A Look at Port au Prince, Haiti

On Sunday, Nov. 6 we arrived in Port Au Prince. Our efforts to build houses would commence the next day.  In the meantime, we had 18 miles to travel to our camp. We were told it would take about 2 hours; that proved to be accurate. The poor and crowded roads made the trip a challenge. For security reasons, our caravan of several tour buses (which had to be brought in from the Dominican Replublic as they don't exist in Haiti) also had a police escort. That police escort, however, could not protect our hearts and what we saw was heartbreaking.

The view of Port au Prince through my bus window exposed me to a world of poverty I had previously only experienced via TV and print media.  I snapped a few pictures but only for about 5-10 minutes into the ride.  With one photo I caught the eye of some children and I instantly didn't feel right taking pictures.  I put the camera away and took many mental pictures.  Fortunately, in terms of getting the word out to people about the dire conditions that still exist in Haiti, a woman on the trip whom I befriended took more pictures and sent them to me.  They are shared here, as well.  They require little description.

The services we get by paying taxes - like a social safety net and trash collection - apparently do not exist in Haiti.  There are a variety of reasons for this, as many of you know if you know a little about the history of Haiti, but I will save that topic for another time.

For now, look at these pictures and know the Haitian people - whose kindness, resilency, and selflessness struck me as I had the opportunity to meet, interact with, and speak to (via interpreter) several of them - need the world's help.