After another 30 minutes or so we finally left the city and were out on the highway. The contrast at first was astounding. The road was recently paved and had shiny new highway signs... you know the ones we take for granted... speed limit, curve ahead, etc. The road was lined with a gutter made of stones and mortar. Winding up into the mountains, it really looked like the Blue Ridge Parkway!
It was not that way the entire trip, however. We were continuously going from paved to dirt roads, sometimes very narrow making the task of passing oncoming traffic very tedious. It was often a game of chicken, with everyone competing for the best piece of the road no matter which side it was. The biggest vehicle always won... in a Toyota Land Cruiser it was often us, unless we were passing an dump truck. Going through villages, the roads were particularly rough. The dirt, heavily rutted roads shared traffic with pedestrians, motorbikes, donkeys, cars and enormous construction vehicles.
Speaking of construction, there was a lot of it on the way: road widening, bridge construction, paving, etc., all in the middle of nowhere. With all the devastation in Port-Au-Prince it really seemed comical that they were putting all this effort into rural highways. It reminded me of the stimulus money in the U.S. with the "shovel ready project" clause. Money was being spent where it was easiest, not most needed.
The villages all seemed very crowded. I'm not sure if it was always this way, but I do know a lot of people have moved out of Port-Au-Prince to live with relatives in the rural area after the quake.
In Hinche, where the World Vision Area Development Project (ADP) office is, life seemed pretty normal compared to the capital. There was a town square with a playground and a bandshell where a band was setting up for an evening concert. While Port-Au-Prince was full of vehicles, motor bikes and Tap Tap busses, this rural town had a lot of donkeys and oxen. At one gas station though, there were about 50 or more people with motorbikes waiting to get fuel.
After a quick visit at the ADP office, we left to check-in to the hotel and have lunch. The hotel was in a very surreal setting, which architecture like something out of a banana republic in the 1950s. There was what was left of a very formal garden, and the overgrown lawn in front of the hotel was littered with pink plastic flamingos and plastic Santa Claus decorations!
After lunch we visited a camp for Internally Displaced People, or IDPs (World Vision has an acronym for everything!) These are people from Port-Au-Prince who fled to the Central Plateau after the earthquake. They are all living in tents provided by relief organizations from around the world. The tents are showing their age though, and there is really no plan for what's next for these people. World Vision has been distributing food and supplies to them, and that's why they stay in the IDP camp even though many have relatives in the area.
We met a few people in the IDP camp, including a 17-year-old girl who spoke excellent English. She is a perfect example of many of the Haitians we talked to over the past few days. Her family lost everything, and yet she talks with great enthusiasm about her plans for the future. She wants to go to the university and become a lawyer. She has such incredible hope in an environment where there "should" be none. It really struck me as I tend to easily lose hope in my own life when really trivial things don't go as I expect. She lost EVERYTHING, and still has hope for a brighter future. It really is amazing.
At the first ADP we visited, we were welcomed by a brass band (all ADP kids) and an official welcoming ceremony with singing, dancing, music from the band and drama. These official ceremonies are a part of the culture here, but very similar to a talent show at my daughter's school. Afterwards we recorded video that will be used to solicit child sponsorships, and tried something we haven't had the opportunity to do before. Because listeners to our radio show sponsored almost 600 children (mostly Haitian) last year after the earthquake, the ADP staff were able to gather a handful of kids already sponsored by our listeners. We video taped a series of introductions for the website, and we may be able to get the video to those sponsors as well.
The last stop of the day was at a facility where World Vision was building a computer center so ADP kids can get online for learning and communication. And, as an example of the type of entrepreneurial spirit here, they setup a cell phone charging station. For a small fee, people in the area can charge their cell phones, and the money raised is helping pay for the computers! It makes total sense in an area where almost everyone has cell phones, but almost no one has electricity.
We spent just one night in Hinche... The last day would be another ADP visit and the drive back to Port-Au-Prince.
Jonathan Mauney
Sent from my iPad
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