DAY 3 - The Adventure Begins . . . kind of

Trash filled streets in downtown Port-au-prince

The remains of the Haitian cathedral after the earthquake, where according to locals, voodoo is also practiced

The government palace lies in ruins after the earthquake

A close-up of the gov't palace, which was decimated in the earthquake

Tent city located directly in front of the government palace

Interceding for the government, leaders, election & nation of Haiti during our tour of Port-au-prince!

The ministry of Finance building also destroyed in the earthquake

One of NUMEROUS UN tanks we saw throughout the city

Current photo of the destruction still yet to be dealt with

Monday morning, we headed out for a tour of the city which Peterson had promised us. They took us downtown to see the worst of the earthquake damage & we interceded along the way for the present & future of Haiti. Everyone's seen earthquake photos of Haiti, but there were some interesting things to stuck out for the short time we were in the midst of it. 1st of all, the damage wasn't as bad as we'd thought (although w/o a doubt clean-up crews & int'l aid efforts had been working hard & had removed a great part of the rubble over the previous 7 months). What was fascinating though, was the nature of the destruction. Downtown the national Cathedral, the government palace & several of the other government & religious buildings had been damaged irreparably. The curious thing was, most of the other buildings/houses/businesses immediately surrounding these buildings remained intact & apparently untouched by the earthquake. 

The Haitians told us that the Catholicism practiced at the cathedral had been mixed w/ voodoo rituals for years & not only had voodoo been permitted at the cathedral, but that some of the priests even performed voodoo at the cathedral.

They also told us that the Government Palace had been built upon a site where there'd been a voodoo ritual, the drinking of pigs' blood & even sacrificing of young virgins & that the statues around the palace commemorated those events. Pretty heavy stuff. The government historically has been notorious for rampant corruption & mismanagement of government funds - & about a block away the, Ministry of Finance building also lied in ruins. Not to go the Pat Robertson route, b/c many innocent Haitians (hundreds of children & babies even) lost their lives in the earthquake, but just being in the middle of the destruction, at least downtown - there was no denying there did seem to be a message in the destruction of the earthquake which struck the nation's most prominent buildings. A message to future leaders of the country. A crying out against the decades of injustice & corruption . . . ' enough is enough.'

The tour was sobering, & we did pray our hearts out for the nation. The devastation was widespread throughout various sections of the city. The prayer tour gave us a great perspective as to what the people we'd be ministering to had been through. The most shocking thing about it all . . . was that in spite of all the money that had been raised for Haiti, & all the NGO vehicles & UN troops ALL OVER THE PLACE . . . there was VERY LITTLE RECONSTRUCTION going on in Port-au-prince. Some said it was because all confidence had been lost in the current government administration, & that perhaps aid agencies were waiting for the November elections to usher in a new administration with whom they could partner with & trust. That was one theory, but neverthelesss, several facts were undeniable - 

1) over 1 million people were living in permanent camp-out mode, w/o proper sanitation, privacy or hope or plan to recover & move out

2) most people in the city did not have steady work

3) empty lots, from destroyed or demolished buildings were seen all over the city

4) there was no shortage of cement, brick or building supplies

The obvious question is why aren't the aid agencies purchasing building supplies, putting Haitians to work (providing employment to the unemployed) in helping to REBUILD their own country(the uber-obvious need)? This question has yet to answered for us.

Those were the shockers - not so much the destruction, but the NUMBER of TENT CITIES all over the place; & the LACK of RECONSTRUCTION taking place.

Anyway, back to ministry - we had lunch at the base & then went back, (this time with the entire team), to the large tent city - Soupeis, where we had been told we'd be registering the teams for the sports ministry event, taking pictures of them, the whole 9. . .

The entire team's 1st experience inside the largest tent city in Port-au-prince

2 young friends who escorted us through the tent city

Taking a tour through the largest tent city in Haiti, where we ministered all week

Singing & dancing to the World Cup song!

View from above of the tent city that's home to 45,000 in Port-au-Prince

Girls from the team inside the tent city w/ new buddies

Edwin tongue twisted in the middle of Port-au-prince

Striking a pose from above the tent city

Singing a song w/ Haitians in Creole that proclaims 'misery is finished!'

We got there and it took awhile to get anyone from the committee to help us organize. Nothing had been done w/ respect to the teams. We were then told we would now NOT be doing any of the registering, that they'd take care of it, but we did get a tour this time of the tent city.

It was impressive.

Again, the streets were clean, and we were told that they took turns in shifts w/ the maintenance & clean-up of the place. The leader took us up to an elevated spot, where the amphitheater was located at the park, and gave us a bird's eye view of the whole tent city. It was incredible. Tents and tin shacks for as far as the eye could see. A group of kids had escorted us around inside & there was a toughness that was unmistakeable, similar to kids who live in the projects of urban U.S. cities. They were small, but they had learned to hold their own, not back down & appear tough to gain your respect. It was cool, WE taught THEM some Creole songs from our teacher we'd learned that talked about 'God ending misery & hunger in Haiti.' One of the songs had a good beat & they liked it - so we were off to a good start w/ them. We told them we'd be coming back to do some sports w/ them the next day and they were thrilled about that!

From there we went to the other tent city. Got another tour there, sang & taught some songs there too. The atmosphere at the City Soleil tent city was unmistakably different. The girls in our team much preferred it there. The kids, you could tell, were love starved & just wanted your attention. The conditions there were a bit rougher, as I mentioned earlier, a lot more naked kids, but they seemed gentler. The adults as well, were friendlier & you didn't get as many, 'what the heck do are you doing here,' type glances, or nearly as many 'Hey you . . . GIVE ME ONE DOLLAR!' demands from the kids & youth.

Haiti was different.

There were going to be elements that were undoubtedly going to challenge us here.