A Visit to Downtown Port-au-Prince

Thursday proved to be an incredibly intense day. It started off pretty low key. Our good friend Miguelson stopped by the guest house and we headed out to run errands and see people around the city. Miguelson is currently working for the Southern Baptist Convention as an interpreter. He is able to make a little money right now with this job, which helps his family out a great deal. Miguelson told me that his father, who is a farmer in the countryside, is no longer able to sell much of his produce in Haiti because farmers cannot compete with the free food coming in from abroad. His father has a contact in the Dominican Republic so he can sell most of his stuff there.

Obviously right now there are many people who do not have jobs and therefore cannot afford to buy any food. They are completely dependent on foreign donations and whatever they can scrape up on a daily basis. On the other hand, Haitian farmers are struggling because the population that can afford to buy a little food is seeking out the free food that is being delivered by foreign aid organizations and foreign governments. This is just one of the numerous complexities when trying to understand post-earthquake Haiti. People are hungry and more aid, including food, is needed in the country. Yet a system of dependence is being created that will have to eventually be removed for the country's economy to move forward.

I had the good fortune of spending the morning with Sylvia and her family, which was great. They are doing well and seemed happy as always. We talked about her community and how people were doing. She told me stories about receiving ration cards for food and then standing in long lines to receive rice, beans, and water. Sylvia said that she has not been given a ration card in over a month, but her family is finding ways to eat. We talked about the recovery efforts, the looming rainy season, and my family's ambiguous future in Haiti. If we return we will hire you again I promised her, but I also told her that I'm not sure when that will be. She handled the news well, but I know that on some level she has to be concerned about the future income of her family. Sylvia is a part of our family now and we miss her dearly.

I spent the afternoon in downtown Port-au-Prince where the situation was the worst that I have seen in Haiti thus far. The large old buildings that once made up the downtown were reduced to roofless one story buildings, if not completely destroyed. We passed by the National Palace, which laid idle and seemingly untouched since the earthquake. The National Cathedral was missing its roof and one side of the building was completely knocked down. Downtown Port-au-Prince was in ruins, but vendors lined the streets and the chaotic environment of downtown still existed amongst the destruction. It will take months, if not years before downtown Port-au-Prince can return to a level of normalcy.

Miguelson and I journeyed into a tent city across the street from the National Palace. All of the beautiful parks once filled with fountains and monuments were nothing but an endless mass of humanity living on top of each other. Tent after tent covered the area. Many of the makeshift homes were nothing but sticks and sheets, others were created with pieces of metal and cardboard with donated tarps serving as the roof. People were cooking, doing laundry, bathing, and sleeping like they did in their old homes. We would occasionally stop to talk to people who told us stories of sick children, crumbled homes, lost relatives, and hunger. One man introduced me to a 12 year-0ld boy that lost his leg when the building he was in fell on top of him. "Ten people died inside that building and he was the only one that survived," he informed me. The boy insisted that I take his picture. He even smiled. Many complained that the Haitian government has once again done nothing to help its people and that there is food and water coming into the country, but not everybody can access it. They fear the coming rainy season that has already begun to make its presence known. Last night I awoke to a downpour and immediately thought of the families sleeping on the ground with only tarps to keep them dry. I cringe when thinking about the various diseases that could breakout and spread in a tent city like the one I visited, especially when the rains begin falling daily. I shudder to consider what it must be like to try to maintain a little living space for your family when rain and mud are everywhere. How many children will lose a piece of their childhood here?

We finished our day with a trip to a neighborhood called Fort National. The neighborhood is located on a hill towering above downtown. The scene was catastrophic as the entire neighborhood was wiped out. Houses lay in rubble and large piles of concrete lined the roads as dozens of government workers tried to clean up the mess with only hammers and wheel barrows at their disposal. The government workers were almost exclusively young men and women and they wore bright yellow t-shirts that read, "Ann Leve Kanpe" (Let's Get Up and Stand). I can only imagine the amount of life that was lost in this area and I wonder how people here can possibly get up and stand again? How do they move forward amidst such pain and loss? The Haitian people have overcome colonization, slavery, economic oppression, hurricanes and floods. They are the strongest people in the world. They will indeed rise again.

Miguelson and I concluded our day with a trip to his house to visit with his family. Miguelson's mother is such a beautiful, dignified woman. She put on a good face for me even though her family is struggling and her children are sleeping outside in tents. Miguelson took me to visit a local CONASPEH pastor and to tour a little tent city where members of his family sleep. There were no clement floors to sleep on here, just bare ground. The tents were not really tents at all, but pieces of woods and plastic tarps pieced together. While Miguelson's neighborhood was not hit particularly hard by the earthquake, most people are afraid to sleep inside their homes so they hang out at home during the day and sleep outside at night. I suspect the rainy season might force some people to take the risk of sleeping inside their homes again.

Today I leave Haiti. I now sit in the airport trying to finish the blog and one last Prestige. The bartender is happy that I speak Kreyol so we talk about everything Haiti. He has a job, so he is more optimistic than most Haitians I have spoken with this week.

I love Haiti. While it can be extremely difficult and frustrating to live in this country, it is also a truly amazing place. The people have mastered the art of being. They know that there is one God and that we all are equal children in the eyes of this God. While there are certainly a lot of needs in Haiti, especially at this moment, there are also many things the people of Haiti have to offer the rest of the world. We need each other. They know this already and my hope is that many others outside of Haiti will begin to recognize it too.