Haiti: part 1...the journey
i have been debating how to do this and i have decided to just start with the beginning and see where i end up. it's going to be a long one so hang in there!
If you would have told me a few years ago that i was going to go to Haiti, i would have laughed at you. Going out of the country, let alone to a third world country, has never been a desire of mine. I remember once last year someone came to the newman center to talk about the Haiti medical and service teams and how anyone could go. My friend Mary was with me and could not stop talking about it once we left. She was so inspired and really felt it was something she wanted to do and i remember thinking, "wow, it is so great that God gave that desire to certain people...i am so glad that THEY want to go." I NEVER had a desire. But this summer...it just hit me. It was like i woke up one morning just knowing that i was supposed to go...without even thinking about it. it all felt like a dream as i applied this fall, i don't even remember the application. When i got the call that i was accepted on to the team, i almost laughed because i had known it all along: i was going.
So many things about traveling outside of the country scare me immensly. The idea of flying over the ocean in a small tube of a plane, being incredibly unfamiliar with my surroundings, feeling like a foreigner, and the language barrier is what scares me most...something about going to a country that you are completely unfamiliar with and not being able to communicate with anyone scares me beyond belief. To be completely honest, giving up the comforts of home was not something i have ever wanted to do either. and yet...Haiti?!??! i didn't get it either...but i knew it was something i was supposed to do, i never even doubted it.
Before we even left the Newman Center on that Sunday, i dropped lunch on my pants and at the Detroit airport that night, i did it again at dinner. I mean i know i am not the most graceful person around but come on...twice in one day on the only time where it is mandatory that i have to wear these pants for the rest of the week? ironic.
Sunday night we "camped out" in front of the Lynx check-in terminal in Florida. It was so funny because there were 4 wings of this airport and each seperate airline had their own spot among them. We came in on Northwest in the 3rd terminal and it was HUGE and busy and we drove past 1 and 2 as well and they looked the same and then we got to terminal number 4, the international terminal, and it was so...small and completely empty! It felt as if we were in a foreign country already. That night we all slept on plastic couches in the lobby but i just couldn't do it. i just felt too vunerable sitting there in the middle of the Florida airport. Gregg couldn't sleep either and so we stayed up all night talking and "keeping guard."
Early Monday morning we lined up at a door that let us right out to the runway where we walked to our little plane. The ride was not as bad as imagined. i was so tired from the night before that i actually feel asleep for a little while. I woke up and really thought we were nearing Haiti and when we landed, i was so excited because it was absolutely beautiful! the water was so clear, the palm trees were big and green, and the buildings were so colorful. then i saw a sign that said, "welcome to Exuma" we stopped in the Bahamas for gas and no one had told us until we landed. after waiting in the lobby of the airport there, we got back on the plane and headed for Haiti yet again. It was really starting to feel like a journey, and it was honestly just beginning.
Another hour and a half later, we landed in Haiti. It seemed so rushed and surreal. Hatians ushered us off the plane, past the UN presence, and in to the lobby where animated men and women poked and prodded at our bags and took our passports from us in a different, seemingly demanding language. I felt very overwhelmed and nervous until Fr. Andre walked up to our group. Although i had never met him before and have only seen his picture once or twice, he felt a lot like an old friend and i felt comfortable in his presence. He spoke creole to the people who were speaking creole to us, they came to an understanding, and then Fr. told us to grab the bags and follow him. Outside the doors of the airport lobby, it was even more crazy. People in Haiti just stand around the doors all day waiting for people to come out of them because, if you think about it, if anyone with any kind of wealth is coming to Haiti, of course he would come by plane. People line the outside of the doors and the second they see a white person, they stick out their hands and ask for dollars over and over again. They don't even see you, they just see your skin. Becuase of all of these people, Fr. Andre and the other preists parked further down the road to get away from the crowd.
As we approached the trucks, the ammount of people around us decreased rapidly until we were standing in front of our vehicles and there was only one child next to us. He jsut stood in the midst of us saying, "dola? dola?" and we all tried so hard not to make eye contact with him, let alone stare at him at all because he had this huge gash in the side of his arm and it was sewed up with what looked like a shoelace. a shoelace. someone had taken this bleeding boy's arm and tied it together like it was a pair of shoes. shoes! that poor kid. looking back, i only met him a few weeks ago but i am almost sure that he is incredibly sick with infection by now. He has to be, his suture was so unsanitary. It breaks my heart.
After that, we started on the long road to Plaissance. We stopped for lunch at this really fancy hotel restaurant overlooking the ocean and it was beautiful. We kept on trying to order things off of the menus they gave us but the waitress kept on saying that they were out of whatever we were asking for so most of us ended up getting club sandwiches, it was pretty comical.
