Haiti - July 2011

I have wanted to go to Haiti for a number of years to do some kind of work there.  After the earthquake in January 2010, my desire was even more so.  As you probably remember, the country wasn't taking any volunteers for some time because they wanted professional help like doctors and foreign aid.  But a year later, I saw a small little flyer for a mission trip to Haiti while we were at a church for a funeral.  I emailed the church to see if we could possibly join in on their trip but I never heard back from them, which in the end worked out fine.  One night Jace and I went for a walk.  It was very cold and like most cold night walks we take, we were discussing our future summer plans.  We had a whole other trip in mind, but I said, "You know, I feel like we should do some type of mission trip, maybe to Haiti..." Jace said that he thought that would be neat and we said we'd think about it but never mentioned it to anyone.  About two weeks later, Jace's dad called one night and out of the blue said, "I've been thinking that it would be really neat if some of the older kids and I did a mission trip together.  I was thinking Haiti would be a good trip."  Wow!  So as fate would have it, we were headed to Haiti.

After spending time in the Florida Keys and tromping through the Everglades, Jace and I drove back to Miami where we met up with the other people on our team, including Jace's dad Dennis and two sisters Amy and Lexie.  We were going with an organization called Love A Child (LAC) that has been in Haiti for 20 years.  We met at a hotel, had a Q and A, and headed to bed. We met in the lobby at 4:00 am (EST mind you) the next morning.

LAC wants women travelers to dress modestly because as they put it, "Some women in Haiti who wear pants there are thought to be... not very nice..." so Amy, Lexie, and I had some beautiful skirts and our team shirt. 

Who knew we could look so good at 5am?

We flew into Port au Prince, the nation's capital.  The airport had been reconstructed since the earthquake.  There was a new section that we used but the old section still is there, too. Most of the destroyed buildings in Haiti remain because they have no where to clear them out to or no money to do it.  So they just leave them and build around it if they can. 

The airport was pure chaos. There's no rhyme or reason for anything - no lines, no order - hense us wearing bright yellow shirts so we can all stay together.  The one baggage claim was just a mass of bodies and luggage.  We finally got all our bags, were lead out through the mob, to a truck that looked more like a steel cage.  "This is for our protection as we drive through Port au Prince," they told us.  The goal of LAC is to get through the city as fast as they can so there was no driving us around showing us different things, which was a bit disappointing.  But it was safer that way. 

 Loading bags into truck

 Making the hour and a half drive

People are doing anything and everything in the ciy

Through the grate is one of many tent cities that still house

millions of people in Port au Prince

 

We arrived at the LAC 60 acre "compound" as they call it. It was truly a compound since it had a concrete wall all the way around it and was guarded by guards with semi-automatic rifles. As hard core as this sounds, I felt safe the whole time and never felt in any danger inside the walls. We stayed in army tents - a boys tent and a girls tent.

 Our home away from home

After we set up our sleeping bags on our cots, we got a quick tour of the compound which housed an orphanage, medical clinic, school, church, the missionaries' homes, the warehouse of supplies, and a few other buildings. 

A little baby at the orphange who came right up to me and wanted to be held.  All the other older kids were at school so we'd see them later.

We ate a quick lunch before we hit the ground running, or building I should say.  LAC has a plot of land that they are building a "subdivision" for lack of a better word called Miracle Village.  The 500 houses were located about a mile away so we'd drive there as it wasn't safe for a bunch of naive white Americans to be walking on the road.  Plus we had all the tools to take back and forth from the compound to the job site because it wasn't safe to leave anything there.  They warned us, "If you put anything down while you are working, it will be gone in 5 minutes." My hat was taken the second day because I took it off and set it down, which I wasn't too upset about, but it was a good reminder to keep my camera on me at all times, which I did. 

 This was a local business on the road in Fond Parisien

 The fronts of the houses in Miracle Village

With an 80% unemployment rate before the earthquake, most people have nothing to do so they just hung out on the front porch of their new homes.  They were living like kings!



