Culture Shock
29 January 2012 | Haiti
Heidi/ overcast low 80s
Dennis and I are volunteering in Haiti, leaving the boat for several days in Antigua. Dennis has been working as a volunteer with a health center/ hospital in rural Haiti, St Boniface, for about 4 years. It's about a 6-hour dusty bumpy ride from the capital of Port au Prince - and what an experience the ride is.
As everyone knows Haiti is extremely poor, however what I found interesting was the high energy and apparent hope I see.
Port au Prince has about 3.5 million people crammed into a place of about 14 square miles. What you see is miles and miles of slum shacks, hundreds of thousands of shacks about 6 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet made with a frame of 8 wobbly sticks from small trees and covered with whatever is available: tarps, scrap metal, palm leaves, fabrics... It's just mind boggling seeing the expanse of the shacks and nothing else except a road and people selling things on the road. In fact there are thousands of people sitting on the road or standing in the road selling their wares. One might have 10 pairs of old shoes to sell, the next a foot high pile of used clothes, the next a dozen bottles of soda, the next has built an open fire in the road and is roasting a chicken, the next has two gallons of gasoline, the next is playing music, the next a pile of mangos...and the bartering is ongoing.
I hope to soon have some photos to share.