don't have," you say. I think most Americans have way too much of an idea about what they don't have and I think it is eye opening when we what life looks like without all the bells and whistles. You are making a difference, and I'll look forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how, We think we are bringing something to them, when all the while we are gaining way more from them! Also it is a lesson you will never forget!
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