Internet access was impossible while at Ile-à-Vache, so I will take this opportunity to fill in the blanks since my last post.
May 18th was a National Holiday in Haiti - Flag Day. We took this opportunity to make it a travel day and headed to Ile-à-Vache, South-West of the country. Surprise of all surprises, we crossed yet another river!!! We weren't supposed to, but there was an accident on the mountain (remember this) so we were escorted through the river! Hero (our driver) was very concerned...but we managed to make it through without difficulties and a $5 tip!
We arrived at Port Morgan and were welcomed by some teenagers we'd met on trips past, Jasmin and Wilik! They announced to us that there was a "football" (soccer) game going on with music and dancing a short ways away (10 minutes) and we should go. So off we went, we brought with us Levon, a man we'd met on the boat from Habitat for Humanity - who needs Julie McCoy when you've got Team Canada! :-)
Ten minutes was actually 45 minutes uphill in 40C weather! But the hike was worth every second! We showed up at the football game where we were the only 4 blan there! Picture it... 500 Haitians, 4 blan... can you guess who the half-time show was? Yup - that's right, blan yo! It was interesting to see the children gather round and gawk at us... then adults with their kids came and gawked...then the music started playing and I asked the kids to dance, they looked at me like I was crazy (blan dancing!!! HA) so I started to dance... I could see the ladies and men in the back giggle then nod with a smile... this blan can dance! :-) So the kids joined in and it was lots of fun!
We headed back to the hotel as the sun was setting, the second we exited the field they scored... much to the others' disappointment. I was just wanting us to get back to the hotel while there was still daylight! Safety first!
We spent the next day at Orphelinat St. François where there were at least 11 new kiddos since the last time we'd been there! So we did a lot of initial assessments and provided recommendations. It was nice to see the facility which the Irish (Soul of Haiti) had built! The new quarters for the disabled kiddos was lovely and a huge improvement from previous facility. The ramp was a little to steep but Damien assures me this will be fixed in the fall.
Friday was our second and last day at the orphanage and the team was an efficient machine! The rest of the new kiddos got seen and some wheelchairs got fixed. I managed to do some meal observations and recommendations with the kids and also worked with the older kiddos.
Our team had our heart ripped out for the 2nd (or so) time on this trip, when a mom had to make the difficult decision - one made from love - to let Sr. Flora take care of this child as she was no longer able to take care of her. She will do well at the orphanage with the other kids. She was very intelligent and had some great potential. Nevertheless - a difficult difficult thing to experience by us blan!
To help balance the heartbreak we went to watch another sunset - this time at Ile des Amoureux. A little sandy 20 foot diameter island in the middle of the Carribean. We played with giant starfish and swam our broken hearts away into joy of experiencing this unbelievable place and sunset. A little impromptu Kreyol lesson was had with our tour guides writing in the sand. Bon Bagay!
We headed back to Port-au-Prince on Saturday where our drive home was slightly interesting (to say the least) first as we pull out of the dock area, our driver nearly hit a bicycle (not too unusual)... then we were driving and it started to rain, so out we jump to re-arrange our hockey bags in the back of the truck to avoid the soaking (didn't really work). We arrived in a small town of Miragoane where our driver kinda got lost, took him about 15 minutes of driving around before stopping to ask for directions, I ended up telling him how to get back on the highway (kinda funny no?). After that is where it gets frightening - remember the roads are wet - a car cut us off as we were driving about 60kms/hr our driver swerved to avoid getting hit, and slammed on the breaks - I literally was saying to myself "you've GOT to be kidding me... I survive a fall off a cliff in Haiti to go THIS way?" Our truck stopped about 6 inches from two big poles...phew!!!! As my hands are shaking and my heart is pounding loudly, we head back onto the road... where we're going through windy mountain road (remember last river crossing) well, because the roads were slippery, our truck continued going straight instead of turning... again, I was 6 inches from a not so good outcome...this time we would've rolled down the mountain. Kudos to our driver for keeping his cool - but man I wasn't... 3 women in a truck for 3 hours and NOT ONE WORD was spoken!!!
And so - I guess I'm not supposed to die in Haiti... I guess I'm supposed to be here!
We made it back to Port-au-Prince and went shopping at Giant Market for goodies such as Haitian Vanilla and coffee. Saturday night was spent at Montana watching yet another sunset, then we went dancing the night away!
Sunday morning the girls (and Andy)went through the wheelchair pile that had been held hostage for 6 months...reward was definitely needed after that - so they went shopping for Iron work, I'll have to go next time...I spent the day in the pool and debriefing with Fi.
Monday morning we went shopping and then packed our treasures to be brought back to Canada.
We made it safely home as did all our artwork and memories.
Already planning my next trip! Is it November yet???
You can check out my pics here ! Remember - Haiti is all about balance... it's imperative that one balances the frustrations, sadness and heartbreaks with the joy, beauty and love! Work hard and play hard!
Bon Bagay!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment