At the End of a Long Long Day

Well, we woke up at 4 am this morning (after a short nap on a comfortable bed) to catch the shuttle to JFK (yes..that's NYC folks) to get on our plane to Santiago. Of course, we had some time to kill in JFK watching the airport open. The flight went well, and we arrived safely.

Unfortunately, our luggage did not arrive safely with us. In fact, it didn't arrive at all. Turns out our bags decided to spend the night in Miami...even though we did not.

Upon arriving in the Dominican Republic, we boarded a bright green (air-conditioned) shuttle for the long ride to the Haitian border... and yes, it was bumpy and somewhat harrowing.

The farther away from Santiago we went, the more rural and impoverished the area became. At the Haitian border, there were tents everywhere. You could see such a clear dividing line between the D.R. and Haiti. The border crossing closes at 5pm, and the militia were definitely on the DR side, but not on the Haitian side.

As our jeeps moved toward Terrier Rouge, we noticed that transportation changed from car to moped to horses/donkeys. We were amazed at the stark contrasts that we've seen already-- people sitting in squalor, holding cell phones.

The Ecole St. Bartholomy stands out in the community as being a very clean, neat place that is well-respected. One of the things that amazed us was the resourcefulness of this place... the clinic has an X-Ray machine from World War II that is in great working order, and the clinic runs off of solar energy and gathering rainwater. So much creativity is exhibited...right up to the prayer labyrinth that is prescribed to lower blood pressure.

We enjoyed playing cards and meeting Son and Lulu, who have become our friends! We're all doing well...eagerly looking forward to bed time tonight and hopefully getting luggage tomorrow. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, and we'll update more tomorrow.

Blessings.... from Zoe, John, David, Beth Anne, Pam, Kristy, Trey and the Haiti Team.