Haiti Trip 2016

It started at the gate in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. The interesting smells…the language I couldn’t understand…the different way of functioning…Was I even in the US still? But I knew that I was…the airport is obviously an old one and that added to the atmosphere of different-ness. Part the way thru the flight the stewardess brought papers the fill out about what I was bringing into the country and how long I was staying and where I was going….why do they need to know that anyway?

When I had left my house that morning it was about 40*F and so I was wearing a jacket to fly…after landing and while waiting the deplane I remembered I’d heard Port au Prince could be warm…so off with the jacket…and boy was a glad I had…deplaning I was blasted with the heat and humidity…it felt like summer time…the socks on my feet were even claustrophobic! ;) We had to walk out onto the tarmac and as we entered the building there was some relief….flowing with the crowd I began to look for signs of where to go…OH! Yes! There was English!!!! ….after….the French and some other language….but there was some. I am so glad that the agents knew English! Immigration and Customs was a breeze! And soon I saw Ryan thru the window! It sure was nice to see a familiar white face among the sea of dark ones.

The smells, the heat, the buildings, the vehicles, everything was different. But Ryan was still Ryan! It was good to see his world. He was so familiar with it all! And to me it was enough like some of the other places I’ve been to be ok…but enough different to be scary. After stopping for food at an ‘Americanized’ coffee shop we headed on our way....one stop for fuel and relief and 4 hours of hearing Haitian and English conversations simultaneously later we bounced our way into Ryan’s yard and Kendra! She’d stayed home and made supper of baked potato bar…yum!

I had an educational week on that mountain….What would it be like to have go to the spring to go get all my water…houses that have no windows and are as big as one of my small rooms in my house….housing a family…Church services are ok to be held on a bed and a cell phone light might need to be used to see the songs and passage….everything it up hill from Ryan’s… and tarantulas make noises at night! Rocks are very slick in the rain even to walk on much less to drive on…Gardens can be planted on the side of a cliff…but make sure you keep your footing secure or you will fall and brake some bones…it’s possible for a 2 year old to look newborn… friends can be made in a few days’ time…the light in ppls eyes is the same in a different language as it is in English when Jesus is present…God definitely sometimes says yes, sometimes no, and sometimes wait…and sometimes He says wait to one party and yes to another…These are just a few things of interest from my week in the mountains….maybe I understand a little more of the landscape in ‘Christy’. Maybe I can be more grateful for what I am blessed with here and be more aware of the prayers that are needed…but surely I am changed again…surely I will be better for it…

In some ways life was also normal American…we had electricity into the night…we sewed with nice sewing machines…we had ice for our water…we cooked with a stove….and even had to defrost a freezer…I had constant connection to home and ceiling fans and open windows….One day we went to the beach and buried our toes in the sand…the Caribbean is breathtaking and I’ve never seen salt water so clear unless it was in a kettle on the stove!

I also got the privilege to experience buying material and machetes at a local market….and eat some Haitian food made beside the street…oh and have you ever try grocery shopping out of your car window on Main Street? Sure was handy!

I wasn’t really ready to come home although I knew there were responsibilities calling my name several miles straight north and after a while leisure gets tired…I’m excited to have that fine couple home in a couple a months but I know they will be missed on their mountain…and I know that they will miss their mountain too!