Greetings From Haiti

After waiting a long time to go and do water quality work, I have finally begun the adventure. I arrived in Port-au-Prince airport at 11:30 am local time. I'm not exactly sure what time zone Haiti is on...we are an hour behind eastern time in the states and I think the Dominican Republic and all the other Caribbean islands are on eastern time, so I'm not sure why we aren't either. Maybe it has to do with daylight saving time. Then again, maybe it is simply because Haiti seems to make there own rules. Anyway, I think I should also comment that the international airport here is nothing like you've ever seen in the U.S. I wish I could have gotten a few pictures, but I was more worried about getting my luggage, trying to ward off everyone that wanted to "help" me with my bags, and finding Chris (Chris and Leslie are who I'm working and staying with in Haiti).

After I found Chris, we headed to the hardware store to meet up with Evens (a Haitian worker for Clean Water for Haiti), who was buying supplies that will be used in the construction of the new dorm building. I mention that we went to the hardware store and I'm about to move on to the next event, when I realize how involved simply buying things can be. We gather everything up and pay for them, but on the way out they have to check the receipt and verify that everything in the cart is also on the receipt. This sounds simple, but when they are checking multiple people at the same time, it can get complicated. It ended up taking about 45 minutes just for them to get us from the cash register to the door...which are about 25 feet apart. At one point Chris had handed me some screw nuts and I was holding them as they checked the receipt. While I was waiting the security guard was looking at me and motioned at me saying something in Creole. I didn't know what he said, but given the fact that he was carrying a shotgun, I wasn't about to ignore him and hope he went away. I found out he wanted to know if the nuts had been payed for. I put them back in the cart and everything was fine. I never felt unsafe, I just mention the story for one, to scare my mom a little (sorry mom), and two, to say that these things don't happen in the U.S., but are common place here.

After that, Chris had to go to a class for three hours because his license was taken away for a traffic violation. I went with Evens and some other to pick up food and other supplies in our truck. On the way to get the food we didn't have enough room for everyone, so Evens and I rode in the back of the truck.

After waiting for an hour or so, it was our turn to get food loaded up. After they loaded the truck to the brim with food, I thought it was time to go. They had other plans. They kept coming out with pallets of desks and lunchroom tables. Every time we fit another pallet of desk on top, I was sure it was time to go. But they would just go back and get another load. The problem is that if you don't take the supplies when they offer, you run the risk of them not being there the next time you come.

Next, we threw a large tarp over everything and headed back to Pierre Payen. Oh, did I mention that the roads here are not exactly flat....I've heard that they are a lot better than they used to be, but they still have a lot of holes and sections with no asphalt or concrete. Basically, it was the bumpiest ride I have ever had. On the way, we had a couple accidents where tables would fall off the truck and we would stop and pick them up off the street and put them back on, trying to make it a little more secure than the time before. Once we unloaded the food and tables, I got dropped off at Chris and Leslie's house...it was after dark by this time. We unloaded everything from the hardware store and then I moved into what will be my new home for a while. Eventually I will be staying on the second floor of the dorm building, but for now I am staying in a room in Chris and Leslie's house until the other building is finished.

We ate dinner together and got better acquainted for a couple hours. We sat outside for a little bit and I experienced the bugs of Haiti in full force. I have never been attacked that bad by mosquitoes in my life. After that I was pretty tired, partly because of getting two hours of sleep the night before and also because of the stress, heat, and new environment I had just experienced. I crawled in my mosquito net and listened to the many sounds that are present where we live. I slept pretty well and woke at 5:45 am when my alarm when off. The typical work day here goes from 6:00 am till around 2:30 pm.

I think that is all I will say for now. That gives a pretty good synopsis of what happened my first day here. Today has also been interesting, but I'll fill you in on that later.