WE ARRIVE IN PANDIASSOU!

Sunday evening we arrived in Pandiassou at LErmitage, the hotel where the team will live for a week. Just down the road is the headquarters of the Little Brothers and Sisters of the Incarnation where our work teams will report tomorrow morning.

Travel to Port Au Prince (PAP) from Cleveland via Miami was smooth.  The airport has been transformed into a well-ordered and comfortable facility.  I noticed immediately that there was less rubble and a greater sense of order on the streets.  More people were selling wares, more stores were open and there was construction going on all over.  The traffic is still a grind, though.

Our two days in PAP were very rewarding.  The highlights:

• Getting 18 people, counting the driver, into a 14 person van along with an incredible amount of baggage because of all the supplies we  brought.  Bonding was imperative.
• Visited the National Historical Museum for a lesson on Haiti's history.
• After dinner at the Trinity Lodge where we stayed, there was a briefing with staff personnel from the Little Brothers and Sisters of the Incarnation.  John Lentz presented them with $5,000 check from the fundraiser to go along with the gift of $2,500 in supplies, medicine and materials we brought along.  
• We got acquainted with Cindy Corell, the Presbyterian Church staff person who assisted us with logistics and planning for our time in PAP.
• Saturday was full of interesting adventures:

• Thanks to Carline Paul-blanc's connections, we visited a radio station and were unexpectedly invited to participate in a talk show for about 15 minutes.  Their broadcast gets to 70% of Haiti.  John Lentz expressed greetings from FHC and our team, while Carline gave a speech in Kreyol saying ... well, we are pretty sure it was a wonderful message.  As a result, she got a phone call from a politician in Hinche who offered to help us make some contacts to further the type of work we are doing.  That was followed by a short visit to a TV station.  
• A tour to Petionville, a suburb where people of importance and wealth live on a mountainside overlooking PAP.  It was a scenic contrast to the cramped and hard-scrabble life in the city below.  It was cooler too, a very big plus for us.
• Carline's connections and a cousin with cars enabled a few of us (names withheld out of courtesy) to go back to Petionville to a night club featuring one of Haiti's great bands, Boukman Eksperyans.  Here is a link to a sample of their style.  The performers are a family, some of whom Carline knows.  We got an introduction and some pictures.  The music was fascinating, LOUD and in an language I don't understand.  Did I say LOUD?  Anyone interested in Haitian/Caribbean contemporary music should check them out.  I'm glad for this extra-curricular embellishment of my cultural education.  My dancing attempts were an utter, and denounced, failure ... again.
• Sunday morning we attended church at the Episcopal Cathedral where the congregation worships in a specially constructed sanctuary while the Cathedral is being reconstructed.  It was devastated by the earthquake in 2010.  It was the first Sunday that the entire service was in Kreyol rather than French.  The country is gradually moving to predominant use of Kreyol instead of French.  This increases cohesion of the population and enhances a sense of national identity.
• Sunday afternoon we drove up into the mountains to Hinche and the village of Pandiassou.  For me, it felt like a homecoming and I am delighted to be back here.  It is so beautiful and so special to me.  

Our homecoming dinner was wonderful.  I am so greatful to be here!  Oh sure, there are challenges and some discomfort; but we are all feeling great and ready for tomorrow.  I will be going on a scouting trip 18 miles away to Pignon, a small city.  There is a community development program there of an organization called Haiti Outreach.  It has been in operation for about 25 years.  I hope to get an education on how they carry out the mission of building community in coordination with economic development.  They have  experience working with groups of people like us who want to be engaged alongside Haitians in building community capacity.

Nah weh pita, as we say in Kreyol.

--kjl

PS  Pictures are posing a bit of a problem on the internet right now, so they will have to be shown later.