As I woke up this morning and was finishing last night’s blog post, Christine came out of the bathroom and told me to check the forecast because it was really windy outside. A kid the night before had spent 10 minutes trying to tell us that a hurricane was coming, but we only half understood him and really didn’t believe him. Needless to say, we were very surprised when I checked the internet and saw that Hurricane Gustav was only 70 miles off the coast of Haiti and the eye was heading straight for Jacmel. I brought my computer to Devo’s this morning to read the weather.com forecast to the group. I asked Pastor if he knew about the storm and he said yes. He just never bothered to tell us…very funny!
We ate breakfast pretty fast this morning. We had ham, cheese, tomatoes, and onion sandwiches. Then, we all piled into the back of the taptap and rode about 20 minutes out of town to the orphanage started by Audio Adrenaline called “Hands and Feet.” The ride was super fun. The rain and wind was blowing all over and all of the Haitians on their front porches were probably looking at us and thinking we were morons! I think that being in a third world country has lessened my sense of danger, because no one in their right minds in the states would have gotten into the bed of a pickup to ride 20 minutes through rain and hurricane force winds. When we got to the orphanage, we piled out and started helping prepare the grounds for the hurricane, putting chairs away, and securing the lumber for their building project. The winds were getting hard to battle at this point and the rain was making it hard to see, but I did catch a glimps of the grounds from the porch of the house. The grounds were beautiful. There were 2 white French colonial houses nestled at the bottom of a lush green mountain and 2 more being built. I wish I could have seen it without the sheets of wind just blasting across the scenery. I actually caught a coconut tree snapping in half on video while we were there. We got a quick tour before we decided that we needed to leave if we were going to make it back safely. I was sad that we didn’t get to spend any time with any of the kids, but knowing me, it was probably for the better. We could have weathered the storm at the orphanage, but Donna had stayed behind again today and we didn’t want to leave her at the hotel all by herself.
By this time, it was almost too dangerous to navigate the roads. Luckily, the road between the orphanage and the hotel was paved (the only paved road I’ve seen here), so 3 of the girls piled into the cab of the truck with Pastor and 2 of the Haitian girls from the church. The rest of us climbed into the bed and pulled a tarp over us for protection from the storm. That ride back was CRAZY! Gerard, our driver, was speeding as fast as he could. We could see through the window to the front that there was ZERO visibility out the front windshield. Gerard was just driving and honking his horn as if to say…I’m coming and I’m not stopping so get out of the way! It was quite the task trying to keep the tarp over us in the back. Phillip was huddled next to me in the very back of the truck bed and he opened the back of the tarp just a little bit so we could see out. Most of the road had already flooded, debris was starting to fly the rain was coming down so hard that it was stinging…it was not a good situation to be driving in. I got some pictures which are incredible out the back of the truck. There was a kid on a bike trying to draft behind us, but he couldn’t see so when the truck stopped, he ran right into the back of us and fell over. Luckily, he was not hurt and was able to get back up before another car came along. Crazy crazy crazy crazy sitiation…but soooooo much fun at the same time! It was definitely an incredible adventure that I will never forget!!!
On a side note…Michelle, the lady who runs the orphanage called us later to tell us that one of her buildings that was under construction had washed away. No one was hurt, but please pray for them.
When we got back to the hotel, we all headed up to the roof to watch the storm. Our rooms are on the 4th floor of the hotel and the roof is the 5th floor. The stairs leading up to each floor and the hallways are all open air. Rain had been coming in all morning so our hallway on the 4th floor was flooded. The boys’ rooms had water in them, but luckily the girls rooms stayed dry. On the roof we had a lot of fun. Before you freak, the roof is half a completely enclosed room, a and half open air deck. We hung out up there and played in the rain for a while pretending to be weather forecasters and splashing around in the puddles. The wind was super strong at this point and we have lots of great pictures and videos of people almost flying away. Everyone started calling me a prophetess because I spoke about weathering storms last night…so I went out in the middle of the deck, laid down and pretended to sleep in the bottom of the boat like Jesus (see my storms blog…it will make sense when you read what I spoke about). We got lots of great pictures. Then, the trees and tin roofs started to fly, and a government vehicle came through the streets blasting on a megaphone how everyone should go inside and stay away from the river, so we moved the fun back into the enclosed part of the roof where we sat most of the afternoon and evening to watch the storm. It was kind of funny, yesterday is sprinkled a little and all of the Haitian people freaked and went indoors. Today, there is a hurricane, and people are outside walking in the wind and rain going on with their daily business as if the weather conditions were normal. Some of the ladies were even carrying the big baskets on their heads through the storm. I have no idea how they did it. Pastor said that when it sprinkles, Haitians think it will make them sick, but when it pours, they don’t. Weird.
