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| A bit of a tight squeeze in the back of the taptap |
This past Friday at 6:00 am we left our home in rural Savanette, Haiti
for the long journey to Port au Prince and back again. There had been items added to the list
of needed supplies which are not
available in our area, so off we went.
We saw many sights and experienced a lot of Haitian culture throughout
the course of the day. With the
confining nature of our transportation and out of respect to those around us,
we have to ask you as the reader to use your imagination to visualize much of
what we can describe from the day. In
other words, it wasn’t appropriate to take a bunch of pictures!
We started out “a pye”, by feet, for 2 reasons. First it rained 2 evenings in a row so, of
course, the road was muddy. The second
reason relates to the first…Because the road is in such poor condition there
have been a group of young men actively protesting on the road trying to get
the attention of the government to come and FIX the road. The way this is usually done here is….they
‘CUT’ the road. Across the entire width
of the road, somehow the group of guys had dug a trench about 3 ½ feet wide and
3 ½ feet deep so no vehicles could pass.
Pedestrians and donkeys were allowed to cross which required quite a
JUMP across the new ravine which was filled with water from the rain. On the other side of the cut we could take a
taxi moto to Pignon which was also a challenge…we had to get off and walk
through the worst of the mud. This muddy
sandal shot, times 5, would almost give an idea of the mud we ‘wallowed’ in.
Once in Pignon, a 16 passenger taptap van was the next mode
of transportation. The driver kindly
took our shoes and washed off what we couldn’t ‘stomp’ off. At 7:15 am we started on the way to Port au
Prince without a full load so we figured we would be stopping intermittently to
pick up more passengers. Our first stop
was Hinche at 8:30. We pulled to the
side of the street in town to pick up a couple passengers. Within view through the van window we noticed
a sight!...There was a styrofoam food container laying open on the ground with
something in it…and it wasn’t food… UH, OH!
Well, we will just say that gives new meaning to the concept of a ‘port-a-potty’.
Very portable.
As we waited for passengers we were visited by the Police
who pulled up on a motorcycle. There was
quite the ‘conversation’ taking place and as we learned, we were stopped in a
‘bad spot’ so the policeman got out his ticket book. A friend explained to us that since the van
was stopped in a bad spot the driver needed to make a ‘contribution’. That is a new way of looking at it!
Our next stop was for gas at a gas station… with a
pump. We have grown accustomed to the
method of getting gas out of a reusable plastic gallon jug poured into the tank
using a plastic bottle cut in half as a funnel.
This stop also brought new meaning to the term ‘convenience store’ as
the food vendors came right to the van... crowded around hoping to sell some cold
bottled drinks, sandwiches, and other food items. Pretty convenient to say the least.
The road was getting steeper as we zigzagged back and forth
along the curvy, mountainous road called National Route 3. As this is the major road that runs north and
south, we like to make the comparison to US Interstate 35! Here at least the road is paved. However, still present are many road hazards
like a small portable cement mixer positioned right in the middle of the
opposite lane with piles of rock staggered along the way.
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| Had to sneak this picture. You have to look carefully to identify what is being transported on this small taptap. |
The next sight was the load of a huge cargo truck spilled
all across the opposite lane… PILES of avocados! It is avocado season. Any vehicle no matter how big or small is
always loaded to it’s fullest potential.
Picture a small, beat up pickup with huge bags tied all around the outside
of the pickup bed, 6 wheel barrows, 3 deep tied onto the back tailgate, boxes
stacked 3 high on the roof of the cab, the pickup bed packed to overflowing and
then add 25 people to that. AND some more items of cargo stuck between the
grill and the brush bars on the front.
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| Plastic 55 gallon barrels. The other day outside of Pignon we saw a motorcycle with 4 of these tied on behind the driver. |
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| Carving out the side of the mountain. They are 'harvesting' limestone probably for road construction |
There was a structure that disrupted the mountainous
landscape. Get this, an Olympic Training Center is
nearly complete. What do you think of
that?
We arrived in Port au Prince just before 11:30 am. We found a taptap to rent to get us around
the city and to carry the items on the list to be purchased. For us, this seems to be the dirtiest,
noisiest place on earth. People
shouting, black exhaust coughing out of truck tailpipes, garbage in heaps here,
there, and everywhere. Traffic is the
unruliest, there seem to be no boundaries, horns honking, motorcycles weaving
in an out, giant trucks and gaudy taptaps filled to the brim with people. Undefined lanes of traffic, everyone trying
to get there before the guy in front.
