After waking up to an annoying little beep at 3 a.m....zooming to the airport....standing in lines....standing in longer lines....becoming an ethnic minority on an airplane....and pushing through the gauntlet of broken english 'bag toters'....
We are in Haiti.
There are already too many stories, sights, and experiences to recount in this short post.... however, here are two quick thoughts I've had so far.
1) This country is more in tact that I expected. Yes, we passed dozens of tent cities where people washed in the streets with dirty water. Yes, there were buildings broken in half. Yes, there are few intelligible roads and no road signs.... But people are working, building, driving, biking, living... Life has not stopped in Haiti and while the poverty is real, there are many who have jobs and are making it ok. I suppose I was expecting hoards of zombie like people crawling all over the streets.
2) Secondly, I have become more convinced in this first day that this nation is suffering from too much help in the wrong places. Yes, the work of the NGOs is amazing and I love Child Hope and the staff already. But what NGO is going to raise money to pave roads, create irrigation pathways for street runoff, and support and educational system that allows every young person aimlessly walking the streets a chance to become literate. No government or public sector is perfect and neither is any NGO. But at the end of the day, the goal should be to have a stronger national haiti, not a modernized NGO headquarters.
Blessings and love to you all. We are tired, but inspired for the work that lays before us.
Jd & Whit
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