Haiti - #2

I was expecting to be overwhelmed in Haiti. But I wasn't and perhaps it was because I had mentally prepared myself for what I was to experience. One of the most powerful experiences I was told would not necessarily be the sights, but the smell. The smell of garbage, of poverty, of waste. Thankfully my very inept nose served me well on this trip. Smells didn't strike me so much. Although it would be obvious at times when you were around people that hadn't been able to take a shower for a long time, it wasn't a big deal.
The first images I had of Haiti were riding from the airport to the guest house after it had turned dark.

I saw nothing but tent cities, a ruinous setting, rubble in the streets and people seemingly streeming out into the streets for no discernible purpose. It was Saturday night after all so people probably just wanted to be out and about. For a newcomer it was a bit bewildering.

The next morning we went to church at the Christian Community Church located in Citei Solei.

If you aren't familiar with Citei Solei here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cit%C3%A9_Soleil.

It is the largest slum in the western hemisphere. It is everything you would expect a third world slum to be: corrugated tin sheds for housing, packed in one on top of another, no floors - all dirt, sewage flowing freely in the alleys/canals. Poverty incarnate. But, as we traveled through this area towards church we could see people traveling towards the same church. Men dressed in crisp, starched dress shirts with ties, women, especially little girls, dressed in their best white dresses. Admist all this poverty, dust, ruin and what outsiders would see as despair, the residents maintained a particular appearance for Sunday morning. It was a level of respect I noticed. The church is the center of the community.

When we arrived at church before 8 am. the children had been in Sunday school since 7. As they filtered out they swarmed to us. Lovely, engaging, happy, joyful. That begins to describe them.

And they were pulling our hands towards church, to the main service of the morning.