Haiti

So in January 2015, days after turning 19, I went to Haiti. The trip was about 10 days; a week actually in Haiti with a few days either side as a stop off in Miami. And it was an awesome experience. The trip was a medical one; providing care to locals, and creating medical records for kids, may of whom were living in extreme poverty. It was such a fascinating and eye-opening trip and 3 and a half years later, I have come across what is one of my first ever travel journals, so I thought I would share it here. It’s pretty short, and is also quite a seriously written piece, which is unlike a lot of the things I share here, but I can actually be semi-serious at times. Anyway, here it is, I hope you enjoy…

 

Beholding the ring of dirt I had just left in the hotel shower, I realised that maybe a cold bucket of water tipped over the odd body part every few days probably hadn’t been the most effective method of cleaning myself, and a hot shower was in fact a luxury that I wold never take for granted again.

For the past week I had been saying with a beautiful family in Haiti, about an hour away from Port-au-Prince. In a lot of ways, this is a normal family; the parents look after the kids; the kids have their daily chores; the siblings squabble every now and again but the family is full of love. This family, however, isn’t what we might call conventional back at home. Mainly due to the fact this wee house is actually home to 31 kids and that his place: Hope House- is technically an orphanage.

Despite events over the years including vicious dictators and horrendous natural disasters, the island of Haiti is still a beautiful country and, of course part of the Caribbean… So very warm. And the family at Hope House Haiti embodied the warm and beautiful vibes from the island: each day starts at around 5.30 each morning with prayers and singing, and then hugs and kisses to everyone in the house. The place is just full of love and joy.

During my time in Haiti, I was able to experience extremes of Haitian culture: the holiday destinations- sandy beaches with gorgeous beach house getaways and resorts. Not a hint of the extreme poverty levels. However the second you left those gates, the area is swamped with homelessness, disease, rubble- the aftermath of the earthquake from 5 years previous. What a crazy country.

 

There’s loads of stuff I didn’t include in this mini-diary, like the dinners of avocado, egg and spaghetti we were served, and the super random games the kids wanted to play, so I thought I’d finish this post with some of my fav pics from the trip to show some of the madness I experienced, as well as some of the chilled times as well (I saw a fair few sunrises that trip).