Day 1 June 12, 2011



Flying into Miami from Knoxville



Flying into Haiti from Miami



Day 1 was mostly traveling we flew from Knoxville to Miami and then Miami to Haiti, then we had a six hour bus ride (or so we thought we did). When we got off the airplane the airport was overwhelming and chaotic at the least. The people from the mission located and separated our luggage for us. We had to go through immigration which was just a long line with a man stamping our passports (no security scanners, questions, or anything). Then we had to go through customs which was simply turning in the card we filled out while on the airplane. As you walked through “customs” we passed three Haitian airport security officers sitting in chairs with their shotguns, yes shotguns pointed towards people going through customs. This is where we first learned of the shoot first ask questions later policy that is intact in Haiti.



The front of the Mission



Once we were outside the airport was really when all the chaos began because our leaders had left something inside the airport and we were standing outside alone for a couple of minutes. A man dressed as if he was an employee of the airport began pulling on the arm of a girl in my group claiming he was going to take us to the mission bus (as we all had on our Northwest Haiti Christian Mission t-shirts on). We said no put the man was consistent and he began to pull her down the walkway, and just about that time our leaders came out and the man left us alone. We walked through a large walkway and there were lots of people behind the fences calling to us and reaching for us, and most of all everyone was staring. When we wouldn’t give them anything the words turned mean, and we were all pretty sure we wanted to get back on the airplane and fly back to Miami.



The bus ride was rough, we made a 6 hour trip in 4 ½ hours; as our driver thought he had the right away of the road and didn’t drop below 70 the whole ride. There were multiple times when we went airborne from our seats and we could feel the floorboard shaking below our feet. Car pulled into ditches, motorcycles crashed to move out of the way, and people screamed and ran off the road to avoid being hit by our bus. The driver was not from the mission, he was a friend of someone who worked at the mission. Even though the bus ride was rough, we all joked about it, and were kind of glad that we had the chance to have that experience.



Our tents on the roof of the mission!



Once we got to the mission outside the gates  there were lots of children who could only see the tops of our heads through the bus windows and as they opened the gates to let us in the missions the children all began to scream Americans and Blancs (which means white in French and Creole). Once inside the mission we went straight up to the roof which is where we were staying; in tents. None of us knew we were staying in tents, but surprisingly it didn’t seem to bother any of us either. I had never slept in a tent before, and luckily someone put our tent up for us, because neither me nor my tent buddy knew how.



St. Louis Du Nord, Haiti

 We had dinner and then worship and we all took showers and fell right to sleep in our tents on the roof. The first day brought times I wanted to cry, times I wanted to give up, and times that all I wanted was to be back home but through it all at the end of the day I was happy and content and looking forward to everything God was going to show me. My first day in Haiti was AWESOME! The last picture is my favorite picture from the first day, it shows our view from the roof of the mission. Also by the way if you want to see any of the pictures closer up click on them and it will make them bigger. :) More to come later!