I had the chance to join 7 other men from my church on a mission trip Haiti. Our church has a fantastic relationship with Mission of Hope, an organization that has been doing some amazing work in Haiti for many, many years. Since the earthquake in January of 2010, the vision for Mission of Hope has expanded greatly, and the answer from the executive team down to the hard working volunteers on the ground has been enormous. Teams of students from high school and the college level, along with professionals with a heart for missions have joined the locals in villages around Mission of Hope to provide for the educational, clinical, nutritional, and spiritual needs of the people.
I experienced so much in the time I spent in Haiti. It’s too much to try to convey in a single blog post, so I will start with our travel day and arrival at MOH. Over the next several days, as I get back into my routine at work, I will post more about the things I saw, the projects we took part in, and the takeaways I came home with.
We left Austin very early on Saturday morning. Our travel plans had us flying American Airlines from Austin to Dallas to Fort Lauderdale to Port Au Prince. Brenda insisted on driving me to the airport, even though it meant getting the girls up for a 5AM drive to the airport. One more chance to kiss and hug my girls, even that early, made for a great sendoff for me. When I traveled for business in my previous jobs, I would have avoided a flight plan like the one we had like the plague. Stopovers in Dallas and Fort Lauderdale can be a recipe for disaster, depending on the weather. Our flights were problem-free and we had ample time between legs.
Unlike any trip I ever had when I traveled for work though, we got insanely lucky when it came to which gates we arrived and departed from. When we got to DFW, our next flight departed at almost adjacent to the gate we arrived at, and we had a good 45 minutes to get there, plenty of time for a stop at Starbucks! When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, we departed for PAP from the same gate we arrived in. What? No marathon sprint across 3 terminals, racing up escalators and praying for favor at the tram stops? This was unheard of!
I did have a price to pay on this journey though, I missed Grace’s first T-ball game. She was very understanding, and my brother-in-law was kind enough to record it for me. Thanks, Bryan! She hit the ball well, and ran the bases pretty well, except for almost missing home plate. Something for us to work on for our next game. We grabbed some lunch at a Cuban food stand in the airport before boarding our plane for Port Au Prince. Jeff, one of our team members who had made this trip before, made an observation that I should have heeded after he returned to our seats aboard the plane from the restroom. “Better go now, that’s the nicest bathroom we will see for the next week.”
Flying in low over the coast, you get a taste of what will overwhelm you once on the ground. The shoreline is littered with trash and debris. Tons of Styrofoam continues to wash ashore and most of the beaches are filled with broken bottles, torn fishing nets and half-sunken boats. Another sign of the size of this airport, the largest in Haiti, was when we landed, taxied to the end of the runway and made a U-turn to taxi to the gate. We were taken by bus from the terminal gate to a warehouse that now serves as the baggage claim area. Much of the airport is still in visible ruin. It’s clear that while the people of Haiti are busy trying to rebuild, resources are scarce and priority is function over beauty. Clearing customs in Haiti is a unique experience, to say the least.
Once all of our team had secured our luggage, we gathered together for what can be a pretty intimidating and chaotic walk from the terminals to the busses waiting in the parking lot. Dozens of valets in red shirt begin vying for your business as soon as you clear the door, wanting to help you with you bags along the short walk. They are everywhere and will quite literally try to take your bags from your hand. The going rate for this service is 1 US dollar. It’s a small price to pay, but it somehow feels more like a ransom than a tip for service rendered. The currency exchange in Haiti is about 8 to 1, Haitian to US. The average working Haitian will labor all day for approximately 5 US dollars.
In the parking lot, we were greeted by Bobby, the driver from Mission of Hope. He helped us clear the valets away from our team, get our luggage loaded into a truck and then get our team into a separate van. Several of the people on our team had made this trip before. Some have made several trips over the last couple of years and they began to notice immediately the marked improvements along the way. This trip was a first for only 3 of the 8 guys on our team. Gone from the airport grounds, just within the last several weeks was a large tent city. In it’s place was broken concrete parking lots, sidewalks and steady stream of trash. Previously, it was a sea of blue tarp tents and shanties, homes to people who had lost all else.
The roads in Port Au Prince are drivable, but full of potholes. Lanes are a mere suggestion as you follow the taillights of the vehicle in front of you. The public transportation of choice by most of the locals are the tap-taps, converted mini-trucks or flatbeds that carry passengers along fixed routes. Rides are about 75 cents one-way. Many people from the surrounding villages rely on these to get into the city or to markets. Vehicles in Haiti are generally pushed to their limits, mechanically and in their capacity. A dozen or more people will cram into the converted beds of a small truck, including standing on the bumpers or sitting on top of the makeshift covers over the bed. Broken down vehicles is a common scene in Haiti, and we saw several as we drove through town. Suspension and good tires are luxuries in this country, so too are alignments. One thing that I was surprised to see few of were bicycles. I am not sure I ever saw a single bike anywhere on the entire trip. But a motorcycle or scooter may be used to carry a family of 4, plus whatever they picked up from the market.
It takes us about an hour to navigate our way to Mission of Hope, which sits in the village of Titanyen. We arrive at MOH just before dinner time. Before we departed Austin, as as team, we divvied up a list of supplies that we were responsible for bringing. Each team that goes to MOH, based on the size of their team brings all sorts of food items, work gear and necessities. These supplies are combined with the items everyone else has brought to provide the meals that all of us enjoyed. It is not a stretch to say that MOH literally runs on carbs. Because of their relative ease to pack and travel with, and the short burst of energy they provide, it is a logical choice. This being said, I don’t think I want to see another Pringle or Rice Krispie Treat for awhile.
I look forward to sharing more about our trip and some pictures as well. If you are at all interested in learning more about how you can help in Haiti, or if you think you would like to look into taking a team down to Mission of Hope, I am happy to connect you to the right people. Everyone I met, from the volunteers, to the staff to villagers and kids in the orphanage were wonderful people.
Comments