Finally Here!

(December 28, 2009)
I'm finally here! Port-Au-Prince, Haiti! After all the waiting! I feel like I've been waiting a lifetime for this minute.

Let me give you a little background on my trip and how I got here. It began last May (2009) I met with Pastor Gersan Valcin at Frontier Camp to talk about the camps' trip to Haiti that was being planned. I told him that if it was possible I would like to spend the majority of Christmas break in Haiti with his family. In July I purchased my tickets. I was scheduled to fly out of Houston IAH on December 27th and into Port Au Prince (PAP), Haiti on the 28th. I assumed I'd just sleep in the terminal in Miami waiting for my early flight. I would fly out with my dear friends Erin Veronie and Daryl Thompson. We would then meet up with two other "interns", as we were being called, and spend a few weeks with the Valcins. I was told that the larger team from camp was going to return on the 16th. PERFECT! That was 3 days before school started and that way I wouldn't have to fly home alone.

... Ticket purchase: Check!

27 hours after I purchased my ticket my boss at camp called:

"I hope you haven't bought your ticket yet..."

They were actually going to be returning on the 10th... Leaving me ALONE in HAITI for 6 days. I was under the impression that the Valcin family was going to be busy so I needed to change my ticket. I don't know how much you've dealt with airline companies, but its usually not very pleasant. Instead of changing my ticket I decided to explore other options.

I didn't want to just leave an entire week before school started and I was really hoping to be in Haiti for as long as possible. One of my roommates told me that she knew of someone who had a burn clinic in Haiti and it might be worth checking out.

I got Sheryl Brumley's information from Raquel, my roommate, and it turned out that they were on furlough in the states at the time, so it was incredibly easy to get in touch with her. She is the nurse at the burn clinic on the Global Outreach compound. I told her who I was and asked if I could come spend Jan 10-16th with her... So we were all set.

Lots of preparation and fund raising was done this past fall semester. I worked on my Kreyol and excitement started to build. Soon, inadequacy and nervousness set in. This always happens before I come to Haiti. I get so antsy. I think its just all the anticipation and preparation building and knowing I still have to wait until I can finally get on that plane and come down here.

So the day finally arrived! We were in Galveston and my dad drove Erin and I to Houston to catch our flight! I was all packed and ready to go... except for my tennis shoes... oops! Good thing I had my Chacos with me!

Erin and I landed in Miami and Daryl flew in from Wyoming and met us there.

Long story short, we had some trouble with the airport, and our bags, because we had an overnight layover. Our flight flew out at 6:45am, but we weren't allowed to check our bags until 4 hours before our flight. But the counter didn't open until 6. Perfect!

We ended up at a Days Inn and walked to the 711 across the street to get Nilla wafers, Ritz crackers, and sprite for dinner. We ordered pizza that took 2 hours to get there and was $17 instead of $7.99. I was too tired to fight it. We should have known... We were in MIAMI they advertised that they spoke English. Isn't that our language?
We spent plenty of time playing "What does that mean in Kreyol?" We would look through our dictionary or whatever and say a word and the others had to guess. Very educational!


We woke up early, caught the shuttle to the airport, filled our water bottles with American water, and boarded the plane! Once we landed in PAP we did what all Haitians do best... Wait.

We walked outside to wait for the Valcins to come pick us up. That was a mistake. Not only was it 800 degrees Fahrenheit, but everyone was offering to call a cab for us. All I could think to say in Kreyol was, "We have friends coming." I said that probably 100 times. Even though we were being yelled at to let them help us I was enjoying every minute. Oh, how I've missed Haiti. The sounds, the smell, the language all around you. Its one of a kind.

If you've been to Haiti you probably know what smell I'm talking about. I would want to use it as air freshener, but I sure do love smelling it... Because that means I'm in Haiti!.... or behind a trash truck.

Finally the Valcin's arrived. They had gotten a flat tire on the way to the airport and had to stop and change it. According to Gersan it was the first flat tire he'd ever had in PAP.... little did he know what was in store for him!

As we were greeting each other the keys got locked in the car... So more waiting, trying to break into the car, getting questioned by the UN and police about breaking into the car, etc. That gave me time to catch up with Gersan's wife, Betty.

Once we got to the Valcin's house Betty served us fresh grapefruit juice! It was like a taste of Heaven!


Now we have the rest of the afternoon to rest!

We have a fun day tomorrow. I can't wait to tell you about it. So glad to be in Haiti.


Bon Nwi! (good night!)