More so than many other countries I have visited, the safety warnings did indeed prove valid as I did find myself, at times, in what one may consider compromising situations. Riding in a “tap tap,” often people on the street such as the gentleman featured above would grab at our legs or cling to the vehicle in hopes of getting a free ride…or at least so I believe those were their only intentions. This didn’t bother me.
Wings Over Haiti employs some of the most extraordinary Haitian men in the world. They would, quite literally, put their lives on the line just to protect you. And lets acknowledge the obvious truth here; I’m not naive to the fact that as a tall blond American girl I stick out like a sore thumb and am somewhat of an easy target. Being the thrill seeker I am, the incredible Haitian men I was with would cautiously agree to walk me through some of the most dangerous parts of Port Au Prince so I could get a true glimpse into these people’s lives.
Thank goodness my Creole is less than mediocre because I’m sure the men looking after me like Shad St Louis censored some of what was said about me by the locals. However knowing he was there to protect me, I could only help but chuckle when an uproar occurred in a market I passed through when a woman about four times the size of me announced my arrival to the crowd and shouted “who wants to watch me beat the blond girl up!”
I can’t take the market insults, or any other insults I received on the trip personally, because when you see an image like the one featured above, it is easy to understand how despair, depression, fear, and frustration can culminate into hatred for someone such as myself. A year later, Port Au Prince looked to me as if the earthquake had hit yesterday.
Not only had the rubble from the earthquake remained, but additionally trash began to pile on top of the rubble creating what has become in often cases worse of a mess than the day the earthquake happened. What shocked me considerably about this, (cholera, sanitary issues, and other problems aside), was when I learned that many of the bodies that had been trapped in this very rubble still remained, dead and untouched, the legacy of their souls forever lost in a breeding pile of garbage.
