Haiti Mission The Journey Begins!

Haiti.....and the mission begins!! We entered into this very nervous and apprehensive about what we were going to see and were we strong enough to emotionally take it. We began by staying at the airport Hilton. Perhaps that was the beginning of a mistake before going into a poverty stricken nation. Jake, Mandy (my niece), Bill and I enjoyed the luxury of a beautiful hotel with of course all the amenities of a luxury hotel. We had to get up Saturday morning at 3 am to get over to the airport to catch the first of our two flights. We landed in Miami and waited for a few hours for my dads flight to land and he made it to the boarding just as we were ready to board the plane. Just a tad more stress since we had no idea what to do once we got into Haiti airport. We were packed into the plane like sardines but as we approached Haiti you can see how beautiful the country looks. Just as Jesus said "man looks on the outward appearance but God see's the heart" and this came to a whole new meaning as I looked down and saw what appeared to be a beautiful place only to land to a nation that is so poverty stricken, the streets are so littered with trash as there is no where for it all to go and the people crowd the streets. As we walked from the airport to the van that had come to take us to the Pastors house, people stood outside the security fence yelling at us to look at them and trying to sell us anything and everything. It was so hard to not look at someone talking to you and just walk past them. 

We all piled in the van and our trip up the mountain to Pastor Jean Alix Paul's house began. Mandy had been here before so she had already knew what to expect but Bill, Jake and I were stone silent as we were so overcome with what we were seeing. I have never seen so many people lining the streets that we literally were driving through people. I was so fearful that we were going to hit someone but to the Haitians this is normal and the pedestrian watches for the cars because the cars don't look or stop!! And if traffic stops our driver would just take off down the middle of the road and drive between the oncoming cars and the cars heading in the same direction as us. I really needed a blindfold at this point!! Or blood pressure medicine!! 

We arrived to Pastor Jean Paul's house where he has bunk beds everywhere for all the mission people that come to help and they are wonderful hosts. Our night started with supper and a sort of ground rules for life in Haiti. Don't brush your teeth with the water from the sink and don't wash your face from the water in the sink!! OH LOVELY!! And there is NO hot, not even warm water for showers. Its a cold shower or cold sponge bath. Needless to say Mandy and I were hesitant and opted for the cold sponge bath on Saturday and Sunday (don't worry that will change soon in the next blog post). When using the toilet if its liquid its not to be flushed if its anything other than liquid that can be flushed and luckily they have indoor facilities at their house. 

I knew to always take a anti-diarrheal daily as a precaution when entering into such places as Haiti but not everyone did and by our second day we had two with the hershey squirts!! 

The houses if they are nicer have large stone walls around them with razor barbwire coiled around the top of the walls and most of these nicer homes have a large watch dog, they also have sliding gates to block the driveway with padlocks on them and they have to honk their horn for someone in their house to come undo the padlock and open the gate to let them in. Chickens, a pig on a rope, a goat on a rope or a cow on a rope are staples for families. And every morning starting at 4 am the roosters start crowing the dogs start barking and the horns start beeping. Horns are a common courtesy over here as you often can't see around the corner and the road are narrow so they beep their horn as they come around to let someone coming from the opposite direction know they are there. The cows are so emaciated and you wonder how they can even get enough meat off them to feed anyone....let alone a family.

The smell is something that until you've experienced it you will never understand. The same with what you see. I have always saw pictures of the poverty here but it was just a picture.....but now to be a part of the reality is so overwhelming that it leaves you speechless.

An American dollar is $8 over here so if you give someone $10 you've just given someone $80 and they are rich!!!! The majority of them live on $2/day. YES $2/day! 

My mind wants to jump ahead and tell you all about all the experiences we had at the medical clinic but I need to save those blogs for the next few days. Today we are just relaxing, packing and preparing for a birthday party at the church orphanage. These children have no idea when their birthdays are so a birthday party is held every year and its everyone's birthday today at the orphanage!! 

It has been 80's and 90's here all week and the Haitian people are wearing jackets or hoodies with their hoods up because they are cold. We of course are hot!! 

It has been an experience that has and will forever change us all! No words or pictures will ever be able to do it justice to the experience of being here for oneself.

On Sunday we went to one of Pastor Jean Paul's churches it was so interesting to hear and see them sing in their native tongue and know that God knew every word they were saying. 

Bill and I left the US with terrible colds and we had asked God to take them from us so that we could give this our all and just before we started the clinic our colds were gone!! Colds as we all know linger with a runny nose, cough, etc but God knew we had to be 100% to be able to complete his ministry at this time. 

My mind just wondered off and I heard God saying "what you have done to the least of these you have done unto me." 
All for His glory!!