Mwen kampe toujou

Bonswa from my little room under the guesthouse.. today was quite an adventure. Robert and I were able to join Kevin, a Minnesotan who lives here part time and works on water systems - today we drove a huge water truck to Cite Soleil - the largest, poorest slum in Port auPrince. I would have to research to tell you the population of this area. I have seen places in Haiti that seem equally as poor and that word doesn't really do it justice in terms of describing- but in terms of size, population density etc. its depressing. I've seen pictures of the areas, I've seen a movie filmed in cite Soleil about the gangs - and seeing it in person is the same. I felt perfectly comfortable in terms of my safety with Kevin and his co workers...and they would not have agreed to take us had they felt concern for our safety as well. It has had an extremely negative and dangerous history but about a year ago, the UN began a 'clean up of the gangs' and certainly as we drove through there was little evidence that the people were afraid or nervous - children running freely everywhere is a pretty fair indication of safety.

Well actually, children seem to run freely everywhere in Haiti so maybe that isn't much of a statement.

To start the story from the beginning...Kevin is a friend of Al's who came to join us for dinner last night. Al had mentioned he had gone on this water run and you know who is always wanting adventures here...said can I go?

And Robert - who is going to manage the property also was interested- so we made arrangements with Kevin to meet him at the water truck. It is a 10 story Mack truck with 10 gears ( that grind with every shift) - maybe not every shift as we only got into 6th gear. (I meant for the picture to come insert at this point!)

Anyway, the 3 &4 th things to stand out- We had to share a seat without cusion and the streets in Cite Solay are actually some of the best in Port au Prince. We drove into the city with our first 'drop' and as we approached the area, with the air horn almost continuous, people- mostly children began running towards us from all directions with buckets of all sizes. Our workers made sure they stayed in some sort of orderly caos..and some of the hardest working people were the 5- 8 year old girls. They can fill a 5 gallon bucket to the top, ask for a little help to get it onto their head and without spilling more than a couple of cups of water. They were amazing. Most of the boys were more interested in posing for pictures. Many of the children wanted my bracelet or ring, some indicated they were hungry, some of the older girls just wanted to hold my hand or hug me. Robert and I at first watched the process and took pictures but then we got in and helped move buckets, keep the lines in line, fill buckets and lift as needed. Everyone was polite except if you got in the way of a little girl or tried to take her bucket - watch out. They did not hesitate to protect and preserve their water. The first drop took approx 45 minutes, then a refill of the tank and two more water drops - Robert said if everyone experienced this, they would find a way to solve problems rather than complain about them- this is the life of these people everyday. Some of the kids had no clothes, some were so tattered, torn, worn they may as well not had them on. No one had new shoes, no one wore Nike or Polo or any other name brand that could be recognized...Looking into the faces of the adults, it was often a face much older than the eyes - thin, worn or torn like the clothes. The older children actually looked fairly healthy but the very young often had orange hair- an indication of severe malnutrition.

Once our water drop was complete we went with Kevin to a clinic they were adding a roof to a second room..we were taken down a side street to a lane to an alley between buildings to finally arrive at the clinic. The former home of a gangster that the presiding judge donated to the group upon the gangsters incarceration. They do hiv/aids and TB testing as when they are able, give medications to people. The room they are adding a roof to will be able to house people to sick to travel far for treatment. They were in the process of trying to get the peanutbutter product for the malnutritioned children. Note that the workers were from US and did not stop to talk with us, hoping to complete the frame at least before dark.

Kevin (on his motorbike) and his partner than brought us back home...on some of the worst roads in Port au Prince just to avoid traffic- I sincerely wished I was on the motorcycle.

We arrived home...mwen kampe toujou- I'm still standing!