Street Scenes in Port-au-Prince

Once we left the airport, we meet our guide for the week, Jeannot, on the bus.  Jeannot traveled with us the whole time we were in Haiti.  He works for Compassion and he was a wonderful guide, translator, educator, and he had plenty of 'pasyans'.  (Have you learned that Creyole word now?)  No matter what question we asked him or what situation we were in, he always seemed calm and unruffled!  It took perhaps an hour to get from the airport to the restaurant where we were to have lunch.  The traffic made it slow going.  But there was always something interesting to see out the bus window.  Jeannot talked to us about Haiti and Compassion as we went along.  Here are some photos from that part of our journey.

People are still living in tents in the city.

Some places the sidewalks were quite dirty, but here they are doing their best to clean them up.

Most places there were crowds of people.  We saw lots of what we would consider unsafe riders, too, such as the men in the blue hats on the back of this truck.  At least they had hard hats on!  The flags in the distance are around the sculpture in the next photo.

 

This is called the Globe Unity Sculpture.

Here's a closer view.  Can you find Haiti on the globe?

Ladies carrying things on their heads is a fairly common sight.

I wondered if this tree might have been damaged in the earthquake, or maybe it was run into by a truck.

Here are some new houses, probably built to replace ruined ones after the earthquake.

Pasyans (patience)

The Toussaint Louverture airport experienced damage in the 2010 earthquake and repair work was still being done.  Even though we did need patience, I’m thankful we had the opportunity to be there.  This sign says “Have patience, airport not far to open”.  See update at the end of this post!

If you’ve stuck with me so far reading my story, you’ve had ‘pasyans', too.  Thanks!
The ‘pasyans’ I’m talking about in this post though, is about arriving at the airport in Port-au-Prince!  Picture a filled-to-capacity Boeing 767 arriving - and all its passengers being transferred to a relatively small terminal by small buses.  (We were greeted by a wonderful Haitian band at the entrance!) 

Suitcases started coming on the carousel, but it was so crowded, I couldn’t get close enough to grab mine when I saw it.  Thinking it would come around again, I waited awhile, in the jostling crowd.  Members of our group were grabbing bags with Compassion tags on them and taking them to the area we were (trying to!) gather.  I took a few there myself and kept looking for mine.  At least I knew it was around somewhere because I had seen it go by!  There were many porters with red shirts on.  One came over to me and wanted to see my baggage claim ticket.  I showed it to him... and he took off with it!  I knew I wouldn’t even be able to recognize him among all the other red-shirted men, so I was really hoping he would be able to find me again!  Only a few minutes later, he reappeared with my suitcase, thankfully!  The porters had been taking them off the carousel at the far end of the room and piling them there til they were claimed.  Another couple in our group didn’t think they had all of theirs for awhile, but they finally turned up - in the big bunch of Compassion tagged ones I believe. 

With all our luggage accounted for, we were ready to exit the baggage claim area.  Becca had all our info and so we didn’t have to go thru customs or immigration by ourselves, we just “followed-the-leader”.  It turned out it was a good time to make our exit, as some Haitian people started arguing in very loud voices.  I don’t have any idea what was going on, and I’m pretty sure it was lack of “pasyans” and nothing serious.  Most of us were on our way out the doorway just as it got started.  Once I was outside, I got my camera out.  In the next photo, you can see some of the red-shirted porters, with  all their attention on whatever was going on inside the building!

The parking lot was jammed as we wound our way thru cars, vans, and small buses -- all 25 of us-- pulling our suitcases over the rough pavement and lugging our carry-ons!  At the bus, the porters helped load suitcases on top of the bus and in another Compassion van. 

Porters loading suitcases on top of our bus

I was excited to finally be in Haiti!

Update about the airport: According to an online news article, Haitian President Martelly officially unveiled renovations at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince on November 25, 2012 (about two weeks after I was there).  Photos in the article show a much nicer looking baggage claim area! 

Travel to Port-au-Prince

My trip began the day before flying to Port-au-Prince.  I flew from Pennsylvania to Miami and stayed overnight, because there weren’t any flights which would get me to Miami early enough for the 10 am American Airlines flight to Haiti.  This turned out to be an extra blessing, because I was able to connect with a good friend who had moved to Miami a few years ago.  We spent a wonderful afternoon together at her house. 

Thank you, dear friend!

Also, since a bunch of us from the group were all staying at the same hotel, the Crowne Plaza, we had dinner together that night.  This was the first time we had meet in person, though some of us had already gotten to know each other a bit through a special group Facebook page (which was how we planned to meet for dinner). Becca, our Compassion co-leader set the page up a few weeks before the trip.  She also sent us a series of emails the last couple of weeks to make sure we had all the information we needed.  I would recommend the hotel, as it offered a Compassion corporate rate, it was near the airport with a free shuttle running every 20 minutes, and was a pleasant place to stay.  I arrived before check-in time and they had no problem letting me use the room early.  If you need to make a reservation for a Compassion trip, the people at Compassion Experience will even set it up for you.

