We left the compound around 10 o’clock AM, and headed up the
streets of Anse-a-Gallets toward our destination. It took two pickup trucks and a four wheeler to
carry 120 banana plants, 9 people, and 3 large boxes of Haitian Bibles and
health books. Our journey took about 2 hours
to get to La Torre, which is one of the larger villiages up in the mountain, then other
half hour to get to Terre Sel. The
village of Terre Sel is a gorgeous one. It has vibrant red dirt, big mango trees
everywhere, and a very curious population. Once we arrived at the small church building where
everyone was gathering to see what “blan” were up to; my dad and the CHE
workers began to explain our purpose there. They explained to the people that
we had brought banana plants and books for some of the families who were part
of the CHE program. The Bibles and
health books were taken to the pastor’s house for him to distribute, while the
bananas were divided into groups of 10 or 15.
Not every family got a banana
tree, because not everyone had a place for them or the knowledge to make it grow.
CHE is not wealth distribution organization. It’s helping those who want
to help themselves but cant, not just giving handouts to everyone. After talking to some of the community at the
church the two trucks went in different directions to drop off plants and to
inspect some of the latrines that had recently been built. Some of the houses
that we went to were very remote. The access roads to get there included donkey
trails and hiking paths. One of the houses that we went to sat right on the top
of the highest mountain, the view was incredible. You could see down into the
joining valleys and over to the coast and vast ocean. While we were trying to catch our breath from both
the hike and then the view that was taking our breath away, a group of children had
gathered around us. They started shouting “fe photo nou” which translates to “take
our picture”.
The kids were so fun and friendly I had a hard time making myself
say goodbye in order follow the rest of the group who had started the descent back to
the truck. Once back at the truck we headed down the mountain where we stopped at a town to meet up with the other truck. They had left early to get a
tire fixed because as usual one had gone flat earlier in the journey. As we once again began our trek
down the mountain, we had to stop once more but this time by my request. On one side of the road was a church and
school building but on the other side was a cock fighting ring.
The moment was just too good to pass up; I had
to take a picture! From then on it was smooth riding, well not really the roads
were still horrible but there were no more unexpected interruptions. After another
two hours we had made it back to the compound exhausted bodies but with our
hearts in high spirits.
Pretty much just another Thursday in Haiti.
Cassandra -Daughter of the boss
