Haiti: Part 1

Wow, what a week it has been.  My trip to Haiti has left me with a lot to process, and a lot to think through.  My hope is that this post will provide you a small glimpse of what I experienced in Haiti and the ways in which I saw God at work.
 
Before I begin: thank you to everyone who provided me encouragement and support before the trip, as well as prayers for safety during the trip.  The prayers are very appreciated, and throughout the journey it was reassuring to know that many back home were praying for the team and I.

Day 1

The trip didn’t start out quite as expected.  After a 3:45am departure on June 25, our team arrived at the Sioux Falls airport to discover that our flight into Atlanta had been cancelled due to weather. 

As you can imagine, this caused a bit of a dilemma.

However, after several phone calls with the travel agent, we managed to figure out a plan B. Our group of 17 was split and sent off on three different flights, all set to eventually meet up in Miami.  Group one left a little after noon, group two around 2:30, and group three around 3:30.
 

I was in group three.

 
I must admit, after ten hours in the airport, I'd grown quite fond of the place. (Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration.)

 
You'd think I would've taken advantage of those ten hours to catch up on sleep. However, that was not the case. I did anything but sleep. But how could I have possibly expected to fall asleep? My thoughts were racing with so many different emotions that sleep was the last thing on my mind.

 

After our "little" stay in the Sioux Falls airport, my group had boarded a plane and was headed to Dallas.  

 
Our layover in the Dallas airport didn’t last too long, and soon enough we were out of there and off to Miami. I've never actually been to Florida in the summer before, only during spring break. (In case any of you were wondering, Florida is just as humid in the summer as it is in the spring. My hair could tell you that much.)

 
My group was the last to arrive in Miami, checking into our hotel around 1:15am the morning of June 26. 

 
 
The night before I left for Haiti, I wrote the following in my journal:

"This time tomorrow, I'll be in Haiti."

Looking back on it now, it's actually pretty funny to think about. After writing the words down I thought, Well, I suppose I can't actually guarantee that I'll be in Haiti tomorrow. (Turns out there was truth to what I was thinking.)
 
By 5:20am we were off to the airport again to secure our seats on the airplane.  At that point, we didn’t know if there was room for all 17 of us on the plane.  Thankfully, within the hour we all had boarding passes in hand.  
 

Our flight left around 9:30, and by noon we were on the ground in Port-Au-Prince. 

 
Upon arriving at the Port-Au-Prince airport, we were told by experienced group members to keep our luggage close.  At baggage claim we discovered that three of our five checked bags were missing.  To this day we still aren’t quite sure where they are.  None of the bags contained any personal belongings (we each had a carry-on suitcase and backpack to hold our belongings), but we did lose vacation bible school supplies, donated soccer cleats, soccer balls, t-shirts, and power tools, among other things.  
 

After (what I would consider) a rush through customs, we were on the school bus to UCI (United Christians International). 

The city of Port-Au-Prince was just like any big city in the sense that there were people everywhere, there were several Coca-Cola advertisements, many vendors on the side of the road, and the traffic was bumper to bumper.  However, it was also different in so many ways.  

The best description I can even attempt to give is poverty-stricken.  

It’s tough to think of any other way to describe it.  
 
The first leg of our bus ride was ridden on smooth ground, but the last leg into the mountains took us over several bumpy roads with potholes and deep indents. We even crossed a river near the end of our journey.
 
We had been told from our experienced travelers that the ride would take a little over three hours. However, the trip took over five. In calculating time, we hadn't considered our mode of transportation. A van in Haiti travels much faster than a standard school bus.

By the time we got to UCI, I was exhausted.  

I don’t know if I’ve ever been that exhausted in my life. Or that sweaty─it was hot.  I felt completely out of my element and seriously questioned what I was even doing there in the first place.  

 

It was challenging because I knew that God didn’t send me to Haiti on accident, but I also questioned what he could possibly have in mind for the week.  

 

Eventually I had the chance to take a shower, and I’m telling you─it was the best shower I’ve taken in my whole life.  Okay, one of the best, at least in the top ten, but you get the idea.  The shower was a bit chilly (though not enough to cause goosebumps), but in the Haiti heat, it sure felt refreshing.

I can't imagine how I would've reacted had the group not been with me. My biggest reassurance that first night rested in the fact that I was taking on this new opportunity with sixteen other individuals. I had traveled to this unknown place with sixteen other followers of Christ who were experiencing many of the same setbacks as I.

 

They too were low on sleep─on energy─and I wouldn't question that several of them had many of the same doubting fears that began to wander through my mind.

[Interested in reading more? Check out the Blog Archive to the right to find links to my other posts.]

If you liked this post, you might like...

Haiti: Part 2
Haiti: Part 3
Haiti: Part 4
Haiti: Part 5
Haiti: Part 6
Haiti: Part 7