Mi Viaje a Haiti

It has been almost a week since we got back from Haiti, and I have not told anyone how my trip has been...sorry about that. I just needed some time to process everything. With that said...

We left last Friday early in the morning and got to Dajabon where you cross the border. As smart as we are, we did not remember that Friday is market day at the border, and so there were thousands of people going back and forth between the DR and Haiti. Cara and Rachel got all the passport and car stuff figured out (paying the DR entrance fee of $25 and the Haitian fee of (drumroll) 1 measly dollar), and after a total of four hours at the border, we were on the road to Cap Haitien to help Chris and Johanne. To sum up Cap Haitien, it is dusty and crowded, full of friendly Haitian men and women who are constantly on the go. Not once did I feel unsafe or feel like anything was chaotic.


Saturday. At this point, we had already found out from Johanne about her trip to Port au Prince, that they would not release the kids she wanted because of security reasons and just in case family members were still alive. As you may have already seen from the media, people started stealing kids for trafficking; therefore, unless you have Haitian papers, you are not allowed to take any kid for any reason. Johanne took us to an orphanage her and Chris use to work at. Of course we fell in love with all the kids, and the sweet thing was all the kids were leaving within the next few weeks to be adopted. When you are at an orphanage, you end up leaving wanting to take every kid with you, but it was nice to be able to play with them and know they are going to some loving parents. After this, we visited the church Chris is building then went to the hospital in Milot. The school across the street was turned into another area to bring refugees into...this is where the hardest part of the weekend was for me. I saw a man who had had his arm amputated and a room full of kids who were hurt during the earthquake. I walked into the room full of kids, and immediately tears started to come. I knew I needed to hold them back, but it was so hard when this little girl smiled and started playing with Ashley despite her circumstance. What a sweet moment.


Sunday. We took all of the supplies to the house Chris and Johanne bought for the orphans. The supplies consisted of 50 foam mattresses, sheet sets, cups, plates, bowls, silverware, shoes, towels, 50 bags we made before we left, toothbrushes/paste, and so on. We set up the house, doing all the dirty details, so that it would be ready whenever kids would come.

Monday. We ran some errands and went to the Haitian market in town. We needed to find more sheet sets for the beds, and Ashley took pictures we had to get developed of the house set up so Chris and Johanne would look legitimate.

Tuesday. We headed out early morning to come back home, feeling like what we needed to accomplish was done, and that when they receive orphans, we could possibly come help them get everything situated and meet the precious kids. Crossing the border was no problem at all...once again we paid nothing on the Haitian side and $10 on the Dominican side.

Sorry if this was a very abrupt description of my trip, or maybe too long, but if you have any other questions or are curious about something, feel free to ask me! Overall, the Lord completely had His hand over the whole trip. Everything went perfect, and the cars made it there and back despite the horrible roads in Haiti. Gracias a Dios :) As for the Makarios team, we are waiting for the right timing to help as a team. Makarios is doing what it can to get supplies to different areas still, so feel free to continue donating if you can.

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