BUT then, in contrast, we came to an area with a nice boulevard where women
were sweeping the street and sidewalk with Haitian brooms… still, however, in
the midst of the noisiest web of traffic on earth. Hard to figure. No rules of the road except the biggest and
loudest has the rite of passage.
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| Wanna shop for some clothes? |
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| The turquoise ocean water is within view, should be a tropical paradise. |
The afternoon sped by too fast; time to load up for the van
ride back ‘home’ to Savanette, or so we thought. We left Port au Prince at 5:15 pm. This time the van is more than at full
capacity. 16 passenger vehicle now
loaded with 21 people. Like one giant
sardine can with 2 odd sardines. Our
driver had some bad habits. He would
push on the gas and then press on the brake, push the gas, press the brake. Have you ever been on an amusement park ride
called the ‘Tilt-a-whirl’? Similar
sensation in the van. On it went, we
wound our way out of the mountains, sped across the last miles of smooth road,
and then bumped and swerved over and around the rocks and rain washed dirt
roads until…we would guess about 6 miles or so from home….the van and 21 people
with luggage tied to the top…STUCK in the mud going up a steep hill. It’s 9:15 pm in the rural central plateau of Haiti
and the night is blacker than black.
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| This is a picture of the view where we got stuck in the mud :) |
There we sat, wondering, ‘now what?’ A couple of the Haitian
men made the move to get out of the van.
We wondered if an attempt to get us unstuck was the reason. Soon we decided, ‘not happening.’ One man with a duffle bag over his shoulder
and the tiny light from his cell phone appeared to be setting out ‘a pye’, by
feet. We figured that’s how we started
the day, we might as well end the day that way as well. No moon tonight, no stars, just
blackness. The beam of our small
headlamp flashlight seemed more powerful than we had remembered. Thank you Coleman Summer Tent Sale in Okoboji, IA!
We took careful steps to avoid the slimy, slippery parts of
the road. We caught up to the man that
was ahead of us and walked together. We
learned from our new found Haitian friend that he works in Port during the week
and comes home to his family in Pignon on the weekend. We could exchange ‘piti piti’ Creole and ‘a
little bit’ of English and had an enjoyable conversation, listening to several
“krapo”, frogs, that must have been having a party in the puddles. We heard
drums off in the distance but took comfort that the sound was behind us not
ahead of us. Finally we were able to
reach a friend from Pignon by phone who graciously agreed to come pick us
up. After the moto headlight came
piercing through the wall of black, we asked if our travel partner could get a
ride to Pignon first. We kept making our
way north, step by step getting closer to home.
It was evident that we would not get all the way to Savanette so we
called to make arrangements to stay in the Mission House in Pignon.
We arrived at our overnight lodging in Pignon about 10:45 PM. Now our sandals are the above picture TIMES 10! Tired, dirty, kind a hungry…but thankful for
running water, a bathroom, a pillow, even a mosquito net. Laying in bed, we were still moving from the
long day on the long and winding road to Port and back. Earlier
in the week the analogy had come up of constantly feeling sticky from the heat,
like one big post-it note. Tonight it
doesn’t even matter. Today we experienced
a long and winding day on a long and winding road.
The Beatles song, The
Long and Winding Road, ends with the lyrics: Don’t
leave me waiting here, lead me to your door.
That line makes us think of how our days may sometimes seem long as
we wait for Jesus to return to lead us to the door of Heaven.
Those long days may test our patience, but what is our model
for patience? Look at 2 Peter 3:8-9
But do not forget this
one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a
day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as
some understand slowness. Instead he is
patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance.
We all experience long, trying, challenging days. Our paths
may seem rocky and muddy, long and winding.
We may get stuck in a rut with our patience tested. But look at the patience God has for us. He is patient even with those who mock him in
unbelief because he doesn’t want anyone to perish. He desires everyone to come to repentance.
We often pray for Gods will be done and for Him to show us our
role in His perfect will. If it is God’s
will that He wants no one to perish, then what are we doing to take part in
that? He provided the way, through His
grace, by faith in Jesus. Consider how you may be used to help spread that Good
News!
Thank you for having the patience to get through this story describing a day in Haiti. We ask for prayers for patience and perseverance for the people who endure much more hardship than this on a daily basis.
Love in Christ, Craig and Christi
Here is a quick story relating to this verse...
You may have heard about the little boy who said to the Lord, "Is it true that a hundred years is just like a second to You?" And God said, "Yes, a hundred years is just like a second." And the boy said, "Is it also true that a hundred thousand dollars is just like a dollar to you?" And God replied, "Yes, a hundred thousand dollars is just like a dollar." So the boy said, " Well, can I have one of your dollars?" The Lord replied, "Sure, just wait a second."
