Haiti, not unlike other
countries, is a study in contrast. Today
we experienced the country, city, community and culture in all its spender and
distress. A mission trip is not a
vacation; our goals and purposes are more deliberate, more focused in support
of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ through our words, deeds and
actions. These actions require travel;
in Haiti as our first two days of blogs attest our transportation to and from
our destinations are in a “flat bed truck with a cage” or more commonly called
a tap tap. The open air tap tap allows
us to use our senses to touch, hear, smell and see the country we are working
in.
Day 3 of our mission trip,
more than any experience so far, reflected how “color” is a manifestation of
the Haitian culture. We visited three
distinctly and different places: Sweet
Home: a seven year old orphanage built
after the earthquake (seven years ago); Papillion and the Apparent
Project: a highly successful jobs
centric nonprofit business with its own restaurant and retail store; and
finally an orphanage named La Phare: small and seemingly isolated located near
some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port –au – Prince.
Traveling in our tap tap we
drive on and through busy streets, and highly active markets, intersecting with
pedestrians, cars, trucks, motorcycles in all their sense of purpose; mostly
what appears to be to get to another destination as fast as possible. Horns are a constant. One needs to be a highly confident driver to
successfully navigate the streets and alleys; they are narrow, often times with
litter or construction debris in the way; busier than a Minnesota interstate
with no traffic control (emphasis). Yet,
in three days of riding, we have yet to witness one incident, even so remotely
minor as a “fender bender”. In route,
the colors you see are a complex mix of gray, brown, black, white and faded
shades of green, red and blue. Signs
need a fresh coat of paint, and dust, dirt and rock are commonplace.
But how that changes when we
reach our destination.
Sweet Home is an orphanage serving
abandoned children and orphans ages newborn to 18. The buildings and facility are bright, and colorful. Pulling into the gates we are overwhelmed
with reds, greens and yellows. Fresh paint with children smiling, laughing, and
yes crying, rings the school yard. The
joy in the children’s eyes and smiles when they see us is worth the small
sacrifice we make to participate in this mission trip. Language barriers often deflect honest conversation
(mostly), but a smile is a smile, a laugh is a
laugh and a hug is a hug and
we give and receive generously.
Papillion is a special place; without
pretention, built in a neighborhood that looks like others, but inside is
nothing remotely close. A bustling
retail store selling all colors of pottery, jewelry, clothing and ornaments,
each made on site with real people and real jobs. According to our tour guide, proceeds support
up to 300 Haitians. It’s amazing, and
our lunch of smoothies and pizza were a delight and unexpected. And, to what will be no surprise to my wife,
I bought a coffee mug, yes, another one to add to my collection.
Our final stop for today was
a small orphanage named La Phare. La
Phare is located adjacent to a small city street with a hard gate that opens
and closes our entry. Kids with clothing
of all colors come running out of school (permission granted by the teacher, no
doubt), and we play soccer, catch, jump rope, and color. Our markers represent the spectrum of colors
and the kids drawings are amazing.
Tomorrow we have water truck day
in the morning followed by a visit to Home for Sick and Dying Babies in the
afternoon. Thank you for your prayers.
Written by Dave Unmacht
