Haiti Day #1

Brief info: I am travelling to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti with a group of people from my church. There are 10 of us total. We are staying in an orphanage called Gertrude's Orphanage. More than half the kids living there have special needs and are taken care of by nannies that Gertrude, the owner of the orphanage, pays. Our team leader, Lindsey, has been to Haiti eleven times since 2006 and she has made some pretty great connections in the Port-Au-Prince area. We have an awesome bus driver named Leonard and there will be a man named Pierre who will accompany us wherever we go, translating and enjoying the sites. Here is a view of my first day in Haiti.

We flew from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport to Chicago, then Chicago to Miami. The flights all went well but on the last flight from Miami to Port-Au-Prince, I got on board to find that a woman and her child took my seat, so I sat on the other side of them (I was originally supposed to have a window seat). The child was getting pretty annoying and I was a little mad that they took the window seat because I really wanted to see Haiti and the ocean and scenery, etc. So before we too off, I  looked back and saw a girl, a few years older than me, sitting with an empty seat next to her. I asked her if I could sit next to her and she said yes. Right off the bat she seemed friendly so we started talking. Turns out she is from Minnesota! She never went to college but she was 19 and was moving down to Haiti to work in ministry and with women. I believe it was God that blessed me with the opportunity to meet her. On the plane we made a list of things we were expecting to see and experience in Haiti. Right when we flew over Port-Au-Prince, all my expectations vanished. It truly is a 3rd world country. Flying over, every building was gray and falling apart. It is like Africa...I guess it pretty much is the Africa of the Western Hemisphere. Only a little greener. Buildings were hanging off cliffs and all the roads were dirt except for a few major ones. The road was complete chaos. We drove from the airport to our orphanage in a green bus (falling apart more than I pictured). Picture a wooden toy bus from the 70s. That was what it looked like. When we got into Port-Au-Prince, we waited longer than anyone else to get our bags. We couldnt find this particular camo bag (the one i origanally wanted). Well after bickering and bickering with the people there, they eventually found it. On the runway. Like...how does that even happen? Anyways, it's all fine. The thing about here is that you get bombarded with people wanting to help you; but for a tip of course. Before we left the airport, Lindsey told us we were to avoid having anyone help us so we wouldnt have to pay them. It was IMPOSSIBLE! It seemed as if there were 50 people and they all attacked us! We kept saying no, but they pushed over our bags and picked them up anyways. It was also very uncomfortable because everyone was staring at us because we are white. You have seen driving in India right? Well it is like that here. No rules and motorcycles are everywhere. Constant honking, but Lindsey told us it isn't in a mean way, but more of a way of saying hello. It's insane. I have always seen pictures of things like this but I never thought I would see it in person. The orphanage has about 50 kids and they are all so lovely. Some horror stories of where they came from of course, but we are thankful to God for their safety and security now. There was a young boy in a green shirt that everyone thought had a mental problem. Turns out he doesn't, but lived by himself in an abandoned house for most of his life and has no social skills. It makes my heart ache. I honestly thought I would see more dogs than I did, but the one's I did see were starving. There were a lot of naked little children walking around as well. Everything is a dump and we drove past a garbage pile with cattle eating in it. Cattle walk around on the road and they are so skinny. Their hipbones will give me nightmares. It is just so hopeless. I dont jnow how it could be better. But, it is so beautiful. The mountains are gorgeous and the people have so much joy, a joy I can firmly say comes from the Lord. I am sharing a room with Maddie (another girl my age on the trip) and Grace (11 year old) and her mom Jennifer. After getting to the orphanage the only thing my mind seemed to be able to focus on was the question of "how in the heck am I going to be able to get through the next week?" I have no clue. For dinner we ate some weird beef and mashed potatoes (I think?!) that were really yellow. Also, we were given slices of tomato with some cheese on top of it (yumm...). We then did night devotionals. Goodnight!