We arrived in Port-au-prince(PAP) at 3:10pm. Edgard picks us up and we head to Borel in the Artibonite valley about three hours away. The capital is a mass of people, cars, trucks and tap taps but as we head into the countryside we see the beauty of Haiti, the ocean, the mountains and the people. The windows are down on the truck and the wind keeps us cool in the 90 degree heat. We stop briefly at the Pierre Payen medical facility to drop off a medical report that we brought from the states for a patient there. As we pass through St. Marc, a truck has just caught the power line to the only trafffic light and has torn it down. We enter Liancourt looking forward to dinner with Peter and Sara Craig and their sons Noah and Abe. We are just ten minutes from our new home. But there seems to be a commotion ahead. Edgard asks some people in the street what is going on. There is a "manifestation" or riot over an arrest. Much of the unrest in the valley is a result of the power here being rationed and rerouted to other areas. Without electricity people with small businesses can't make money to surivive. Edgar says we will have to go back to Pierre Payen. Then a young man tells him he knows a way around the riot. He gets in the truck, Ken gets in the back to guard the luggage and we start down some back roads. After a few turns we come to a gang of men with large rocks in their hands blocking the road we need to turn on. Edgard hits the gas and we go straight past them. When I look back Ken is in the floor of the truck bed rather than standing, a smart move because a white haired, white man is easy to spot! We now are headed into the countryside on a donkey path. Soon we arrive at a fast flowing stream. Our passenger wades in and says it's not too deep, so we ford the stream. Because it has gotten dark we don't see a rope tying a horse, it catches in our axle and we are dragging the horse along with us. We stop and Ken gets it untangled so we can move on. Our next hurdle is a ditch that doesn't seem too big but when we try to cross it the right front wheel drops in a deep hole. The four of us work for several minutes trying to push and pull the truck but it's stuck! I use Edgard's phone to try to call for prayer support but there is no service. However, God's line is always available and two Haitians arrive on bikes. Ken uses a gourd to try to fill the hole with dirt, then they pile rocks on top. With everyone pushing we free the truck. We travel a ways and think we're getting close to Borel but we come to a small stream in a steep ditch, with a large canal on the other side. There is an 18 inch metal bridge for foot traffic that we think we could put under one wheel but nothing for the other. In just a few minutes a dozen Haitians arrive who know Watson, who works on the compound . They find a large piece of rough hewn lumber to put under the other wheel. After a lot of pushing and realigning we get the truck across and arrive at Borel and hour and a half late but very thankful to be there. At that point Peter breaks the news to us that one of the generators has broken and can't be repaired so we are operating on a few hours of electricity only in the evenings. Welcome to Haiti! In America we take it for granted that we always have power, electricity, light. Not so in Haiti. The light from a small flashlight lets you get from building to building. When the power is on you have a fan to help you sleep, you have a cool refigerator to keep you food from spoiling, you have a phone or computer to communicate with your friends and family. In Haiti, you realize how important light is. I John 1:7 If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. What a blessing it is to walk in the light and to know that our source of power, Jesus Christ, is always available to us through his Holy Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment