We Can Build An Orphanage

As some of you may already know Martin, his mother, three volunteers and myself recently went to Haiti.  The plan was to come down so that we could build some emergency shelter for our kids that had been donated by Pacific Domes.  Unfortunately due to shipping complications we have not received the domes yet and none of us were able to complete the job that had originally brought us down.  For some of us this trip would be much more then helping out at the orphanage and one of our neighboring organizations,  it would be a trip where we got experience Haiti and how amazing this country is.

On March 4^th I landed in Port au Prince with Martin and is mum.  I had not been back to Haiti since last April.  I had no idea what to expect and I was a little overwhelmed with fear, excitement, sadness, and “oh my god we are about to see the kids!”.

Customs was surprisingly fast and simple and fast.  After scooping up all 6 pieces of luggage we pushed our way out the door through the sea of cab drivers trying to toss you and your bags in one of their cabs (always so much fun, lol) and  made it across the street so that we could find our ride to Jacmel.  Once we found our ride we loaded up the car and we were off!!!!!!! 2 ½ hours and we would finally see our city and our kids!

Then the funny noise started…… our bags were heavy and the car we were in was not happy.  The back tires kept hitting the wheal wells.  We stopped the car several times to try and rearrange the weight distribution with in the cab of the car and eventually strapped everything to the roof (it really only helped a little).  Again, we were off!!!!

Driving through Port au Prince was interesting.  I recognized nothing.  There were several large tent sites set up.  Piles of rubble that used to be buildings.   Parts of the road that had been lifted up about a foot. Tinny huts that people placed in center divider of the road that were mad of cardboard and sheets.  Tons of advertisement for the various NGO’s that came down to help…..  Everything was a bit overwhelming to take in all at once and I felt really confused.

Once out of Port au Prince we Had to drive through another town called Leogan.  The driver told us that they were hit harder than Port au Prince.  Almost every house on the road was either no longer standing or condemned.  Through the mountains it was the same…fallen buildings, roads that were broken, many many tents.  After 3 hours we finally made it Jacmel and our own little tent village