A Journey of the Heart - Departure & Arrival

Our Team of 15 from our church had been praying and preparing for this very moment – we were on our way to Haiti – to serve the Lord through the people and especially the children in Haiti.

We were divided into various groups to be picked up Friday morning at approximately 6am – to head to JFK Airport.  Our Youth Leader was coming by my apartment complex to pick up 4 of us.  All were amazingly awake – prior to breakfast or coffee – and anxious to get moving.

As we drove on the Van Wyck Expressway toward the airport we were all reading the signs designating which terminal we should exit for – according to airline and country traveling to.  Delta Airlines had an abundance of signs, listings, terminal numbers, etc., except no mention of Haiti – or anything that sounded like it could be included.  We picked an exit – wound around the various roadways and eventually parked, unloaded our luggage and started the cell phone calls to see where the rest of our team was – hoping they were at the same terminal.

Eventually we all connected – began gathering the vast array of luggage being taken – which included mostly carry-on bags for each of us – possibly 1 other bag – but then there were at least 1 or 2 additional bags for each of us to check as well.  This was our way of bringing supplies - children’s clothing, shoes, and sandals; medical supplies; food for the team’s stay; a complete suitcase dedicated for VBS – supplies, crafts, etc., which my daughter coordinated and prepared for the children in L’Espinasse.  We marked all our luggage with bright yellow masking tape, to make it easier to identify our luggage at the baggage claim in Haiti. 

Checking and scanning passports went pretty well – with only approximately 4 of us needing assistance getting our boarding passes.  We were on our way . . . all I wanted was something for breakfast and a large, strong cup of coffee.  As we headed toward the gate – we realized hours has passed – and we had just enough time to grab a quick Starbucks coffee and a muffin – and rush towards the gate.  As we were dashing down the hallway, a woman driving a passenger cart through the terminal yelled over to us, “Where are you headed?”  Being just a wee bit anxious, I almost answered, “Haiti” – when I realized she obviously meant, which gate?  We gave her our gate number and she said – “hop on, I’ll take you there.”  It’s a good thing – the distance from that point to the actual gate was much farther than we expected, through and around various hallways, and when we arrived – they were already boarding the plane.

How with us leaving my home at 6am for a 9:45 flight was it was already boarding time?  This told me that maybe, just maybe, everything didn’t go as smooth as it initially seemed when checking in.  But we made it, boarded, put carry-ons in the appropriated compartments and settled in for our nearly 4 hour flight.

I began to pray and journal, reflecting on this amazing opportunity I was given to travel to Haiti, serve the people, test my faith and how all this developed over the last 6 plus months.  I prayed that I would be still and allow the Lord to guide me and teach me all he wanted, while giving me the gift of serving those in Haiti – this was such a blessing for me.

With a snooze, some music, a bit of reading . . . we arrived at Port au Prince International Airport in Haiti.  We left the plane and headed to Immigration, filling out paperwork and being checked before heading to baggage claim.  There was one concrete building that everyone arriving from various flights where all gathered in; temperatures were near 100, no windows, no fans, no order what-so-ever when it came to getting our luggage.  A short conveyor belt (which gave a small opening to the outside world and a bit of the outside air) moved at high speed – with bags constantly being added – hitting barriers when turning, falling off onto the floor, creating piles and piles of luggage being attacked by hundreds of peopled searching for their bags.  If they came across another, it would just be tossed aside in a pile.  I stood there wondering, will anyone – just one person – honestly get the correct bag before we all melt into a puddle and flow out of this building?

But Sean, the son of our hosts in Haiti and Sharon, from our church who works directly with Children In Need, familiar with Haiti Chaos – just smiled and took control.  Carts, we need carts!  People stationed at various spots along the conveyor belt! Others running from pile to pile!  Yellow tape, yellow tape, yellow tape . . .  Slowly – ever so slowly – we gathered all the pieces and counted, double checked, counted and checked again.

There stood my Pastor, a man with such energy and stamina, and always something to say - looking like a lost soul and speechless!  Speechless and surrounded by mountains of luggage!

Eventually we pushed our way to the last check point.  They usually check every bag against every baggage tag given with our boarding passes.  With 30 plus bags this could definitely be a life-long event.  Sean was the only one who spoke fluent Creole, so he stepped over to the security officer and chatted a bit, hoping to get permission for us to leave as a “group” and not have to juggle bags vs. tickets.  Before I knew it – we were told to have our passports out and move quickly towards the exit.  All I could think of is we were headed towards some fresh air.

Hot, blistering air – was more like it.  We pushed carts, carried bags, pushed suitcases on wheels, and walk at least ½ – ¾ mile to where we were being picked up to go to our home for the next 11 days. 

We arrived at a “Tap Tap” – a large vehicle, similar to a large pick-up truck with bench seats, open sides and a tin roof.  The back has a caged-like door, that closes and locks, keeping us securely in and unwanted others out.  Our driver greeted us along with his assistant, a young man who would be traveling with us for our entire trip.  Immediately they took charge – climbing and loading all of our luggage onto the top of the Tap Tap.  Piled at a ridiculous height, with rope pulled throughout handles, over and under bags, and finally being secured (or so they said) – we were ready to climb aboard and find a seat.

Tap Taps buses or pick-up trucks serve as shared taxis in Haiti, many are gaily painted.  People run up waving to “hop on” as it travels along. 

The young man, sitting in the back – or hanging on the outside of the back – if totally filled – lets people on or off accordingly.  They are usually filled to capacity – and further – with additional passengers hanging on the outside as well.  Tap Tap literally means “quick quick” and when a passenger is either getting on or off the young man taps the side of the truck – signaling to the driver.  This particular Tap Tap, driver and assistant, were hired to be with us for our entire missions trip – taking us everywhere we needed – or at least as far as they could, before we had to get off and continue on foot.

Our ride from the airport to “home” would take anywhere from 2-3 hours.  Driving through the city of Port au Prince, we saw the devastation left from the earthquake of 2010 – destruction, poverty, the many tent cities so many are still living in, endless dust, garbage, people trying whatever they can do to survive by selling their farmed goods, crafts, artwork, etc. 


No traffic lights, no designated traffic laws or signs of any kind – cars, motorcycles, hundreds of people on foot, and animals crowding the streets – going in all directions.  As we got further from the city and closer to the country and mountain area – the paved roads ended and we were driving on dirt roads with major craters, rocks, boulders, etc. 

“Bumpy” is an understatement!  We bounced around that Tap-Tap, and although we were nearly thrown from our seats many times . . . not one bag on top was even shifted!

Heading further up the mountains – the beauty of Haiti took our breath away.  Both silence and gasps of amazement came from each of us as we saw the countryside; including the most amazing mountain ranges I could ever imagine.  Steep mountains, all rolling drastically into one another.  Small roadways wound around the mountains to take you up one side only to go down another – and continue this until you’ve reached your destination. 

The drop on the side of the unpaved, rocky, dirt roadway was severe – looking down miles along the side of the mountains.  And ever-so-often, a vehicle would come barreling down in the opposite side, or driving quickly behind us – honking their horn as a warning that they were going to pass our Tap Tap.  We literally held our breathe each time, until a few days into the trip realizing, somehow they knew how to drive these narrow dirt roads along these massive mountains with ease.

After traveling miles, dealing with traffic and the driving on unpaved, rocky roads – we finally reached the home we would be staying in at 6:00 pm.

From pick-up in Flushing NY until arrival at L’Espinasse Haiti – it took us 12 hours.  And we hadn’t even begun our official journey yet!

This was only the beginning . . .