This was probably the most shocking and overwhelming part of our journey.  As described in a previous post, it was much worse than we expected.  I should preface this post by saying that we visited Haiti for a week. We have tried our best to recall and repeat the information as accurately as possible.

Haiti is a place of infinite impossibilities.

This is a saying said by some.  It is reflected on the hardships that Haitians live through.  They are such a strong people group.  Not necessarily muscle strength but endurance through trials and tribulations that happen each and every day.

Here are some pictures of areas in Port Au Prince.  Unfortunately, most of the streets have garbage in them.  It was hard to imagine that it could be so dirty.  They are hard working; most just trying to make it through the day.  If they have food to eat, then it was a successful day.  When the earthquake occurred, it left many people without homes and, frankly, many were scared to go back into their homes after the devastation for fear of it collapsing on them.  Many countries have come in to help.  You will see a green wooden house in a picture.  This home was built by some organization helping people to once again live in a home.

Earthquake

Above are pictures in downtown where the earthquake affected the capital and many other businesses in the area.  In some areas the rubble is getting cleaned up and then there are other areas where it hasn’t been touched.  There were some 220,000+ people that died.  We heard stories of how many people were just dead in the street and many still stuck and died under rubble.  Sadly, the dogs started to eat the people and the city smelled of dead people.  This is when they started to burn the dead bodies since there wasn’t anywhere to bury them.  My heart just broke after hearing this story.  I honestly don’t know how people face each day after that.  How important it is to tell them of our Creator and to give them hope.

Housing

A lot of the houses have collapsed and are unlivable. Still there are many places where you can see what the houses look like.  Some are tin others brick, and yet others are tents.  The tent cities were put up by organizations such as World Vision.  There are also donations by other countries as well.  We saw some tents that were given by China.

Port Au Prince Overview

An empty bag cannot stand upright.  – Thomas Fuller

Haiti has a lot of challenges.  I have only visited for a week, but it is clear that many people are working to help them add tools to their bag so that one day they will not have to live in poverty.  It was so encouraging to see how Heartline is a place for training Haitian – coming along side of the community to work together to develop and work towards a better future.  Below are pictures taken from a look-out area up high on one side of the mountain.  Some 3 million people live in this area.