Today was quite the emotional roller coaster. Here is how the day went:
We woke up at 4:30 am (1:30 am San Diego time) to get to the airport for our 7:30 flight to Port-au-Prince. The shuttle from the hotel was jam-packed…that should have been the first sign. When we arrived at Fort Lauderdale airport, chaos ensued. The computers had been down at Spirit airlines all night, so lines went out the door. There was yelling, pushing, etc. Tension was high. We eventually made it through check-in and security to our gate…on time, thank goodness. I thought it was going to be a rinky-dink airplane, but it was full-sized and was a full flight trip. We were two out of about 10 white people on the flight. Let’s just say that if we were “Where’s Waldo,” we would not be hard to find.
Arriving at the airport was wild. We walked out of the air conditioned plane and into madness. There was a band playing “island” music at the door, which was awesome. We all crammed onto a bus that took us to immigration and customs. That was easy enough. But walking out those airport doors was another story. People were lined up wanting to help with bags to make a few dollars. We found our driver, Julma, right away so we didn’t have too much trouble. Hoards of people, mostly children, lined the chain link fence and yelled for us. My stomach sank to my feet and my throat closed tight seeing for the first time what third world poverty is like. Ignoring the pleas was not easy. We loaded into Julma’s truck, which had to be push started, and hit the road. I had no seatbelt in the back, and the driving was insane. New York City roads are nothing. No lanes, just honking and passing. All I could think was that if the car flipped, I was a goner for sure. The poverty was heartbreaking and the crazy thing is that we didn’t even see the epicenter of the earthquake’s horror. The airport and the direction we traveled were not affected much. That made the situation all that more real, that this wasn’t poverty and destruction from a natural disaster. This devastation has always been here. What I really want to know is: how do they hold that much weight on their heads without spilling the whole bowl?!
After about 45 minutes, we arrived at Love A Child. The House is small, but is luxury compared to the conditions the Haitians are living in. We got settled in and drove to the camp where the PT tent was. It was unbelievable…I don’t know how to describe it. The tent is small with only a few beds and there are a bunch of people waiting (we got there in the afternoon, so we’ll have to see what it is like tomorrow morning.) Children were running around with dirt caked to their faces, but wore smiles that make your heart melt. It is difficult not speaking the language though. I will be sitting at the front of the tent for a while, organizing patients, but it is still rewarding. I got “chatted up” by a guy I couldn’t communicate with. He tried French, Spanish (how have I forgotten so much), and a few words of English. It ended in awkwardness. When all the patients had been seen, we went out to distribute stickers and toys to the children around the camp. Flocks came. I kicked the soccer ball around with a few boys and had them climbing on me like a jungle gym. They all loved to have their picture taken and view them on the screen after. I don’t know if I have ever smiled that wide, or if I’ll have mouth stretch marks when I get home.
We got back to the camp and had dinner…already prepared by Kevin (luxury right?) Then we went to watch a soccer game back at the camp. We walked there trying to avoid the manure. It was awesome. I played soccer with the kids and they had a game with two full teams in uniforms. They were quite good, too. The little kids will come up and just hold your hand. They don’t know you, they don’t speak the same language as you, but they will climb in your lap without question. I gave a bunch of them piggyback rides and I’m now feeling it. Also, I have never been this dirty in my life. Dirt caked, clothes gnarly (vote Marlie?) I am now showered and clean and never felt better.
P.S. I just found a place that I can get internet…so that is why this has taken so long.
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