We started with a blank foundation. LAC told our team, "Our goal is to get started on a house and hopefully finish it by the end of the week."  Well, they obviously had no idea what the Widmers are capable of.  All in all, we finished three houses in four and a half days. Woo hoo!

 Us girls were in charge of cutting all the lumber. LAC repeatedly told us we were the best team of women they've ever had!!

 Jace putting in the frames

 First house up, starting on the second house. Along with volunteers, LAC also employs a crew of about 10 Haitian workers who work every day.  LAC pays them $200 a month, which is 4x the national average.  They were hard workers and construction is a great opportunity because not only were they employed, but they were also learning a skill. One of the three houses that we were building would become one of the worker's home, which they told him about while we were there. He was happy beyond words. 

 Once we got the frame of the first house up, we could split the work among both houses, and eventually on the third house.

 Lexie, the power swinger

Taking measurements to install the windows

 One, two, three

 Working on putting the siding up on the inside. Each house was 400 square feet which was two rooms and a larger "living room".  The houses did not have kitchens or bathrooms as their is no plumbing or electricity.  They cooked on cookstoves outside and LAC was also building community latrines.

The Amy Widmers

Right before we left on the last day of working. The Haitian work crew would finish with the metal sheeting of the roofs and paint the outside.

The front of an unfinished house

The front of a finished house.  The family must paint the inside of the house before they get their keys. This is considered their sweat equity.  They are also able to decorate their porch and their "yard." For many, this was the first house they have ever lived in.  LAC also provides them with furniture for the inside and for some of them, the first real bed they've ever slept in.

This was our friend Tommy who came to work with us every day. He was mentally challenged and didn't have a family.  In the Haitian culture, anyone with a disability (physical or mental) is considered to be "less than human." He liked us because we would talk to him and let him help us.

Some people have asked where we went to the bathroom when we were on the job site... 

 The first day we used the community bathroom, which was behind this wall.  It was beyond words to think that this was the normal condition that people used every day.  Oh, and many of the people don't have shoes.  Those latrines would be much appreciated!

For the rest of the week, we got special treatment and were allowed to use

the facilities that belonged to the medical clinic.

Yep, you read that right - medical clinic.

One day, we went to a nearby village. Though it was only a few miles away, it took about 25 minutes to drive there because the road conditions were so terrible.  This was a village that many of the families who lived in Miracle Village came from.

 Some people ask, "If the people are starving why don't they eat the chickens and goats that are everywhere?" These animals are either scavengers or they are the family's only resource for eggs or milk.  The animals are also used as collateral for trading. Temporary elimination of hunger would not outweigh what they would lose if they ate these animals.

 We learned a family of 18 people lived in one hut.  They would take turns and sleep in shifts because they couldn't all fit inside at once.

This lake sits in the middle of Haiti and Dominican Republic. Fishing was a way of life and a source of food, though the lake is overfished so there's not much to catch.  This lake had brackish water so the people were not able to drink it. 

This little guy kept following us and wanted his picture taken.

At Miracle Village there is a playground and soccer field.  I read on the LAC blog that when the American team came and built the playground, they had a big opening ceremony.  The kids wore their Sunday best to celebrate!

The kids loved being able to see their picture on my camera.

One night we attended a church service at the orphanage. It was led 100% by the kids.  It was like a big party! There was singing and dancing, we even had a congo line!

The Haitian people are so incredibly beautiful, inside and out.  They are so grateful for anything. It is amazing how resilient they are.  Most live their entire lives in complete poverty, yet their smiles have a true richness about them. 

The last picture is one of my favorite I've ever taken.  It symbolizes Haiti perfectly - the rough ground and the water well is the harsh reality of the landscape and what the people must do to survive; the homes in the background is the hope that the country holds that one day the people may be able to have their basic needs met, be self-sustaining, and provide for their families; and the precious girl shows the innocence and simplicity of the lives of the children. 

There will always be a special spot in my heart for the country and the people of Haiti.  There is no way someone could go there and not take a piece of it home.  I know I sure did.