My trip to Haiti was different in many ways from other trips I've taken-not so much having to do with the volunteering, but with the fact that there wasn't a lot of "wandering around" to be done-we worked long days, it got dark early (6:30 or 7)-and the sad reality is that many of the places I would normally explore are simply not safe. So many of the images that I have from outside our site were taken from a moving car-which definitely gives an idea of what I saw-but what I saw was limited. Other than my short (half-mile?) walk to visit the orphanage, I saw what one sees traveling between Kenscoff and Port-au-Prince airport, and between the airport and the beach we visited on Sunday.
As we drove through the city we passed several tent cities (still from the earthquake), as well as a couple parks which until fairly recently had also housed tent cities. I was told that Port-au-Prince (the city) was suited for 500,000 people-and there are currently about 5 million living there. I saw many people selling on the sides of the roads-clothing, food to cook, "fast food" to take and eat. We also passed people selling individual packets (doses) of over-the-counter meds-aspirin, cold meds, etc. I just finished reading a novel set in Ethiopia that mentioned the same thing-it hadn't occurred to me until reading it that this was indicative of the ability to buy (if one is lucky) only the meds that are needed. It is so easy to take for granted the ability to buy a bottle of pain-reliever, rather than 2 tablets.
On the day I left, we had to transport a couple (from another charitable organization based in the states) from their hotel to the airport. This was a very strong reminder to me that, as in most countries, there are different levels of living. The hotel was very upscale-made me think of being in an island inside of the city-one could easily go in and forget for a time the conditions elsewhere in the city. And, on the Sunday I was in Haiti, we had our day off and went to a private beach for the day. I am not complaining about either of these-they are simply part of the reality of where I was, and as such I am grateful to have seen/experienced them, as it gave me a more complete picture than I might have otherwise had.
One of the great things about going to the beach was that I was able to see some of the countryside out of the city of Port-au-Prince. Haiti is a beautiful country-green, mountains, rolling hills, gorgeous water. In some ways it reminded me (in looks) of other places I've visited (South Africa's eastern cape and Ireland come to mind!).
If you're interested in seeing some of the things I saw, you can see them here. Unfortunately, I don't see a return trip to explore Haiti in my future-as much as I would love to have been able to explore more of it, especially getting further away from Port-au-Prince. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be there once, and hope and pray that for this poorest of countries, the future will be more hopeful than the past.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
A (work)day in Haiti
Best laid plans and all that...I guess the good news is that I was so busy in Haiti that posting was not really practical. So...herewith the posts I might have done had I time...
The project I worked on was in Kenscoff, Haiti-in the mountains about 15 km sw of Port-au-Prince-which had the benefit of being much less humid and also cooler at night-hooray!! Our elevation was about 5000', which gave me something to blame tiredness on besides age. Too bad I wasn't signed up for any races when I returned, I'm sure I would have done much better than usual.
The project was to build a clinic/vocational center on the grounds of a new orphanage. I volunteered with Lake Union Crew Outreach Foundation (in Seattle), and they partnered with Chances for Children, based in Phoenix. The project ran for 12 weeks, I volunteered for week 7. The week I was there we had 6 volunteers, all women. It turned out that the jobs to be done that week mostly involved prepping for and pouring concrete. I'm pretty sure I'm good on that job for awhile now...
We stayed in the "new" orphanage, still being finished inside. Our kitchen was a good BBQ with side burner, we did have a fridge to keep food cool. Although we were on "city power", it routinely went out, so we also had a generator, although it couldn't pump water, so if the city power was out, there was no inside running water-which happened for 4 of the 7 days I was there! Fortunately we could still get water from the tap outside the house, so we could boil it for cooking or washing. My last "sponge bath" I imagine was appreciated by the people next to me on the plane back to NYC !
Our work days started at 6:30, with a short break for "liquids and salt" about 10, then lunch about 1. We usually worked until about 5:30, although I know one day after I left went closer to 6:30 or 7. After dinner we visited or played games, but bed usually beckoned by 9:30 or 10.
Speaking of bed...Thursday night two of the volunteers discovered that the little critters that we had occasionally observed in the house had invaded their room-and were getting entirely too friendly! So the next day saw several well-baited traps...and after close to a week, I'm pretty sure we'd at the least encouraged our four-footed furry friends to look elsewhere for their food. The joys of working in the countryside...although we were grateful that these were the small variety of rodents, and not their larger cousins!
Sunday was our day off, so we hired a van and driver and headed for a private beach for r&r. Let's just say the ride was not for the faint of heart-and I was for once grateful to be in the back seat without a good view to what was ahead. In my trips to and from the airport, as well as the trip to and from the beach (which was outside Port-au-Prince), I saw exactly ONE traffic light. Other than that, I guess you just go for it. Coming around mountain curves was fun-honk to let the people coming the other way that you're on your way down. But...the beach was nice and provided a much needed break. As much as I would usually rather explore, that really wasn't an option here, and we definitely needed some down-time after 8-10 hour days.
Photos are from the project itself are here if you haven't already seen them. The next post will have info about Haiti outside of our work site.
Peace!
Ro
The project I worked on was in Kenscoff, Haiti-in the mountains about 15 km sw of Port-au-Prince-which had the benefit of being much less humid and also cooler at night-hooray!! Our elevation was about 5000', which gave me something to blame tiredness on besides age. Too bad I wasn't signed up for any races when I returned, I'm sure I would have done much better than usual.
The project was to build a clinic/vocational center on the grounds of a new orphanage. I volunteered with Lake Union Crew Outreach Foundation (in Seattle), and they partnered with Chances for Children, based in Phoenix. The project ran for 12 weeks, I volunteered for week 7. The week I was there we had 6 volunteers, all women. It turned out that the jobs to be done that week mostly involved prepping for and pouring concrete. I'm pretty sure I'm good on that job for awhile now...
We stayed in the "new" orphanage, still being finished inside. Our kitchen was a good BBQ with side burner, we did have a fridge to keep food cool. Although we were on "city power", it routinely went out, so we also had a generator, although it couldn't pump water, so if the city power was out, there was no inside running water-which happened for 4 of the 7 days I was there! Fortunately we could still get water from the tap outside the house, so we could boil it for cooking or washing. My last "sponge bath" I imagine was appreciated by the people next to me on the plane back to NYC !
Our work days started at 6:30, with a short break for "liquids and salt" about 10, then lunch about 1. We usually worked until about 5:30, although I know one day after I left went closer to 6:30 or 7. After dinner we visited or played games, but bed usually beckoned by 9:30 or 10.
Speaking of bed...Thursday night two of the volunteers discovered that the little critters that we had occasionally observed in the house had invaded their room-and were getting entirely too friendly! So the next day saw several well-baited traps...and after close to a week, I'm pretty sure we'd at the least encouraged our four-footed furry friends to look elsewhere for their food. The joys of working in the countryside...although we were grateful that these were the small variety of rodents, and not their larger cousins!
Sunday was our day off, so we hired a van and driver and headed for a private beach for r&r. Let's just say the ride was not for the faint of heart-and I was for once grateful to be in the back seat without a good view to what was ahead. In my trips to and from the airport, as well as the trip to and from the beach (which was outside Port-au-Prince), I saw exactly ONE traffic light. Other than that, I guess you just go for it. Coming around mountain curves was fun-honk to let the people coming the other way that you're on your way down. But...the beach was nice and provided a much needed break. As much as I would usually rather explore, that really wasn't an option here, and we definitely needed some down-time after 8-10 hour days.
Photos are from the project itself are here if you haven't already seen them. The next post will have info about Haiti outside of our work site.
Peace!
Ro
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