Over the past 3 months we were in Southern Africa visiting various countries and it was all pretty similar whether it was the same people, same attitudes, same stores etc. etc.
Going from there we travelled to Haiti. It took us 5 days and lots of missed sleep but we finally made it. We flew in to this tiny airport in Port-au-Prince. We couldn’t leave until our host picked us up because of the odds of being mugged because we’re Americans.
We made it to our host vehicle which was smaller than expected. No shock there, we had to fit about 20-30 people into a “15 Passenger” van in Zimbabwe (That was a fun ride).
So we had almost no space left to sit and we picked up groceries which took up even more space.
At this point we started the long hour and a half ride to our ministry site on the other side of the mountains. I was thinking “This will be fun.”
30 minutes into this trip of a lifetime we stop…there was a road block ahead from protesters. At this point we were faced with a decision, we could either go the long way around on a dusty path (add 2 hours) or we can wait for the local “military” to clear the road (add ??? hours). So we decided to wait.
As we were waiting there were cars, trucks, pretty much any vehicle around, going the long way. Soon enough they all started to come back…the long way around was blocked as well. We were out of options. We had to wait.
The entire time we were waiting the local police chief was parked right in front of us and was doing crowd control because you know, were Americans in an unfavorable situation.
As soon as he left our host said we had to leave, go somewhere, anywhere because we weren’t safe there without that guy helping us.
By this point the road was “clear”. Not really sure but we started moving again in the right direction. Then we stop after about 100 yards and the police man comes up behind us and says “stay down and stay back” as he escorts the Haitian Swat team to the road block.
Thats exactly what we want to hear!
So we part the truck behind some dump trucks and just wait. Soon enough traffic starts moving and were on our way. The “protesters” had dumped several loads of sand and dirt in the road that had to be cleared.
All that to say we are safe and sound and made it to our ministry site an hour and a half later. The total trip taking around 4 hours.
This country looks the same as Africa, but feels like a who different planet. The atmosphere is completely different. The people are different. Some hate us, some love us. But either way were called to be here and God is going to make a difference through us.
God Bless!