The road from Cap Hatian to Plaissance is absolutely crazy! It is full of potholes twice the size of your truck! They shouldn't even be called potholes, they're more like craters! When it rains -and it rained a lot while we were there- and the potholes fill up with water, it is like driving through small lakes! But we finally arrived at our destination: St. Michael's Parish in Plaissance Haiti. We had been traveling for about 24 hours straight. Crazy. We were greeted by the church council who sang us this beautiful song in creole and then in english...it went something like, "welcome, welcome, welcome is the word for you" they also had signs leading up the staiwell into our bedrooms that said things like: "welcome" "glad to see you" and "this is your home" it was incredibly beautiful and put my heart at ease. I felt so welcomed and loved. We were home...away from home :)
If you would have told me a few years ago that i was going to go to Haiti, i would have laughed at you. Going out of the country, let alone to a third world country, has never been a desire of mine. I remember once last year someone came to the newman center to talk about the Haiti medical and service teams and how anyone could go. My friend Mary was with me and could not stop talking about it once we left. She was so inspired and really felt it was something she wanted to do and i remember thinking, "wow, it is so great that God gave that desire to certain people...i am so glad that THEY want to go." I NEVER had a desire. But this summer...it just hit me. It was like i woke up one morning just knowing that i was supposed to go...without even thinking about it. it all felt like a dream as i applied this fall, i don't even remember the application. When i got the call that i was accepted on to the team, i almost laughed because i had known it all along: i was going.
So many things about traveling outside of the country scare me immensly. The idea of flying over the ocean in a small tube of a plane, being incredibly unfamiliar with my surroundings, feeling like a foreigner, and the language barrier is what scares me most...something about going to a country that you are completely unfamiliar with and not being able to communicate with anyone scares me beyond belief. To be completely honest, giving up the comforts of home was not something i have ever wanted to do either. and yet...Haiti?!??! i didn't get it either...but i knew it was something i was supposed to do, i never even doubted it.
Before we even left the Newman Center on that Sunday, i dropped lunch on my pants and at the Detroit airport that night, i did it again at dinner. I mean i know i am not the most graceful person around but come on...twice in one day on the only time where it is mandatory that i have to wear these pants for the rest of the week? ironic.
Sunday night we "camped out" in front of the Lynx check-in terminal in Florida. It was so funny because there were 4 wings of this airport and each seperate airline had their own spot among them. We came in on Northwest in the 3rd terminal and it was HUGE and busy and we drove past 1 and 2 as well and they looked the same and then we got to terminal number 4, the international terminal, and it was so...small and completely empty! It felt as if we were in a foreign country already. That night we all slept on plastic couches in the lobby but i just couldn't do it. i just felt too vunerable sitting there in the middle of the Florida airport. Gregg couldn't sleep either and so we stayed up all night talking and "keeping guard."
Early Monday morning we lined up at a door that let us right out to the runway where we walked to our little plane. The ride was not as bad as imagined. i was so tired from the night before that i actually feel asleep for a little while. I woke up and really thought we were nearing Haiti and when we landed, i was so excited because it was absolutely beautiful! the water was so clear, the palm trees were big and green, and the buildings were so colorful. then i saw a sign that said, "welcome to Exuma" we stopped in the Bahamas for gas and no one had told us until we landed. after waiting in the lobby of the airport there, we got back on the plane and headed for Haiti yet again. It was really starting to feel like a journey, and it was honestly just beginning.
Another hour and a half later, we landed in Haiti. It seemed so rushed and surreal. Hatians ushered us off the plane, past the UN presence, and in to the lobby where animated men and women poked and prodded at our bags and took our passports from us in a different, seemingly demanding language. I felt very overwhelmed and nervous until Fr. Andre walked up to our group. Although i had never met him before and have only seen his picture once or twice, he felt a lot like an old friend and i felt comfortable in his presence. He spoke creole to the people who were speaking creole to us, they came to an understanding, and then Fr. told us to grab the bags and follow him. Outside the doors of the airport lobby, it was even more crazy. People in Haiti just stand around the doors all day waiting for people to come out of them because, if you think about it, if anyone with any kind of wealth is coming to Haiti, of course he would come by plane. People line the outside of the doors and the second they see a white person, they stick out their hands and ask for dollars over and over again. They don't even see you, they just see your skin. Becuase of all of these people, Fr. Andre and the other preists parked further down the road to get away from the crowd.
As we approached the trucks, the ammount of people around us decreased rapidly until we were standing in front of our vehicles and there was only one child next to us. He jsut stood in the midst of us saying, "dola? dola?" and we all tried so hard not to make eye contact with him, let alone stare at him at all because he had this huge gash in the side of his arm and it was sewed up with what looked like a shoelace. a shoelace. someone had taken this bleeding boy's arm and tied it together like it was a pair of shoes. shoes! that poor kid. looking back, i only met him a few weeks ago but i am almost sure that he is incredibly sick with infection by now. He has to be, his suture was so unsanitary. It breaks my heart.
After that, we started on the long road to Plaissance. We stopped for lunch at this really fancy hotel restaurant overlooking the ocean and it was beautiful. We kept on trying to order things off of the menus they gave us but the waitress kept on saying that they were out of whatever we were asking for so most of us ended up getting club sandwiches, it was pretty comical.
The road from Cap Hatian to Plaissance is absolutely crazy! It is full of potholes twice the size of your truck! They shouldn't even be called potholes, they're more like craters! When it rains -and it rained a lot while we were there- and the potholes fill up with water, it is like driving through small lakes! But we finally arrived at our destination: St. Michael's Parish in Plaissance Haiti. We had been traveling for about 24 hours straight. Crazy. We were greeted by the church council who sang us this beautiful song in creole and then in english...it went something like, "welcome, welcome, welcome is the word for you" they also had signs leading up the staiwell into our bedrooms that said things like: "welcome" "glad to see you" and "this is your home" it was incredibly beautiful and put my heart at ease. I felt so welcomed and loved. We were home...away from home :)