I think the hardest pill for me to swallow was the fact that MOST of the world does not live like I do, but lives like Haiti. Though it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, it is a much clearer picture of the world at large than where I come from. And that is a sobering reality. It puts many of my complaints into perspective.
Aesthetically, the thing that stuck out to me most was the trash. It was everywhere. No trash cans. No garbage men to collect it. Just trash all over the ground and built up in piles until it is burned. I can only imagine the adverse effects on one's health by living among-st it: the air you breathe, the water you drink, the increase in disease, etc.
Jobs are hard to come by. Not like here -- like 85% of jobs consist of selling stuff on the road. The government is corrupt. There is no water system. There is no postal system. There is no trash system. There are no hundreds of government or private sponsored programs to help you. There are millions of orphans roaming the streets. There are people everywhere. There are people peeing all over the place. There are shacks and tents in every direction. When it rains, it floods. This means the streets get even worse and people die because of mudslides/homes falling apart. This happened when we were there. There are only 2 nationally paved highways. This makes travel bumpy and challenging.
We didn't live 3rd world in a 3rd world nation. This was hard for me. We had space to sleep in (tents we brought) and a real bathroom. Though it was about a block away, and you can't flush it often, and you can't flush toilet paper, and the shower is a 1 inch diameter stream like a garden hose, we had it quite posh. I took pics of the kids bathroom situation and living quarters but on Weston's camera. I'm not going to lie, though it was hard for me that we had it better than the kids, I was glad. The smells of feces, urine, and mildew were hard to ingest. The cramped space would have been hard.
Don't get me wrong, these 63 kids have it good. They have a place to sleep, get an education, receive two meals a day, and clean water daily. Outside of the orphanage walls, it is much, much, much worse. I told Philip that I wondered how I'd do if you dropped me off in one of the countless shacks we saw. He told me I couldn't do it. I believe him.
The government came in and told John Paul that not all 63 kids could live at the orphanage; they could only keep 48 kids there. I asked what the government's plan was for the 15 kids getting the boot. He told me nothing, they would go on the street. Seems absolutely ludicrous to me. Praise the Lord church members took them in and the kids come back for school, etc.
Being born in America means my body isn't made for Haiti. I can't drink their water, eat lots of the food, handle the heat as well, etc. Sometimes it made me feel like a pansy. I also questioned "why me? why them?" That is only up to God, and so I tried not to dwell on it.
We asked Pastor John Paul how things differed after the earthquake. He said it looked just the same only without the tents. Ugh. Honestly, the quake could have happened one week prior to us being there and it would have looked the same. Nothing has been rebuilt. Their buildings are concrete and hanging on a bare piece of re-bar. I helped make that concrete -- its equal parts dirt/rock, sand, and concrete mix -- mixed with water. The good concrete erodes and your left with rocks glued together.
Friday we took a trip to Port au Prince and people are doing business and living under buildings that could crumble with one swing of a hammer. It is so incredibly foreign to me. It is the only thing most of the Haitians know.
Gas is $8/gallon. I didn't see a lot of prices, but what I saw and asked about were 1:1 with American prices. They don't manufacture many things in Haiti, so almost everything is imported. By the time goods pass through 5 or so hands, and has been marked up each time, the prices are about what we would pay here. Only, they don't have incomes. I honestly don't see a way out. I think its working on things one piece at a time and hoping change happens. I'm not holding my breath though.