As some of us were sitting on the roof, a white man came up the stairs. It was funny because we are so used to seeing only black faces that when we appeared, Buckey was like, “OMG, are you white?” The guy totally took it in stride. His name was Danny Pye and he was the head of Haitian Children’s Home on the outskirts of Jacmel which provides homes for Haitian teenagers. He and his wife live in their house with 22 teens who have been rescued from human trafficking and all sorts of other types of abuse and raise them as their own kids...like a family The kids call them mom and dad. They live as Haitians do eating the same food and celebrating all of the same traditions. He said that it was his experience that Haitian children who leave Haiti for another country fto go to school never return...and for good reason. His goal was to raise Haitian children through the school years in Haiti to become leaders in Haiti. Danny had been on vacation with 3 of his Haitian sons who earned A’s on their government testing in the north of Haiti. They had gotten up early to drive back to Jacmel before the storm hit but when they arrived here, all of the roads leading out of Jacmel had been flooded out so he stopped at our hotel. It was really moving to hear his story on how came to Haiti and how this ministry just sort of fell into his lap. They are about to bring 2 more couples over from the states to serve as home families for 20 more kids each and build a school and hospital. I asked him if they needed teachers and he told me that he needs someone to oversee the entire school. I probably sat and talked to this guy for 3 hours. We are going to get in touch when I get back to the states. It is definitely a field of ministry that I am completely passionate about, and this is an organization that I can see myself completely on board with. We will see where God leads me I guess… After several hours of trying to wait it out, all of the roads leading out of Jacmel were still completely flooded, so Danny and his 3 sons decided to walk home during the eye of the storm. He’ll be back tomorrow to pick up his truck…
After Danny left, 2 of the Pastors from the church we are working with and some of the Haitian teenage boys from there came to the hotel with food. We were supposed to go to Pastor’s house, but didn’t due to the rain, and we thought that the only meals we would get for lunch and dinner were the snacks we brought because the hotel’s kitchen was under a foot of water by noon…but in an unbelievable act of kindness, these people walked all the way from pastors house with pots of rice, beans, and a vegetable and goat meat stew to feed us. CRAZY! Phillip said he walked it last year and it took an hour in good weather. They literally walked an hour through a hurricane to get us food…no joke. Pastor said that they walked through water chest deep to get to us. And even more amazing…when we all had finished eating our meal together on the roof, they turned around and walked back. The people here have been so warm and generous! I will never ever ever forget this incredible act of service and generosity. Never.
We continued to weather the storm out on the roof just talking, hanging out and watching the storm and the people who continued to be out on the streets as evening set in. A few times a bulldozer drove by and people were riding in the scoop of it. Power lines were down or half-down all over the road and people would just stop their trucks or motorbikes, pick them up, and continue on their way. I guess it’s ok to touch power lines when the city only supplies power for 2 hours a day…The odds are good that you were touching the lines when the power isn’t on. A hospital vehicle drove by a few times looking to pick up any dead bodies of people who may have parished during the storm too. We didn’t see them pick anyone up, but it was eerie to think that maybe there were bodies in the back of the vehicle. Earlier, Danny had pointed towards where the hospital was, and told us that everyone here referred to it as the morgue because people go there to die. He told us a story of how one of his adopted children’s mother bleed out after childbirth because the doctor refused to sew her back up. He said that he would not take his children there under any circumstances. I’m glad that no one we knew got hurt, but Pastor did bring us the news around 6pm that Jacmel was getting directly hit and that 2 people that he knew of had died as a result of building collapses.
At 7pm, we all met on the roof again for some praise and worship time, and just to talk about the trip and what God had been teaching us. It was just a really good time to debrief about everything and hang out with everyone. I’ve been writing this blog all afternoon as things have played out for lack of anything else to do. We’ve been fortunate enough to have power since the hotel runs on generators, however as night set it, the entire city was pitch black. It was so weird looking out over the city and mountains and not seeing a thing. I don’t know if I have ever been in a place with absolutely no light…false or natural from the moon and stars. It was like looking out into a big black void. It was apparent by the sounds and feel of things that the winds were dying down by 9 or so…they were still super strong, and the rain was still coming down hard, but I figured it was safe to go to bed, so I did…
Thoughts on the Morning After
9 years ago
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