Early the next morning, filled with excitement, we took the hotel shuttle to the airport.  It was then I had my first little glitch!  When I tried to use the kiosk to check-in, it couldn’t find my reservation in the Compassion group list.  An airport employee came over to help me, and she couldn’t find it either.   Everyone else who had come in my group from the hotel was checking in (I could see their names on the list but not mine)!  I was getting a little nervous.  But the lady sent me up to the counter, and the man there checked me right in.  So I’m not sure what happened, but I was glad to be “found”!  

My suitcase had weighted 50.5 pounds (half a pound overweight) when I checked it at my home airport, but no one said anything.  This time, I didn’t see what the scale said, but once again, no one said anything.  I felt I had made the most of my suitcase weight allowance!

Even though we had only met the night before, we were already a “group” so we went thru security together and found our gate.  Then we had the usual waiting time since we were there 3 hours ahead of our flight time.  The time went by quickly though, getting coffee or breakfast, and most of all, meeting new arrivals to the group (easy to pick out because everyone was wearing their name tags).  It was fun chatting and getting to know each other.  There were 25 of us, which included Becca and Jason, our two co-leaders from Compassion.  

 Sad to say, my seat on the plane was right in the middle, so I wasn’t able to get any aerial photos on our way in to Haiti. I did get a window seat on the way home (by switching with one of my traveling companions, Jill, who was happy NOT to have to sit by the window!), so I’ll have  some neat aerial photos to share with you when I get to that part of the story.  We arrived later than we were supposed to because we were slightly delayed leaving Miami. But it was still a pretty quick flight --only a 2 hour flight between the relatively wealthy city of Miami and the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti.  By about 1 pm we had landed and our real adventure began!

Preparing my heart and mind

So far, I’ve told you a lot about my preparations as far as physically getting ready to go. It took time to get those things done, but for the most part it was fun, and I was looking forward to the trip.  I had been praying a lot about it, too, and God had blessed because everything had gone pretty smoothly (from sewing doll dresses and picking the right color photo album to buying my ticket to Miami!)  My ticket to Miami only cost me one dollar, thanks to an air miles voucher, and I had done a trial packing of my suitcase which came in slightly underweight.  I was just about ready and I was getting pretty excited.
 
About two weeks before the trip, a FedEx truck pulled into my driveway and delivered my “Compassion Trip Guide and Journal”.  

This was really exciting, because now I would finally have a lot more details about the trip, such as which project centers we would be visiting (HA-336 and HA-778), and where we would be staying (Hotel Club Indigo). The book had a wealth of information on everything about the trip. 

 

 It also had a thought provoking journal section.  The first paragraph of that section says, “Thank you for choosing to participate in what we hope will be one of the greatest adventures of your life.  Just as each individual has a different motivation for coming on a trip like this, the way each of us processes what we experience is unique.  It’s not uncommon to be overwhelmed by the entire spectrum of feelings, both positive and negative”. 

I read this very calmly.  I didn’t expect to feel overwhelmed.  Hey, I had traveled to third-world countries a few times before.  I wasn’t worried about the section on “Culture Shock” either.  Since I’m writing this 2 months after returning from Haiti though, I can tell you that I experienced more of both of those things on the trip than I had expected.  But also that I knew during those times that God was with me and He gave me the peace that passes understanding while feeling those things. 

Okay, so now I was prepared-- body, mind, and heart - at least as well as I could be.  I had my official Compassion ID, and my itinerary.... it was time to go to Haiti!

Creole and “Alo Kimberlie”

I promise I will get to telling about my actual trip to Haiti soon!  Before I do though, I want to share two more things I did in preparation.

The first thing was to try to learn a little Haitian Creole.  I bought a phrasebook/dictionary 
 --which actually has also been fun for me to use to translate words in Kimberlie’s letters.  (Her letters are, of course, translated for me by Compassion translators but it’s still fun to look up some of the words).  

However, I found the best way to learn was something my fellow Haiti traveler, Jason, told me about.  It is a website called byki (or free app if you have a smart phone).  I used the website, which has “flashcards” you can listen to and practice with!  

A flashcard from the byki website - you can listen to native Creole speakers say the words or phrases

Even though we had translators with us the whole time in Haiti, it was fun to be able to speak a little Creole to Kimberlie (and sometimes a few other people), and I wish I had learned more.

