A helping hand

Here I sit on a private balcony in the home of John and Merline Engle, with a view of Petionville and Port-au-Prince below. From this vantage point, the cities below look tranquil and serene, especially at 6 am. Yesterday I decided to use the local transportation system to go down into Petionville to do some shopping. That local system is made up of individuals who own pickup trucks, on which they have installed benches on both sides of the bed, along with cab covers. These trucks are painted vivid colors and frequently have a name painted on the sides and front. They are called by the locals, TapTaps. Why? Because when you want to get off, you tap the window or top of the cab to alert the driver. The trip from Malik (the local stop) to the center of Petionville takes 30 minutes and costs 15 gourdes (about 45 cents).

It is about a 15 minute walk down the steep hill from John and Merline's to the TapTap stop. When vehicles come up to their home, the drivers engage their four wheel drive and shift into low gear. I am grateful that Alex (Merline's brother) was with me. I had asked to go with him on his way down to be sure that I knew how to catch the TapTap home. I began to slip on the way down, so he took my hand and provided stability so I wouldn't fall.

You all know that I do not do heat and humidity. Well, yesterday was intense with both. My goal for the trip was to pick up a newspaper from the US, like USA Today, and shop for some small craft items to purchase for Esther and friends back home. We soon discovered that most of the stores were closed in honor of June 3rd. It is a day of prayer for the dead: a national holiday. Masses were held in the streets, and we came across several with crowds as large as 2,000 gathered for prayers. It was an awesome experience.

The few shops that were open didn't have anything I wanted. Most of their earrings, necklaces and bracelets were made in China. When our shopping didn't produce anything for me to purchase, we decided to try to find a restaurant to get something cold to drink. They were also closed. So we went into a grocery store and purchased some cold drinks, and then found along the way a shady place to sit and enjoy our cool drinks.

By this time I was exhausted, and needed to head back to John and Merline's. Alex was gracious enough to take me to the TapTap stand, find a place for me to sit, talk to the driver to let him know where I was heading, and then wait around until we departed. Once back at Malik, I paid the driver the 15 gourdes, and started the steep climb back up the hill. With considerable effort, I made it back to the house, with sweat flowing from every pore in my body.

I came away from this experience with admiration for the Haitian people. They are a strong and resilient people. It is one indication of how Haitians will survive even this latest hardship. They will need our support and help, just like Alex helped me by holding my hand on our way down the steep incline. But with our help, they will emerge even stronger.