We were warned. It would be dark and beautiful. We were warned that there is a lot of darkness here. There are no street lights, nothing to light the way. As the school bus swerved and blared it’s horn tearing down the streets of Haiti, I took notice. I took notice of the sounds of people yelling and laughing. I felt the whispers leaking from back alleys. The lettering, the words, the colors, the alleys that people just seem to appear out of. I took notice of the people watching and tracing me with their eyes from the rooftops. I took notice of the little fires that spread out over the country side, different things burning. I took notice of the smells and the dust as it was harder to breathe. Along the side of the road, people sold their wares mainly in the dark; candles, foods, tools, little artworks and crafting, and things I can’t identify. The people all moving smoothly around each other despite the sheer mass of them in a small area. As we turned a corner the bus came sliding to a stop. I remember thinking of the song “Let There Be Light”. I remember asking God for just a little light. And among the people massing around us and passing by on route to their nightly lives, two little boys stopped by a little blue hand held lamp. As their heads tilted up to the bus window, two smiles that could break the night open erupted across their faces. They didn’t make a lot of noise or make much commotion. They examined our school bus and looked back at me. Those smiles could crack the strongest armor, and they could shatter the darkest night. I smiled and gave them a little salute, and they did the same. And as the bus turned the corner down the next street, we were greeted on the right of the bus by dozens of little lights of people selling at night. And the little lights danced around my head for the next ten minutes as we left the crowded city. As we left the dust cloud of the city, looking out over Port-au-Prince, across the bay; thousands of lights on the other side dotted the hills like stars with lighting exploded over the them. Bursts of golden light silently boomed from the clouds.
Haiti: day 1