The second thing I wanted to share with you (because was a big hit with Kimberlie) was taking some special photos for her.  I knew I wanted to give her a photo album, with some photos in it and some empty spaces for her to add more photos later.  This is what I did: I made a sign which said “Alo Kimberlie” then used the sign, her photo, and a little stuffed dog I was also taking for her-- to take some photos with different groups of people. 

Here are a couple of  examples:

Sunday School kids at my church - can you pick out the little girl holding the stuffed dog?

My daughter's Awana group - sweet kids!

Kimberlie loved the photo album.  It was one of the first things I gave her when we met, and she looked thru it very carefully right away.  She got the biggest smile on her face when she saw that I had also brought the “Alo Kimberlie” sign for her!  

Kimberlie and me with her sign!

When I asked her what she likes best that I send her in my letters (the stickers? the coloring pages? the photos?) she said “photos!!!” And what does she want me to send more of?  “More photos!”  So, the album was a small and easy-to-do project that made her very happy. 

Another funny thing about the photo album --  I wanted to get a blue one because “sky blue” was listed as her favorite color in her first letter.  The kind of album I wanted did not come in blue, so I got a pretty bright pink one.  When I was talking to Kimberlie, I asked her if blue was still her favorite color.  “No, pink is” she said.  Was it because she was holding the pink album, or was it a happy ‘coincidence’ that I bought the one that was now her favorite color?

Gifts - shopping, stitching, and so on!

I mentioned in my last post that one of the lists I made was for items to take for gifts.  Compassion suggests filling a backpack with items for your child, as well as taking gifts for the project centers we would visit.  I had many ideas for things to take, because I had also been reading posts on “Our Compassion” written by people who had already gone on sponsor tours, and who had great suggestions. 

Because I was planning to take only one checked bag (which could weigh up to 50 pounds), my carry-on suitcase, and a rather large purse as my "personal item" on the flight, I knew I wanted to think carefully about each item I took! 

I could have opted to pay for another large checked bag, but I was thinking about how I would manage by myself during my overnight in Miami, and especially at the airport in Port-au-Prince.  Now that I have experienced it, I am glad I had only one large bag to handle, and was pretty pleased with how much I managed to fit in.  However, several people in our group had two suitcases and managed fine as well.  We all helped each other in the rather chaotic baggage claim area in Port-au-Prince!

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are photos of some of the things I took for gifts:

The “stitching” part of this post’s title is because I bought a doll for Kimberlie and sewed clothes for her.  Kimberlie had recently sent me a photo of herself wearing a dress she bought with birthday money I had sent her.  Since it was red gingham, a fabric I knew I could get, I thought it would be fun to make a matching dress for the doll.  It might seem  silly to say this, but I’m no great seamstress and I had to make my own patterns for this doll.... and it went so well, I felt like God helped me do it (quite a few prayers were said by me during the process)!  

Kimberlie's doll and the photo (on the left) of her wearing her birthday dress.

I also enjoy crocheting and when I was looking for ideas of small gifts I could take for other people (like project center workers) I saw some cross bookmarks.  The ones I saw were white, but I decided to make mine all different colors.  They were a little personal gift I could take that didn’t take up much room or weight in my suitcase.

People I gave them to seemed pleased, and I also sent a box of them with Kimberlie to give out back home at her project center.  (The sponsored children travel to meet their sponsors at one location).

This lady, who works at project center HA-778, hung her cross on her blouse. Our bus driver hung his on the bus rear- view mirror.

Another gift idea I had was to take something that Kimberlie could take back to her project center to give to the other children.  I called Compassion and they told me 203 children were currently registered at her center.  I bought 240 lollipops (from the bulk candy bin at my local grocery store), and my good friend, Sue, helped me make special paper circles to decorate each one with a flower, heart and tiny cross!  I gave the package of them to Kimberlie’s project center worker.  I hope the children enjoyed them!

All 240 lollipops fit in this bag!

Lots of lists!

Now I was registered for a Compassion International trip to Haiti.  It was March 11th.  The trip was not until November 7th.  I had eight months to wait!  I was so excited though, I started thinking about it right away.  And since I’m a list maker, I started making lists almost from the beginning.

The first list was of things-to-do for Compassion. 
They make the process easy by telling you all the basics in an email as soon as you are registered.  

There are several forms you have to fill out.  For the safety of the children, there is a background check, and there is also a travel release form, and a physician’s release.  I already had a passport, and no Visa is required for US citizens traveling to Haiti, so that was easy. I would need to purchase my airline ticket to get to Miami - the gateway city for our trip to Port-au-Prince - but not until a couple of months before the trip.

