March 2:

My flight to Haiti went according to schedule. When I arrived, the folks from the Matthew 25 (M25) Guest House were there to pick me up. The processing was done at another location as the old terminal building was unsafe. They bused us to a metal structure elsewhere on the airport grounds. Everywhere I saw military personnel and equipment.

The M25 Facility

Patrick Tortora drove me to M25 which required traveling through the city. I saw a lot of fallen structures, but not as many as one might expect. Likely many still standing are unsafe. M25 has a refugee camp next door housed in blue side wall tents supplied by the Lions’ club (pictured below). They fill a soccer field and likely house 2500 people, maybe more. Sanitation and clean water are issues, although there seems to be plenty of food.

I helped M25 distribute hot meals to the patients who are being cared for in the camp, mostly recovering amputees. The ward was a tarp with duct tape patches and little or no privacy for the people. There were only about 12 patients there, but I learned from the docs staying at M25 that there are thousands more such places across the city.

Medical staff housing at M25

M25 is a crossroads for aid workers. I met engineers, doctors, media people, contractors, lawyers, etc. Quite a number are young professionals in their 30s. It was good to see such sacrifice and commitment from these young people. They are a credit to their generation. I slept outside in a Coleman pop-up and thought about how blessed I was to do so. I rested, but there was a lot of noise through the night. Port is still home to millions even though devastated.

March 3:

This morning Patrick’s wife, Vivian, drove me back to the airport to catch my flight to Jeremie which is near the end of Haiti’s peninsula. She took a different route and I saw more of the city.  I observed that the multistoried structures received much more damage than one storied buildings of which many survived intact. It makes sense when you think about it.

Also, some areas of the city received more damage based on the subsoil, whether loose or bedrock. I also saw a huge camp of tent shanties that must have covered 100 acres or more. Vivian told me many people have homes to return to but they fear another quake. Besides, in the camps international relief is caring for their needs and if they go home there’s little or no help.

She dropped me off and returned to M25. I entered the “terminal” and found the Tortug Airline desk. They didn’t have my ticket! There’s quite a story here, but you can imagine my concerns. After 45 minutes of contacts and cell phone calls it all got worked out. I was the last passenger to board the flight. The Jeremie airstrip looks like something from a WWII South Pacific movie. It’s a white gravel patch in a remote location with the sea at one end and palms or bananas around. The singular depot building is a small stucco structure. My friend, Pastor Fran Leeman, from our Lifespring Church in Illinois was waiting along with Steve Moore and John Frankel.

This district of Haiti appears less developed than the area served by Project HELP. I saw thatched roofs everywhere along with wattle & daub and stick and stone construction. I only observed a few block or concrete houses. Also the city of Jeremie is full of Creole Victorian & folk structures as well as some newer buildings. It’s maybe 50/50 old and new. However, everything is rather run down. To it’s credit, the city has some of the best street paving I’ve seen across Haiti. We stopped to buy a few things before heading out to the mission near Marfranc, which is about 30 minutes up the Grand Anse River valley.

From there, the New Life for Haiti mission operates out of a very nice concrete house patterned on Creole tradition with the living area on the second level and featuring a surround porch on three sides (pictured below).

Steve and Joline Moore who served at Pierre Payen oversee the work. It was so great to see them again, reminiscing about the past and sharing in the excitement of their current ministry.

Enjoying fellowship around the table with the New Life for Haiti staff

We visited the morning away and enjoyed a Haitian lunch of cornmeal mush topped with a vegetable stew (with goat meat) and then drenched with a black bean sauce. We also enjoyed fried plantains, Creole cabbage slaw, and tomatoes with greens, all very good.

After lunch we walked over to the open air market in Marfranc. It’s like so many others I’ve been to in Haiti with open air stalls selling everything from meat to fruit and vegetables as well as commercially packaged goods. We returned through the town’s back streets and I saw more poverty than I’ve ever seen in Haiti. The naked bottom children, broken down houses (not just from the earthquake) and ratty rag clothing worn by everybody all bore witness. It embarrassed me to see my wealth in the light of their want.

On the way back we also stopped to see the old fort site on the hilltop behind the Catholic Church building. All that remains are 5 cannon and a secure hold with three foot thick walls.

One cannon was marked with a GR & crown and another sported a Tudor Rose & crown dating both to the 18th century. If I could only get them in my checked luggage, but I’m sure they’d exceed the weight limit. From the fort we returned to the house and saw the remains of the rubber mill erected just before WWII to provide material for the US military efforts. We finished off the afternoon in conversations about Haiti and the mission.

(Continued next week)

Pastor Ed