We left for church this morning about 9am. The church meets a few miles away across town on a school campus. To get there we piled in the truck that the ministry uses to do their field medical care and doubles as an ambulance. It has a big enclosed areaon the back that you can sit inside of and an area on top where you can ride with a better vantage point. The only thing to be careful of up there are low hanging branches, powerlines and barb-wire. Definitely a good idea to keep eyes up. As we made our way through town we could start to see the devestation. Buildings that had crumbled, tent cities that had formed, people asking for money on the corners. It was pretty amazing the amount of damage caused in such a short period of time. Some houses had collapsed and slid down the side of a hill and 4 story buildings that just dropped like a pancake to the ground.
The church service was really good. It is lead by John and some other missionaries in the area. There were probably about 60-70 people there and it was similar to a church service in the US. They are meeting outside right now as the campus where they meet has been a home to the US military since the earthquake. It was really awesome to be there and worship with the Haitians. As I mentioned earlier, they are a happy people despite the conditions and it was great to see the hope that these believers had and the passion that they showed. I sat next to a Haitian man about 20 years old and we talked after the service. He was very interested in what we were doing and how we were helping. At one point in the conversation he asked me "How is the us different from Haiti?" Wow, didn't expect that question and I wasn't really sure how to answer it. The differences are huge, but I didn't want to make it seem like the US has it all together and Haiti doesn't, although when comparing a lot of things it does seem that way. As i realize some of these differences it makes me think about how life would be different had i been born in a different part of the world. Andy mentioned he lives up the hill a little ways from the church in a building that survived the earthquake, but he didn't have a job and wasn't able to find one. I thought this was interesting given the 'work' that would have been created from the earthquake, but the problem isn't so much 'lack of work', but 'lack of money'. People can't afford to hire people to do work for them. Interesting problem. Many people rent the building that they live in and they pay rent for the year upfront rather than month to month. So, in these cases they have a place to stay, but a lot of these places collapsed, so now they have pitched a tent on the roof of the collapsed building or on the ground next to it and that is where they live. The owners don't have the money or choose not to fix the house and the tenants are stuck.
John took a us out to see more of the city this afternoon. Sunday is the best time because there isn't as much traffic and it is less busy. As we drove through the city it was a very eye-opening and at times disturbing scene. A lot of it was similar to images that we had seen on TV over the last few months, but it is a lot different to in person. It was interesting how some buildings would crumble while others were find with only minor (visible) damage and others right in between were fully destroyed. The magnitude of the tragedy began setting in more as John pointed out things affected by the earthquake and things were beforehand. I wrestled with the reality of the situation as we drove around. People walking in the streets were dressed nicely as if you would see in america, so i had a hard time understanding that they don't just walk around the next corner and go into their nice house, take a warm shower and sleep in a bed. Yet that is not the case for pretty much everyone. As we drove through the streets there was trash just piled out in the road where it is then burned all day long.
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| From Haiti - Day 3 |
The smell was pretty intense at times. Throughout a large part of Port-au-Prince this was the scene. This is normal life to them. Most of the people have no idea that there is anything different and this is where they have spent their life. In a lot of ways they are stuck. Even if they wanted to live a different life or try to be successful the resources aren't available to them to do it. There is no education, except in some private expensive schools, no money, a virtually inactive corrupt government to help....just each other and whatever they have at the moment in time.
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| From Haiti - Day 3 |
We drove past a 'market' where food is sold out on the street. It was just in piles and when it was no good anymomre they would push it out into the street where it is crushed by traffic and trampled on until it rots away. You can imagine the smell. Not like your typical produce dept down at safeway. We went down to the palace where we drove past the equivalent of the white house. It was like something out of a movie. I'm not sure that Hollywoord could have done a better job It looked surreal. Across the street from the palace was a huge tent city in the field. Kids running around naked, people cooking dinner.
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| From Haiti - Day 3 |
