Haiti Trip 2014 Wednesday

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

We arrived in Port au Prince at about 9:00 and did the scramble to grab luggage carts for our checked bags which all had a familiar, spray painted orange X on them. The bags were filled with supplies for Mission Haiti and we only had a backpack and carryon bag each for our own items. It took eight carts to grab all of the bags and any team members who were not pushing a cart also had one or two carry on bags in addition to their backpacks.

Once we had everything and cleared customs, we started the parade out of the airport and to the trusty Mission Haiti bus for our 135 mile, four+ hour ride to Ti-Riviere. Mike & Ronald were there to meet us and it was great to see a few familiar youth with them as well.

Things looked improved as we drove through Port compared to a year ago. There were less tents & tin shacks than last year and traffic seemed a little better due to less blockages and some road repairs. I took in sights recalled from last year with Art sitting with me in the back of the bus as we began to leave the crowded roads of Port for the countryside.

One of the many valley scenes from the bus

Other than the sights and a bit of conversation, not a lot was notable about the drive. We were encouraged to see some work crews that are currently running fiberoptic cables to bring internet access all the way from Port au Prince to Ti-Riviere. As the drive continued, we began to see kids getting out of school and more people out and about by the roadway. I think the highest number of people confirmed on a single motorcycle was six as kids were picked up and driven home. No helmets, of course.

We arrived in Ti-Riviere and the more familiar sights of our main stomping grounds from a year ago. Most things appeared little changed with the exception of the basketball court that had been much more visible from the road a year ago.

We arrived at the Mission compound and began to unload and say our hellos to many of our friends including youth, staff, and Pam's kids. Our sleeping arrangements were different than last year with the men's & women's rooms reversed. I grabbed a bottom bunk in the corner farthest from the windows and got a few things settled before finally joining everybody else outside.

There were a few other folks that had arrived before us that I knew as well. Liza (from last year's trip) was there doing sponsorship photos with Grace and Tate. Tate looked familiar and it turned out that I had met him at the Tea Campus info night. Grace is from the Worthington, MN area and works for a vet clinic doing ordering. Grace had been down several times before and we hit it off well as she also rides bikes. The other familiar face was Nelson Van Den Hoek who I know from LifeLight. I really hadn't expected to see Nelson in that setting, so it was a nice surprise.

Photo courtesy of Julie Babb

We had our first (of many) dinners of beans, rice, chicken & plantains along with some tomatoes & cucumbers which we hadn't had at all last year. I had also brought a good number of fiber bars to supplement the diet and to make sure that I didn't suffer some of the same intestinal distress as last year.

After dinner, we settled in for youth and saw many more of the young men we had connected with last year. Surprisingly, I only had one of the kids making fun of my mustache throughout the night (that I was aware of, anyway). I caught him laughing and pointing me out to his friend a few times. I made sure to sit by him during youth. Patchuoko led us in worship with Junior playing djembe. We worshipped in both english & creole before Pam gave a message followed by more singing. I'll readily admit that I was pretty tired from only sleeping for two hours on the trip to that point, so while I enjoyed the time together with our Haitian brothers & sisters, it was somewhat of a blur to me.

Afterwards, we met and discussed the plans for the next morning and settled in to sleep. I slept well compared to last year. The earplugs definitely helped, but I think I was more accustomed to the sound of the roosters and other noises of Haiti. The one sound that wasn't as welcome was the rain that came. Pam said it's been a particularly rainy February and since the area needs the rain so badly, it was hard to get too upset. It didn't last a long time, but we knew it would make the climb planned for morning a much messier affair.