Highway....what highway?

Out our bedroom window

Lunch with students in the English program

We woke up early this morning in Port Au Prince to a beautiful sunrise around 5am and a piping hot cup of Haitian coffee. We packed a tiny bag and filed into the vehicle for a four hour ride to Port Salut. By the way, four hours does not include the full hour plus it takes to get from our home base to the outskirts of PAP. Luckily, we were able to drive much of the four hours on the ‘highway’. The highway is simply a nicely paved road with one lane going each way. The space that normally would display a double yellow line is defined as an ‘optional third lane’, of which Ray is a card carrying member.

The purpose of today is to see the way of life for the 6 million Haitians not living in PAP. The rural countryside is spotted with small community markets that line the roads or bridges with people selling and bartering goods, mostly food. We saw many women and children walking alone up and down mountainsides in barefeet with 5 gallon buckets of water on their head. Ray pointed out that many of these women have walked over an hour from their water source to obtain water. Bridges led us over rivers where children were playing, people were bathing, and women were washing. Winding roads brought us into valleys with rice patty fields and to beautiful scenic mountain vistas.

We arrived in La Calle, which is the third largest city in Haiti. Another 25 kilometers brought us into the town of Port Salut. Joan and Ray have built into this town significantly through an English program, which has developed employment opportunities for some of these students as interpreters. These students have been able to utilize their English skills as interpreters for a medical clinic in PAP soon after the disaster. We were able to have lunch with some of these students, and we’re looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.

This afternoon our team gathered to do devotions and debrief on our experiences thus far. In the evening we toured several developing areas in Port Salut including a medical clinic and a community center site. We prayed together with several community members and the Conns regarding this community. We continued our conversations regarding potential projects in Haiti over dinner. Before bed, our team gathered together to discuss the rest of the week’s plans.

On a side note, we did a rescue mission! My flip flops (my only shoes for this leg of the trip) attempted to escape across the sea to Cuba, but thanks to David’s keen eye, they were rescued.

Peace!

Ashley