Day 3

    I tried to come on this trip with no expectations of how it would actually be.  I have never been to Haiti before, and have never been on a mission trip.  You hear so many negative things in the news and in conversation with others about Haiti, but I have had enough time on the planet to know that it is best to see things with your own eyes and to not be hasty in forming opinions.  In the last few days, I have approached an understanding of how complicated this country is, and how many contrasts there are.  “Contrast” by the way,  was our word for the day for yesterday, and made us all mindful of percieving and appreciating contrasts during our time here.

     One contrast that is apparent to us each day, is the transition from the Methodist Guest House here in Port au Prince to our jobsite at Delmas 33 each day.  Port au Prince is bustling and a beehive of activity, while the Guest House is a place of tranquility only a wall away.  There are cars, trucks, motorcycles and pedestrians everywhere, and all seemingly very intent on going in their own particular direction all at once.  Lane changes, turns, merges and passing all seem to revolve around who can honk at the appropriate time and  who can get their vehicle’s nose in first- DC traffic is tame by comparison.  I will tell you this, you don’t see despair on the faces of these people- you see determination.  I wonder how well we would do under these same circumstances.

    Making do with what you have seems to be a national talent.  Today at the jobsite we continued our excavation of the side of the church, and helped our Haitian co-workers prepare the wall for additional courses of block.  We assembled reinforcements out of steel, and I was blessed to witness first hand just how well these people handle limited resources.  A bending jig for the steel was assembled out of a 2X4, a concrete block suspended by wire for a weight, and several nails cut from the same steel we were using for reinforcement- no running down to Home Depot around here.  A bending tool was fabricated from an old steel handled hammer, and our foreman Peter patiently showed me how to make the bends correctly so the finished product  would be usable for them in assembling the reinforcements.  Once the my first clumsy attempts improved, I was amazed by the elegant simplicity of the whole process, and I happily spent the afternoon bending steel accompanied by many of the locals who like to come out and see what is going on at Delmas 33.  Smiles, laughter and good will abound…

     Perhaps the highlight of the day for those of us that love the local cooking- and I think that means everybody-was our lunch prepared at the jobsite by Madame Lulu.  Spicy coleslaw, beans and rice, barbecued chicken, fried plantains, and potato salad were consumed with great appreciation by all of us.  Madame Lulu seems to be a woman not only of great talents at cooking and singing, but a leader of the church and the community.  We have felt truly and warmly welcomed by her and several of the others in the local church and community.

     At the end of the day, we pack our bodies into the van for the ride back to the Guest House, and the contrasts are everywhere.  The happy activity of the work at Delmas 33 gives way to the streets of Port au Prince, and thanks to our skillful Haitian drivers, eventually this too in turn gives way to the peace and greenery of the Guest House.  We all enjoy relief from the heat and the dust in the cool pool here, and enjoy fellowship with each other and sharing our experiences of the day.  It is a diverse group, and we all bring something to the table.  In the same way, but on an even more meaningful scale, the people of Haiti give something to us, and bring something to the world’s table. It is up to all of us to approach the world and each other with open hearts and minds, and to look for and recognize the love and beauty that can exist and thrive in even the most chaotic and stressful of environments.  It certainly does here in Port au Prince.