The next list was more fun: things I would like to take as gifts for Kimberlie, her family, and other people I would meet in Haiti.  Ideas on this list (and shopping for them!) was a work-in-progress for quite awhile.  More on that in my next post.

Another list I made was for personal items I would need to take along, including the recommended malaria prophylaxis.  The CDC website was the place I checked to see if I needed any vaccinations.  Luckily I was up-to-date on those.  And while on their website, I read (but did not worry too much about) the travel warnings for Haiti.  If God directed me to go there, I would trust Him to take care of me while I was there!

The final list I made (closer to the trip date) was a list of questions I wanted to ask Kimberlie.  This was on the recommendation of other sponsors who had gone on trips to meet their kids.  I had read many of their stories on “Our Compassion”.  They said in the excitement of actually meeting your child, it would be hard to remember all the things you want to ask.  As it turned out, this was the only list I didn’t end up using... but the reason for that comes much later in my story!

I may have had 8 months to get ready, but I was excited, and there WAS a lot to do! 

Introducing Compassion and Kimberlie

 

Before I continue with the story of my trip, I’d like to take a little time to introduce... first, the organization I was traveling with - Compassion International, and second, the child I was going to see - Kimberlie!

Compassion International is an international organization with headquarters in 13 countries around the world.  From those countries, there are sponsors currently helping children in 26 poverty-stricken countries.  With a mission of “releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name” their goal is “to release the children from their spiritual, economic, social, and physical poverty and enable them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults”.  Compassion’s ministry to the children is, in their words, “Christ centered, Child focused, Church based, and Committed to integrity”. 

The really neat thing about this?  Even a stay-at-home American housewife like me can make a difference in a child’s life in a third world country.  To me, that’s an amazing thing to realize.  (and I hope I can show you how it happens, as I tell you more about my trip and the work that Compassion is doing in Haiti).

So, Compassion is the organization...with many people around the world helping over 1.2 million children.  Now, let’s focus on one of those children...  Kimberlie!

My husband and I became Kimberlie’s sponsors in June, 2011.  We’ve been sponsors with Compassion since 2004.  Then, after the horrible earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, Haiti had been on my mind.  So when we decided to take on another sponsorship, I already knew I wanted that child to be from Haiti. 

I started looking at children from Haiti who needed sponsors on the Compassion website When I saw Kimberlie’s photo and read her biography, I was pretty sure she was “ours”.  She was 8 at the time and her bio said she liked to “sing and read”.  I did not remember seeing another child with those two interests listed -  and having those same interests myself, it made me feel a connection with her.  And, of course, there was her sweet photo, too!

Soon our first monthly payment was on its way and Kimberlie was added to our Compassion family.  It didn’t take long for Compassion to mail us a packet of information with her photo, some prayer bookmarks, and a brochure with helpful hints on how to be a good sponsor.

In  early August, we received a very informative brochure about Haiti called “Step Into Your Child’s World”

Then on August 23rd, we received Kimberlie’s first letter to us.  I had already sent her some photos and letters so she could begin to know her new sponsors a little bit.  

Now, it was time for me to start preparing for my trip to Haiti so I could actually meet her in person!

The Beginning of an Adventure

It all started with a very well-timed email from Compassion International.  If you are a Compassion sponsor, you probably know the email I’m talking about.  The subject line starts with your sponsored child’s name and says she or he “would love to meet you”.  I’d gotten these emails before, since my husband and I have been sponsoring thru Compassion for about 9 years.  This time, it came ON our Haitian child’s birthday in early March. 

There it was in bold type:  “Kimberlie would love to meet you”. 

When I opened the email, my husband was sitting nearby.  I said, “I’d love to meet HER, too”.  He said “Then you should go”.  Well!  We talked about it a little, and I said I’d pray about it.  Going to Haiti was something I really had not thought much about before.

We had only sponsored Kimberlie for about a year at that time.  When I had thought of going anywhere to visit a sponsored child at all, it was usually to Rwanda, where we had been sponsoring a girl for much longer.    We’d only had 3 letters from Kimberlie - there had not been much time to develop a relationship yet.  But the Lord had now really put in my heart the desire to go, and - as the Compassion email went on to say - “Come See My World”.   

Maybe it was a great time to go... to get to know her better now - in person!

My husband encouraged me, and I prayed about it.  I thought the Lord was pointing me in that direction.  

So, a few days later, I took the next step and clicked on the “Registration” button in the email.  The page it took me to said something like “This trip is now closed”!  I felt such disappointment!  Could it already be full?  The email had said “don’t delay, these trips fill up quickly”.  

The dismay I felt made me realize how badly I wanted to go!  I decided to try a different way to register, by logging into my Compassion account first.  Success!  I was able to register and begin the process of going to Haiti!