I have heard already, dear readers, that you want to know the "rest of the story" concerning our trip to Haiti. I am not sure that words can do justice to what transpired in that mystical place. My youngest is sick to death of hearing about it, as, I suspect, his wife, as it pretty much fills my mind totally. Nothing else seems to matter or be of interest right now. Yet, I find it hard to "translate" the trip. Bondye (God) was there every step of the way, without a doubt and His son, Jesu, gave us much comfort in our travels. The prayers of the saints most definately kept us safe. So, I will try to tell some, but never all, as remembrances surface almost hourly.
First, I adopted three new sons in LeJeune. Rener, 22, Yves 20, Bonne 19. All were in tears when we left, as were we. All but Yves has finished the secondary part of their education and are ready to study abroad... (Any takers, JMU, BC or EMU?) Yves has five more classes, but lacks the funding. He has money for two now, (thank you Sisters) and I expect to have funding for the other three before it is needed.
The trip to the island from Dulles was relatively uneventful, except for a paper handed to us to let us know that Port au Prince had some serious security problems and a confiscation of my little jar of peanut butter. Just "another flight" until we walked down the steps of the plane at Port au Prince onto boiling hot tarmac and the sounds of music drifting from the doors. No "security" there, just men dying to carry your luggage for a buck. We stood in line to receive our visas, but there was nothing to it. But, then... but THEN!!! A man comes up to Henry, "you the boss"? How many, how many?" Henry counted us out while the man whispered in Henry's ear and he slipped him a bill. Off we go running bent for leather. What about customs? What about luggage checks? You mean I hid those gloves and thermometer for NOTHING? Again the heat hit us like a wave and we found our selves in the midst of Christian men from Brother Lionel's church. Our luggage took off and so did we as we walked "trotted" to the trucks and a "short bus". Off we go into the streets of Port au Prince. No one drives on the right or left sides exclusively... people pass and run and well, it's chaos. The "taxis" are busses or pickups loaded with people and painted with bright, bright colors and scripture references. "Signs" for Christ are everywhere!!! Horns blow to keep from being hit and scooters flash in and out among the traffic. Finally a traffic light. Only one the city. Henry informed us it wasn't there last time. Within a relatively short time we find ourselves at the "elegant" Visa Lodge. At least it has a computer, albeit old and the keys stick, where I can send off an email to family to let them know we made it. Did I say elegant? The pool is there, but it's empty. The rooms have ummmm, well no hot water and lots of mosquitos. Through a series of events, Henry and I end up in separate rooms. I guess we needed to get used to it. For supper we are given a menu. I order a club sandwich. Uhhh, as hungry as I was, I could not eat it. It had a fried egg on it and what looked like ham, but I wasn't sure. I just ate a banana and toast with a good, sugar laden coke. The cokes taste like "old time cokes" and they were wonderful. 20 oz size too. Bananas are known as "Figs" there and "bananas" are actually the tasteless plaintain. Our room for one night was $90. US. Ridiculous, but we cannot expect more, I suppose. After supper we went to the church that Henry helped to put a roof on 8 years ago. It was a wonderful service and we were treated like royalty. It was an excellent, excellent worship where people know the one true God. We were up early on Saturday and prepared to leave in separate vehicles. Us girls headed out on the short bus while the men headed out in pick up trucks. Little did we know what we were in for. As we headed out of the city and up the mountains on dirt roads, we had a potty break at a catholic mission. All that was there were children and they pointed to the outhouse with a giggle knowing we were americans. I mean we are white in a sea of black. All I can say is, "hand me toilet paper". There was a real reason why we each carried four rolls! Going was in a concrete hole. A good "baptism" of what was to come. After all of us "went" we continued up roads that would have had me terrified in the US, but there, my palms didn't even sweat. We went around mountain roads where you blew your horn around curves, lest some else was coming and barriers on the sides were non-existent. We went by the reservoir and dam that serves Port au Prince. It was beautiful, if you could get past the huge cliff that you were on the edge of.. Somewhere in the fourth or fifth hour we had a flat tire on the bus. (No surprise there, believe me!) Since there was no one close, we drove on into Hinche. Nice little town. Pastor Supreme is the pastor there and he graciously welcomed us as the tire was being fixed at the Alleluia Auto Parts. Children gathered round the bus in hopes of a $. But we'd learned early on (another story), do NOT give children candy or money. They multiply quickly. After two hours in the heat we were off again. By this time, breakfast sure seemed a long way away and a can of spam was opened. Now we all know that spam makes maybe five sandwiches, but that day we had big thick slices of spam for 13 people out of one can. God is good! I've never eaten spam in my 52 years, but that day it tasted like steak to me. (I guess it was about 5 p.m.). Comments about the roads resulted in "just wait, you haven't seen anything yet". How right that was. Just past the turn off for Pernal the roads deteriorated massively. Ruts and holes big enough to swallow the bus. We finally arrived at LeJeune about 8 p.m. and supper was on the table. Stew. It was good, but don't ask me what was in it. We were all bushed so were in bed relatively early. I should mention here that the further away from Port au Prince we got the more livestock we saw and fewer cars/trucks. Mostly donkeys, goats, pigs and oxen. Nearly everyone road donkeys with these huge grass saddles. A sight to behold. Our suite in LeJeune was a lovely room with four single cots. We had a big window and our own veranda and private bath. The private bath was a concrete tub with a table, wash basin and two buckets of water. Our toilet facilities were outside and obviously brand new. A sign was hung on the outhouse door that said, "for our guests". It was clean, it was nice!!! No complaints, believe me. The room was lovely and only had a few geckos and palmetto bugs to room with us. Just to the right of the outhouse a little goat was tied at a shelter. I went over and petted him and loved on him a bit. Sweet little thing.
Sunday dawned bright and early. I didn't notice that the sweet little goat wasn't at his place. But, then I had almost forgotten about him. Breakfast was good with the sweetest grapefruit juice you have ever tasted. The coffee was strong, though only luke warm. Good for the foggy brain, though. The worship service was lively and filled with joy. Each of us had to speak, of course, so that made the nerves all the more jumbled. At one point a little old lady began to dance her way to the front of the church. We just figured she was putting in her widow's mite, as others before her had done. She had a sing-song voice though and the pastor's went down to meet her. Pastor Preval came up to us and in a matter of fact voice said, "she's blind, but now can see". The rejoicing broke out shortly after it was announced to everyone. After services I went down to greet the woman and in a totally english dialect she said, "I was blind, but now I can see. Jesus healed me." While I was struck by her good english, I didn't think much about it. At lunch when I commented, both Pastor Geordany and Preval laughed and said, "she doesn't speak, nor understand a word of English". I know what I heard, so I'll let ya'll figure it out. The lady came to the clinic the next day, but not about her eyes. Lunch was great with peanut carrot salad, "banana fried" and a great meat. It was so good. It took me two days to realize what it was..... Animals in Haiti are for working or eating. No pets.
That evening we interacted with the dear saints. A 24 y.o woman named Katleen became my friend, though we did have a language barrier (I hope to eliminate for next time). She corn-row braided my hair. I was so excited. Little did I know that it would keep my scalp cool for the coming days. It was a highlight of the visits. Other evenings I studied scripture with our interpreters. I would read in Creole and they'd correct me and Rener would read in English and I would correct him. We had great evenings of fun, laughter and study. They are true Christians and hungry for a Word from the Lord. Each morning we were greeted with "Good Morning Sister" from Ivonne, who I also came to love. I have pieces of her needlework.
The clinics began on Monday resulting in long, hot days. This is enough for now. I'll continue the story later as time and energy allows.
Hope you enjoy the first installment.
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