Sarah has sent in her first report:
dear everyone,
hi. So, I’ve been in Haiti since Thursday at noon, and so far it’s really cool. It reminds me of Mexico in a lot of ways, but not as hot. Yes, I just said “not as hot”. Maybe working outside every day has helped more than I thought. Anyway, here’s the basic overview. On Thursday we rode around Port-au-Prince (the capital) in the back of a More…rented public transportation vehicle, and saw the sights. We also visited Jaloki, a local orator (seriously.. it’s his job… his business card read “paradigm shift facilitator) who talked to us some about Haiti and answered our questions. In the evening we stayed with a local developer and her husband who has lived in Haiti for over 20 years.
Friday we woke up at 5 (but I had gone to bed at 8, so it was okay) and took a bus to Kenscoff, up on a mountain near PAP. we got there around 9, and helped a local agriculture developer with bible school-esque camp, and some other stuff like that. Not that we were really ANY use because we can’t speak a lick of creole. but we met some very interesting people, and some of them spoke French or English. Today we hiked the rest of the way up the mountain to see Jenny’s farm at the top. Basically she owns about 30 acres on the top of this mountain that she’s trying to turn into an ecological preserve, because the country is being run (ecologically) into the ground. she’s having a lot of trouble, but that’s too much detail for now. the hike was INTENSE (think the incline with switchbacks), but the view was great from the top. Tomorrow we’re going to Jacmel, a town on the south coast where our guide, Jeff, lives. We’re going to be doing some homestays with local families (communicating will be interesting, but fortunately Jeff speaks creole), going to the beach, visiting some local artists, and things like that. We will be around Jacmel all week long. We’re coming back to PAP on Saturday morning, and there I will be meeting Daniel and spending the next 4 days with him.
In other news, I heard my first voodoo ceremony (lots of drums and shouting and singing from about 11 pm to 3 am) off and on while I drifted in and out of consciousness, I’ve discovered that I love lemongrass tea (it’s amazing), I took my first shower ever without a working shower head (think pouring with a bowl), and rode on a ridiculously crowded bus with tons of other people up the side of a mountain. Oh, and It’s very interesting being the only blonde haired person in sight… I feel very conspicuous.
anyway, this trip is not about the internet, so that’s all for now.
love you guys,
Sarah 🙂
Her boyfriend Dani (also in Haiti this summer) has been invaluable with a running commentary and bits of news as well. Continue to pray, as we know many of you have been.
Thanks for your interest!