Haiti part 1: Something is always burning

Five pastors, one student, and one documentary filmmaker boarded a plane to Haiti early Wednesday morning, August 18th, in Miami.

I wasn't sure what to expect upon landing.  Based on media coverage and word of mouth, it sounded like Haiti would be in complete chaos - rubble all over the streets, looting going on everywhere, nothing functioning as it did before.  Although this turned out to be far exaggerated, I came to discover many of the chaos in Haiti has been present long before the quake ever hit.

We come out of the airport pushing our way through guys trying to make a dime by helping us move our bags.  One of them finally fools us by telling us he's with the "airport" and needs to take the luggage cart back.  We roll with it.  When we get in our "tap tap" (Haitian taxis, basically truck beds with roofs), we begin to ride through the city, witnessing some of the poorest parts of town.  As we make our way towards Blanchard, we see homes along the way.  Life looks similar to what I've witnessed rural or poor areas are like in other countries (Turkey, China, Guatemala).  However, this time there is the added element of tents, blue and white, every open space you look across.  As we travel down the dirt roads we smell burning and notice riverbeds piled full of paper, styrofoam, and plastic.  There is a black smoke emitting from them.  Our guide nonchalantly says, "yeah, something is always burning around here." This is what happens when there is no infrastructure for such things.

We meet up with our first hosts, a mission known as Haiti Outreach Ministries.  Similar to a group I worked with in Mexico (Constructores Para Christo), these guys are focused on building houses, churches, medical facilities, and schools within communities in the poorest parts of Port Au Prince (Blanchard, City Soleil, and Repatriote).  They are doing hard work through the help of volunteers, employing several Haitians along the way.  However, I have some misgivings about their evangelism approach.  They also seem to be disengaged from political engagement, something I assume to be a theological standpoint of the ministry.  I would come to realize however, that this disengagement runs extremely deep throughout the country.

The next day (August 19th) we would tour Port-Au-Prince.  Stores and houses along the street stood beside massive piles of rubble and collapsed buildings.  The lack of progress in cleanup was truly evident.  I asked our guide why and realized a lot of it was due to government roadblocks, lack of initiative to make a massive effort.  Also, I learned a lot of aid money had been used in consultation, as those looking to rebuild were seeking ways to prevent future damage.  The cost is great indeed.







A very haunting view of the rubble was when we visited the national cathedral.  What was once a gorgeous structure standing as a monument to the city is now a massive pile of rubble.  We walked into the structure along with a few Haitian kids, hoping to serve as our "tour guides." The roof had completely collapsed.  The giant stained glass windows were cracked and shattered.  Columns had fallen.

It's funny to me how the largest buildings, built as testaments of strength, are often the first ones to fall.  And when they do, they make a statement. I got caught up in emotion when I realized that giant piles of rubble mean that they haven't been moved since the quake.  This means that there still could be bodies under where I was standing.  Bodies that may remain there for months to years, in their new tomb.

We went to a large market near City Soleil that morning, a massive enterprise of people, fruit, clothing, medicines, meat, you name it.  We learned that this market had been used as a place to buy and sell slaves back in the day.  Haiti was the first nation of freed slaves, due to a revolution in the early 1800's.  However, the 200 years following were hardly "free" for those of you up with your history of the nation.  This is still the case.  The damage of the quake is horrifying.  Rebuilding is slow.  However, the true tragedy is the continued slavery to foreign powers and the cultural nihlism this has embedded in the country.  The lack of political progress and hope.  The hope from this quake is that these deeper issues will be realized and the slow, long journey to true independence and peace may be found.

Something is always burning.