Bolivia to Haiti 2010: The Trip, Red CAPS, safe & sound

The team in Panama, just before the flight to Haiti!

Bedlam inside the airport of Port-au-prince

Loading up the bus after finally meeting our contacts

After some major tests of faith, our 2010 team to Haiti was off. We arrived at the airport around 1:30 a.m. to make our 3:30 a.m. departure time.

It was obvious, when we touched down in Panama, that they had a lovely airport, much nicer than I'd imagined. It was clean, one level & very manageable. Our layover was a couple hours & we could see many nice skyscrapers off in the distant downtown area. We enjoyed our last bit of air conditioning for the next 2 weeks, had a time of prayer as a team, and boarded our flight to PORT-AU-PRINCE!

The flight to Haiti was not very long at all, a little under 2 hours. With the pleasant surprise of Panama, fresh in our minds, there was a twinge of hope that maybe Haiti's not in as bad a shape as everybody says. We got off the plane, onto a tram that took us to immigration & pretty soon any remnant of that notion was long gone.

First off it was HOT! I mean Africa hot. We got off the bus & walked into the immigration & baggage claim building, which basically felt like an old warehouse with some furniture & an old-school luggage belt, & were sweating pretty good already. We got through immigration with no hassle, managed to get our bags & then the real excitement began . . .

After getting through immigration there were some random customs people calling some to the side to be examined in what was a tiny space for a large crowd of people. It was straight up French & Creole here, so there was confusion amongst the team about who had to be checked. Most went by unchecked, through the exit that lead to the outside & total madness. We huddled together outside the door & had expected to see some YWAM signs or a smiling face but there were no signs of any kind, just a lot of guys in red caps yelling and pulling on our arms & picking up our luggage trying to get us to follow them. After some firm 'NOs!' a lady who saw we were totally out of our element offered to lend her cell phone for us to make a call to the only number we had, but before we could, what looked to be a lady police officer started demanding in Spanish that we move along - apparently we couldn't stay in the walkway & she FORCED us to basically go into the sea of red cap guys. There was one who seemed adamant about taking us. He was partly deaf & dumb, & was pushing away the other guys who were tugging at our arms & picking up our stuff. No one knew what to do & we were being shewed away (by the police) to who knew where. The deaf & dumb guy pointed to our shirts, (we'd all worn our Haiti shirts for the trip), as if he'd been sent by someone to pick us up. I asked for his name through the cop who spoke Spanish & then who'd sent him and he had no answer. He did have an i.d. wrapped around his neck, but it didn't say anything about YWAM, or that he was a transport service. There was a lot of yelling and pressure from the cops for us to move on, so we wound up following the deaf & mute guy and as we walked outside in the scorching sun to what seemed like a parking lot, there were countless male Haitians jumping on & shaking the fence that enclosed the airport & yelling things in English, SPanish, Portugese & Creole. At the same time there were other red cap guys who were grabbing at our stuff as we walked, & trying to get us to go w/ them. The deaf & dumb guy did his best to push them away, but 2 of them managed to jerk away from Patty & Edwin their bags. It was crazy, no one knew where we were being taken or where the YWAM folks were, but we seemed to have no other options. The only hope was that maybe they didn't allow non-passengers into the area & that the guy was leading us to another place where the YWAM folks might be waiting for us. We walked about 200 yards and finally saw a glimpse of hope. There were people holding up signs . . . and there it was 'YWAM - PaP' crudely written on a piece of cardboard. There was a Haitian who spoke English, but seemed disgusted about something, & a Brazilian who walked w/ us & the red cap guy to the bus that they had come to pick us up in. I'd never been so happy to see a Brazilian guy in my life!

What a relief! Most of us were seriously terrified. I hadn't thought to ask or plan out w/ the YWAM folks our arrival, & had never been in an airport so chaotic. Nairobi was heaven compared to this.

We loaded up the bus w/ all the luggage, got on board & set off. We were safe. Thank you Lord! This trip was indeed going to be a wild ride. As they cranked up the engines, we discovered that the red cap guys were not taxi drivers, or transportation service of any kind - just guys to help w/ the bags. By the time we'd gotten a tip out, 5 other red cap guys came out of nowhere asking for their cut as well. We gave 6 bucks to the mute guy & pulled away.

The YWAM base was not very far away. It was a nice, we were given a friendly welcome & were glad to be somewhere safe. It was hot, the house was nice, tile floors & everything, but there was no furniture or beds. Everyone was outside to try & catch some of the breeze, but we unloaded & were given orientation by Peterson, the Haitian base leader, and Dani, who was in charge of communication & receiving teams. The evening was chill, we had a nice dinner rice & beans & some chicken & the shock of the airport was wearing off now.