Day 9: June 20, 2011

The pearl of the Caribbean



On the way to Anse a Foleur




Haitian contryside = BEAUTIFUL!



Beautiful view of the Caribbean




All of us taking in how beautiful this country
really is!



Day 9- Today was amazing and terrifying at the same time. First on the schedule Tap-Tap ride to Anse a Foleur, where the largest voodoo temple in Haiti is located. Before we visit the temple and hike up to see the statue we are doing a VBS at a church. When we arrive there is a mob of kids shouting and screaming excited we are there. We brought extra security today I guess they knew it would be crazy. We are immediately escorted to the back of the building where there is a beautiful view of the ocean, as the building is right on top of the ocean. We all take in the view as they bring the kids in and get them situated. Me and couple of other people and the translators climb the stairs and go to the upper level where some older kids are doing math.



All the math, all of the kids we helped were pretty smart :)




NAMES!



They have all this stuff written on the board, and it’s crazy because we can all understand it, math is a common language for us. They immediately start writing problems for us to solve and we solve one after another. It was amazing that we didn't speak the same language but we could still communicate through math! After they run out of problems we all write our names on the board, and when I write mine they all want to write my name too. They all ask the translator to ask if I have a boyfriend, if I am married, and if I have kids (that is Haitian men’s favorite question to ask any girl in our group). We do math until it’s time to go.

As we exit the building these Haitian children are hitting and pinching and trying to bite us. We were shocked because in every other place we have been the kids have been so sweet and loving. After security fends them off we all just kind of take a minute to breathe in shock and a little freaked out that these kids were trying to hurt us. We began our hike up to the voodoo monument. It was a short hike but it was real hiking and climbing (which is not always easy in a skirt haha). Once we get to the monument it wreaks of alcohol and candles where people have been doing sacrifices to the voodoo gods.



The Voodoo Monument from the front,
none of us were brave enough to
go around the backside!



Our hike back down from the monument.



An intern tells us the story of the monument. It was built by the catholic church in the 1800’s and it was a giant metal (hollow inside) cross. One day in an awful thunderstorm lightening struck it and left only the base of the cross standing. Supposedly this doll fell from the sky after the cross was severed, and that was the devil claiming that land as his as he defeated God.  They have carved the other side of the cross out (which you cannot see) to give offerings to the devil. Some people give goats, chickens, rice, and beans. Sadly they have before found remains of small children there. The whole place gave us a creepy sick vibe. As we sang a song honoring God Haitians walked around the monument whipping it with whips, which means they are cursing someone who has done them wrong. They are praying to the voodoo God’s that something bad will happen to whoever they are cursing. We hiked back down all a little nervous about going into the temple, as we didn’t know exactly what to expect after seeing all of that.

Once inside the voodoo temple (camera's were of course not allowed) we go upstairs and into the room with the doll. We all cram in the back of the room and observe everything that is going on. There is a porcelain doll wearing a dress five times it’s size in a glass box in the front of the room. People bring in food and flowers to it and then take a candle sit in a plastic chair and pray until they chime a bell that will allow another group to come in. It was all very creepy as everyone prays out loud, and we could not understand what they were saying but probably the most disturbing thing is that on the opposite wall from the voodoo doll is a picture of Jesus. They explain to us that most voodoo worshippers believe in both God/Jesus and Voodoo. They believe God/Jesus are the good spirits and Voodoo is the bad spirits. You pray to God for blessings and to the voodoo gods for a curse.



The "holy water" at the vodoo temple. Even though it still
looks gross it the picture it is much worse in person
and it smells awful!



People stay at the temple for months at a time until their prayers and curses are fulfilled. We walk down some steps and see where the people living there stay and there is chanting and sacrifices being made. Everyone is of course staring and it smells  like burnt chickens and alcohol. There are fires and singing and candles, and we were all pretty freaked out. They take us out back and show us the “holy water” of the voodoo temple. It is murky swamp water. They tell us that it’s about four feet deep and they believe that if they get in the water and bathe in and do not drown then they are in good standing with the voodoo God’s. We all lock hands and pray for everyone inside the voodoo temple, and all the people of Haiti.



Tap Tap Ride Home!



On our way out a man grabs my arm and when I try to pull away he doesn’t let go, so I jerked my arm away. He starts following me and now we are out in the open and the security guys glare at him and moves to the other side of the street a good distance away from me but he is screaming baby baby look at me, American look at me, you no like blacks? Now a security guy from the mission goes over and talks to him, he quieted down for a couple of minutes and then started back up again. Luckily we were leaving and he didn’t follow us. Later that night I noticed I had bruises on my arm to match where his fingers grabbed me, the whole situation was probably more scary than it should have been since we had just came from the voodoo temple where we were all a little freaked out anyways.



Where we got into our accident! OOPS :)

 We ate lunch at a restaurant, which was very good. Then we loaded back up in our Tap-Taps to head back. Unfortunately we got in a wreck with another Tap-Tap and when we stopped the driver got out with a crowbar and started waving it at us. Since we had no protection we all got a little worried and a security officer off our Tap-Tap got out and talked to the man. He sat the crowbar down but they argued for a good five minutes. There are no accident reports or insurance claims so everything is settled individually. I don’t know how they settled it but security got back on the Tap-Tap and we went back to the mission. 

Today we got to see a lot of beautiful parts of Haiti along with a couple of dark and scary parts that need God’s healing hand. I just pray for all the Haitians that believe praying to the evil spirits will give them what they need, because God alone can give them all they need. It’s heartbreaking to see all the people at that temple, especially since there were more people in that temple than there were at church on Sunday morning. Today was a cultural experience I will never forget.