Haiti Day One

We arrived at the Port-au-Prince airport at 9:20am right on schedule. The initial heat was overwhelming probably due to the fact that none of us got any sleep. We all cleared customs relatively quickly. As we lined up to exit customs we were faced with what we had been warned about. It was a gauntlet of Haitian men asking to help us with our bags. I was the first in line, so I took a deep breathe and headed out with my back pack on my back wheeling two suitcase. The rest followed and we made out way to the parking lot. Well sort of a parking lot. Just a bunch of cars honking and going every which way.

The thought came to me, why did I come here? Why is Haiti important to my world? My bent is really toward the political world. Justice through the law accomplished by a well organized government. Well you see none of that in Haiti. The streets are lined with chaos. We found our ride, packed up the truck and hopped in a taptap. This is Sam our interpreter.

And headed to base camp where we unloaded our stuff, rested and took an orientation tour. I am so excited to be working on the new base camp. Initially were were going to start building the Children of Promise orphanage, but the property they purchased is “still in escrow” so we are turning our attention to the church property. They have installed a new well that is 180 feet deep and has provided really fresh drinking water for the community here. There are external facets (see picture) where people come and fill up the buckets for their daily drinking, cooking and cleaning.

They have also built a chicken coop that will be filled with layers and roasting hens. The steel rods behind the chicken coop will eventually be a Talapia farm. The people of this church will be self sustaining for sure. Also, they are going to install a baking kitchen so the ladies can bake bread and treats for Sunday morning since their services last 3 hours. More on that in Day 2.
We ended the day going over house rules and laying out a “plan” for our mission. We will finish Base Camp 2 which will shelter 24 short term volunteers complete with a bath house. I have been asked to organize the Manna Kits that were finally released from customs so we can distribute food to an orphanage and a nearby tent city. We all then went to bed about 8pm. I am so tired.