On Monday, Serge took Tice and I for a bit of site seeing in
downtown Port-au-Prince. Many of the landmark buildings were destroyed in the
earthquake, but the ruins still remain. The main places to see are the Palace
and Cathedral. I’m sure they both have more specific names, but I don’t know
them. The Palace is what Serge calls “the Haitian White House”, so maybe that
puts it into perspective. The Cathedral reminds me of one of the beautiful
churches in downtown Charleston.
Actually getting to downtown is full of interesting sites.
We travel pass many tent cities and venders. I think the most difficult of part
of the whole day is when children stick their hands into the car window and
make comments about how hungry they are. The general rule is to not “throw”
anything out of the window, because then people flock around you which can be a
very dangerous situation. I also think it is extremely disrespectful to the
Haitian people to throw things on the ground (like candy) for them to pick up.
We went to the Cathedral first. Going there is such an
experience. The Cathedral feel in the quake, but a statue of Jesus on the cross
still remained. People gather each day and pray at the foot of the statue for
God to heal their land. We got out of the car, and these women with babies came
up to us. I wanted to hold them so badly, but I knew better than to stretch out
my arms. I’m sure many of you know about the man, Olanse, who we met in October
2010 at the Cathedral. For those who don’t, I’ll summarize the story. We went
site seeing on the last day of the trip, when we got out of the truck at the
Cathedral, we gathered in a circle with some Haitians to pray. After prayer we
began to sing Amazing Grace. All of the sudden a man (who we later discovered was
blind) came into the middle of the circle and began to play along. It was
incredible. So, since then Olanse has been a part of many of our stories. A
team member travelled last trip and gave him a brand new guitar, which he
played for Tice, Serge and I. He had written a song about Haiti. It was about
the quake, and how Haiti was destroyed in three seconds, but Jesus was coming
back and we must all believe in Him. It was a powerful moment.
Next stop was the Palace. It looks about the same, except
more of it had fallen down. Serge told me this was because sometimes there are
small earthquakes in that area. Last time I visited the Palace there was a tent
city surrounding the area across the street from it. Those tents have now been
moved, which revealed these beautiful statues. I asked Serge about them, and he
told me who they are, but I can’t remember the names now. I do specifically
remember that there was a pigeon in one, because Serge corrected me when I
called it a bird.
After the Palace we went to Epi ‘dor. It is like an American food court. They serve
ice cream, pizza, sandwiches, and pasta dishes. We all had a little snack (I
chose the ice cream), which was refreshing. We left Epi ‘dor and went to Eagle
Market. This is like a Haitian grocery store. It is similar to the stores in
the US. Since Tice was still eating her ice cream, Serge let me go in by
myself. It was fun to be a little independent in Haiti! I purchased what I
needed, and then we left.
Next stop was to pick
of Franma, who was getting a massage at Apparent Project. This was special
moment, because since Serge didn’t know the way, I got to lead! I think Serge
was really impressed with my knowledge of the neighborhood, but what he didn’t
know is that there are Apparent Project signs every few blocks. Once we got
there, I shopped for a few minutes and then we left. The Apparent Project sells
handmade necklaces, purses, key chains … similar stuff to what our girls do.
The rest of the day was spent between lounging at MFH, and
also spending some time at Hug A Child.
Love and Blessings,
Han
No comments:
Post a Comment