October 3, 2010 - Day 2 - Haiti

After a fairly sleepless night in the airport in Fort Lauderdale we boarded the plane for an approximately 2 hour flight to Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  After facing the crowds in immigration, luggage pickup and customs we headed out to find the Heart to Heart group.  We were surrounded by people trying to cart our luggage out to our car.  We attempted to take control of our own luggage but to no avail and ended up having to pay $10.00 each for the two guys to take our luggage 2 blocks to wait for our car.  Oh well….  We had an “enjoyable” ride in the back of a mesh-encased truck over the bumpy roads in unbelievable traffic to the Heart to Heart compound in Petionville.  The house and grounds are very beautiful.  The house originally belonged to the Minister of Finance and then was an Asian restaurant before H2H took possession.  It was vacant for the last 5 years.   Shortly after arriving at the house the house manager mentioned he needed to go shopping for lunch.  Susan asked and was able to go along and see some of the town.  After seeing the miles of street side markets and vendors it was a little surprising to walk into the modern supermarket “Giant”.  Then back to the compound for a light lunch of sandwiches.  There are already several nurses and a couple of doctors here.  Some have been here one to four weeks already.  There will still be a couple more coming today.  After a long lazy day napping and lounging around it was time for the last group to arrive from the airport.  We were excited and happy to see our friend, Steve Hower from H2H headquarters in Olathe, Kansas walk in.  Supper was a feast of chicken, fruit, and different Haitian dishes.  We then had our orientation meeting and assignments for the rest of the week.  Sam will be working around the compound unless they find other things for him to do.  He’s already fixed a couple of minor things today.  Katie will be staying in Petionville to go to the Belleaire clinic in Port-au-Prince each day.  Susan will be leaving in the morning to go out to Leograne and surrounding rural clinics until Friday evening.

Our internet connection is not able to handle uploading pictures. Hopefully we can later.