Haitian Rollercoaster

A few little munchkins we met on the way

After the harrowing experience of riding home in the pickup during a thunderstorm, I decided to join the walkers and trek back.  Unfortunately, it was not raining this afternoon, and the sun was doing all it could to try and convince me that a walk was a bad idea.  the only positive thing about walking was that Haiti is on "island time" and walking in the sun seemed a better idea that waiting around in the van for Willem.  (There is a third option, which would be waiting in the shade in view of the truck, but that option seems only to have come to native Haitians.  

My little 12.5 megapixal camera can NOT do justice to the landscape of this place, and I doupt that I have the poetry that would also be needed to describe it.  Mountain Top Ministries is located in a section of massive hill-like mountains.  I say "hill like" because they are rounded and covered with vegetation, but have the height and slope that is normally associated with a mountain.  The villagers will plant their crops on the side, with the plants growing at acute angles to the land.  Sadly, this is one of the reasons that the county has such a poor growth rate per acre, as this method of planting causes massive erosion.  In addition, much of the trees were cleared for plantations and for charcoal, so thier supportive roots also are not present to help keep the soil in place.

The road heading out of the clinic. 

So my commute to work is three parts.  First, we travel almost at a 45 degree angle downhill with the riders in teh back holding white-knuckled to the truck.  Then, there is a light respite as we travel over a massive dray river bed covered in large white rocks.  Finally, we travel uphill again at a hear 45 degree angle (the Haitians are not one for switchbacks.)  It's not a trip for the lighthearted or the weak-stomached.  In addition, the "road" is actually mostly mud and rocks.  Oh yes, and there is often a massive drop to one side.  And the road is one lane with tons of blind spots.   Good times.  Some of the people in my group cross themselves before they leave, and trust me, they are not just being cute.

The little bracelet girl

So I walked.  We met up with a few kids who joined our group. One was a little school girl who enjoyed tossing her bracelet down the path.  It would  bound, bound, bounce until it hit a curb and she would run and grab it and start again.  she listed to our chattering in English with great interest, saying "oui" and "no" when she felt it was appropriate.  This part of the road was fairly well maintained, with the middle pretty much cracked out but the sides still more or less intact.  There were huge ruts in the side so that there was something to grab onto, the road is that steep!

We came across a few other travelers
Unlike myself, most people are not able
to choose if they walk or not!

Chicken wire "bricks" with rocks inside make up a wall

Eventually, the road gave way to a rocky path near the bottom near the dry river bed.  The "road" was washed away when the waters came, and no one was been able to rebuilt them.  One of the groups that came with MTM actually rebuilt the road, which was hard to believe since the rock path was barely transverseable-- made me wonder what it looked like before!!  In addition, the group build a wall by making boxes of chicken wire, then loading them full of rocks and making large "bricks" that they would use to keep the waters back.  These were still intact.

Other volunteers chose to ride instead

A pathetic Haitian excuse for a road

The dry river bed

After making it down the mountain that the clinic is on, we trek along a wide dry river bed.  I guess during the rainy season, the river will fill up.  The rainy season is from May and goes on through the summer.  It's good that the season is in the summer, because if the river bed is transformed into an actual river, the children that go to school at the ministry can not cross it to get to school and back.  There is no bridge.  When the water comes in, people are stuck.  As an American, it is nearly impossible for me to understand how life can be so ruled by the weather, when of course in most of the world the weather is a way of life!

She loves shoes, boys and chocolate

All in all, the trip is about three miles although it feels like more, especially the last mile heading up hill in those slippery paths.  There are not many houses on the ministry side of the "river", but on the guesthouse side we start to see a lot more houses.  Some of them are nice houses, others are not so nice.  A lot of them are just concrete bricks that make up a room, with no electricity or running water.  Many times, the water is brought from a public well on the heads of female children of the household, and all the laundry and bathing is done from this.

Mountain Top Ministries at dusk,
as seen from the guest house
(although it should be called
"Halfway up the Mountain Ministries")

Finally, we get to the guesthouse!  Time for a soda, a cold bucket shower, and a rest.  While resting, I realized that the ministry could be seen from the back of the guest house while sipping cold Sprite on the porch.  I noticed that you could see the ministry from the porch.  I suggested that it might be easier to install a skybridge, like the one at OHSU, where we can just ump in a little carriage (preferably air-conditioned) and travel over in comfortable seats over a wire.  Beth, who runs MTM with her husband, said that this was a good idea and she would be happy to have it built as soon as I raised the funds needed.