In Haiti: First Glimpse, Massive & Overwhelming

I was in Haiti less than a week after the earthquake. I went with Churches Helping Churches on a aid-delivering and fact-finding mission to help the country and it’s churches. What follows is an excerpt of my journal from the trip. Amidst the chaos I captured what I saw the best I could and am including pictures from our trip that help tell the story. Video from our trip and the individual stories from Haiti can be found here and here.

Upon departing the plane, the first thing the soldier said to me was, “You will now see a crisis of biblical proportions.” Looking around the tarmac, it was surprising how little aid we saw being unloaded and how few supplies were on the ground.

After helping unload medical supplies from our plane, we needed to secure two vehicles, a driver, and a translator. Our security specialist had come into the country to help mobilize peacekeeping efforts and within minutes he had two vehicles and a security detail from a private security firm, and we were on our way.

God had pulled off another miracle to get us around Haiti.

We carried our backpacks, loaded with minimal supplies along with a few days' worth of water and food, through the airport, which was so damaged that water covered the floor where ticketing had been and the power was out. As we pressed through a small crowd toward the airport exit, we saw a mob wanting to get to the food and water supplies that were being unloaded under US military protection. A soldier told us that if we exited the airport we could not return, as they would not open the door for us. Admittedly nervous, we exited the airport, pressed through the mob, met up with our local security detail, and jumped into our vehicles.

The scene surrounding the airport was complete chaos. Like in the rest of Port-au-Prince, there was not a street light or sign to be found. Thousands and thousands of young men were literally just standing on the roadside. People were walking everywhere. The roads were completely jammed with cars and there was no sign of anything to keep order, such as a traffic light, a traffic sign, or any police presence. Our goal was to get to the Port-au-Prince Evangelical Seminary that was roughly six miles away. We had heard that thousands of people were taking refuge there, although our information was merely speculative, since nearly all forms of communication were down across the city. If this lead came up dead we had no backup plan and trusted Jesus to figure it out for us.

Snaking through the city on back streets, we started to get a glimpse of the scope of damage away from the earthquake's epicenter. As we passed the waterfront we could see that all the docks had sunk and that no ships could bring supplies to the shore, thereby crippling any aid effort by water. As we got deeper into the slums, the devastation became more massive and overwhelming. Buildings were folded up like pieces of paper. Entire blocks were rubble. There was no food or water or any sign of any store in business anywhere. Children were wandering everywhere. Garbage filled the streets. Small fires were burning. Bodies lay on the roadside. Every inch of seemingly every block of the city had people simply sitting on blankets as their temporary homes both day and night. And no one was crying. Thousands upon thousands of people were walking around emotionless and seemingly in shock.

To be continued…