We arrived in Port au Prince on December 12th after 3 flights originating in Seattle, WA. We flew Seattle-Denver, Denver-Miami, Miami-Port au Prince; the flights were great, all ran smoothly. The only tense moments were when I had to leave the airport in Miami with less than an hour to spare to meet my brother-in-law, Marceau; he had some paperwork me and other items to take to Dame Marie. He runs the charity Solidarity Dame Marian. Craig was extremely nervous that I would miss the flight, I was made to get a new boarding pass which caused me moments of anxiety, but in my usual form I found a way to get to the front of the line and get it done fast.
The plane landed in Port-au-Prince(PAP) on time and we followed Leslie's instructions very carefully as to how to go through the process of leaving the plane, getting through immigration and then it was time to get our luggage. I paid my $4 US and got 2 carts for our 6 suitcases and headed over to the carrousel where Craig was waiting chatting to a pastor that he had just met. It is 9:30am and we can already feel the heat, it's 28 degrees but not too humid so we don't need our sweat rags just yet! We filled up our water bottles on the plane; glad we did that... Luggage started coming very quickly, this is it, we will be on our way soon. The staff there pull off the suitcases and put them to one side so the carrousel doesn't get congested, I would keep checking that pile while Craig watched the carrousel. There were so many people around us, some Caucasian, mostly Haitian, and from what appeared to be all walks of life. Well, we waited and waited and no luggage; uhhh! Everything was almost perfect, again we followed Leslie's instruction and knew exactly what to do as this happens often. To cut a long story short, they said it will be on the 11am flight and we can come back and get it then.
Now onto the challenge of finding our way out of the airport, you see no one is allowed in unless they have a ticket, so all the people wanting to "help" can't get you until you step out. Luckily we immediately saw Leslie and headed straight for her and I think because we only had our carry on not too many "helpers" gravitated towards us; however we did have to use a few firm "non." Leslie grabbed us and we headed to the car park, if you can call it one; I think if you looked at it from above it would look like someone took a pile of cars and dropped them. Still, Leslie was able to maneuvers her way out. I felt like we were sardines in a can fighting for air, for survival, loved every moment! We spent the next couple of hours doing errands around PAP, meeting various people, some with security, some on the street, there was so much to take in. I snapped lots of photos, making sure not to offend anyone... Driving in PAP is a very stressful venture, cars are side by side touching each other, cutting in front of you, motos (motorbikes) weave in and out, people drive on any side of the road, any direction. Craig and I were not worried for a second, we completely expected this. Craig describes the journey as chaotic, honking everywhere, so much noise, people everywhere, all with a purpose, somewhere to go. Peddlers on every street, motos, with several people on them carrying anything from huge bunches of bananas, gas, water, and goods to sell. Then there are the Tap Taps, trucks brightly painted as the main means of transport; locals pile into the backs of them and tap the side when they want to get off. It's highly recommended that foreigners never ride them as they are totally unsafe.
We arrive safely at Leslie's and Chris's home, Clean Water for Haiti. Chris is at work but their 2 children Olivia, 5 and Alex, almost 3 are home.
Their compound is a couple of hundred feet off the main highway and is situated on either side of an old railway right of way. There are no tracks and the right of way acts as access for the locals to get to the beach as well as their neighbour's driveways. The part of the compound on the highway side is where Chris and Leslie produce the Biosand water filters with their staff. The main part of the compound has the guard tower, the main house and dormitory and the round house. The roundhouse is literally that; a circular building of two floors with the bottom housing the kitchen, dining room, sitting area, bathroom, work space and a bedroom. The top floor is a loft with plenty if room for the bed, small seating bench and a table. Ventilation is excellent with windows at the quarter marks and really neat shutters that remind us of old Spanish fortresses. The round house was built in 1976 by the Mission and Chris and Leslie lived in it until 2009 when they built the main house.
The new house is two levels and has dorms for people coming to learn how to build the filters on the bottom floor and the family's living space on the upper floor. The roof top is where Chris is busy cultivating trees and plants for the new property the mission has just purchased a few miles down the road.
They had an American architect design their home so it is well constructed from concrete and has lots of rebar in it. Most houses in Haiti are built from concrete blocks. The grounds for the compound are mostly grass with many trees planted that produce mangos, coconuts and papaya. There is chain link fencing all round with barbed wire on top for security they have an armed guard 24 hours a day. Once they move to the new location they will not likely need the guards. The ocean laps at the wall of their compound and there is a rocky beach about 20 feet wide right there. It's a public beach so you need to have the guards watch if you go to swim.
Chris has set up a large solar system for power and they have an industrial generator because they do welding as part of the filter production. The water filter plant is a fair sized operation with quite a number of employees. They produced anywhere from 100 to 300 water filters a month dependent on the amount of donation they receive. There are filters in all the locations where people stay and work around the property and we didn't have any issues about drinking the water from them right away.
We had a fantastic visit with them but were anxious to get on our way to Dame Marie.
I am updating this now in June of 2014 and LOTS has happened and we are in Wyoming. Keep reading to find out more...
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