We left Seattle around10:30 pm Thursday night. The flight was pretty smooth and we arrived around 6:30am EST in Miami. Once in Miami, we met up with Dale who is the director for Haiti Outreach. From there we boarded the plane for Port au Prince. As we approached the runway you could really see the damage and poverty that the people lived in; lots of bright blue tarp tents. After going through immigration and collecting out bags, we headed out into the city to get a ride to the second terminal for our second flight. There were so many people trying to help us with our bags, but you really had to be stern and say no, otherwise they expected to be paid. Upon arriving to the second airport, the cars were bombarded with people who basically ripped the bags off the cars and took them into the terminal for us. We waited in the second terminal for about 1-1.5 hours before we boarded the 15 passenger propeller driven plane that would take us to Pignon. It was awesome to be able to see the country side below and to see how remote and separated some of the communities really were. The flight itself was only about 30 min in length and ended with us landing on a grass runway in Pignon.
Upon arriving, we got settled into the guest house where we would be staying. The house is an 8 room building completely powered by solar power that overlooks the runway. After getting settled into rooms we enjoyed a traditional Haitian meal of goat, corn and dirty rice; it was fantastic. We then headed off the visit the community in which we would be working at. To get to the community, we take a 45 min truck ride where those of us that cant fit into the cab ride standing up in the back holding onto a custom metal rack that was made. The road to get to the community is National Highway 3 and is almost completely dirt and large rocks. Needless to say, it is a very rough ride. As we drive through the different parts of town, most of the little kids will start screaming and yelling "blanc! blanc!" (pronounced b-long-k) meaning white. When we got to the site, we got to sit in on the community meeting where we were greeted with applause and were sat at the front of the group which is reserved as a place of honor. The meeting was an incredible cultural experience, watching and listening to the group discuss and answer questions regarding the well. The meeting lasted a few hours and ended just as the sun was setting. We then walked to the site where the well had already been drilled. On the way back to the guest house, we stopped at a local shop and enjoyed met some of the team that works and interns at Haiti Outreach. The night ended pretty early as we had been up for the better part of 24 hours.
Today, day 2, started very early. We awoke to the sound of the rooster crowing, which we were kind of annoyed with. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast of eggs with meat, bread and fruit. After breakfast we went to the local street market where the people set up shop to sell goods. It was another cool experience, even though the market was not fully set up for the day yet. Further down the road was the animal market, where as you can guess, animals are sold and traded. While heading back to the truck, we noticed a local Clarin, or rum, distillery. They let us come in and see how they make the Clarin, which reminded me a lot of an over sized moonshine still. We were about to leave when they brought us to a back room where they store the final product before it is sold to be made into the rum that you can find in the store. Clarin is made from sugarcane so it is sweet, but it kicks like a mule and feels like you are drinking turpentine. This was potent stuff. We then headed back to the work site where the concrete slab was just poured. We moved all the cinder blocks over to the job site before headed back for lunch. The food here is absolutely delicious, and again we were served a delicious meal. After lunch, we headed back to the job site where the walls was already being built. We helped out by sifting the large rocks from the sand and helped mix concrete. During the times where the work was slow, we got to interact and play with the kids, who love having their picture taken. Most of the actual building is done by contracted masons. We got the wall about half built for the day before calling it a night. We returned to the house and relaxed before dinner. The sun here really takes a lot of energy out you. Dinner was a fantastic beef stew with fried plantains and popcorn. After dinner, we sat down as a team and shared our experiences so far. It has been an incredible trip so far and we cant wait to share more as it happens.
