As I mentioned a couple posts ago, HFC is situated in a rough neighborhood – Bolosse. The school and the pension are closed off from the neighborhood with guarded gates.
Even the kids who live directly next door, only get to peer in from over the barbed wire. This kid’s house is actually above the fence, and I often found him looking over the wall watching the children playing. It made me sad. He can see these kids having fun, eating food, going to school – and he is kept at a distance. Maybe his family can’t afford to send him to the school? Who knows? But I wonder what goes on in this kid’s heart. Is he jealous? bitter? angry? Does he even care? Only God knows… but I know he watches these kids, a lot…
A few more scenes of the neighborhood, taken from inside the walls of the pension.
oh, I love how she’s standing. her stance is so full of attitude.
this. is. haiti.
We wanted to go for a walk around the neighborhood to get a better picture of what it’s like, but we had to wait until one of the men from the pension could escort us. (there’s a very real danger of kidnapping in Haiti). So, we walked up this hill, and at the top was a garbage dump, of sorts. It was also a soccer field where the local kids play… The garbage is everywhere though. Everywhere.
This kid was playing up there, riding his bike around the dump. And he did NOT like me taking his picture…
We also got to tour one of the high-schools nearby. The school is on the property of a seminary that is loosely affiliated with the pension. This was one of the few places we could walk freely. It was a beautiful campus.
We found some boys in an empty classroom singing and playing instruments. They were happy to let us sit down and listen as they rehearsed for graduation. They were such sweet guys and they drilled us with questions about the US, and how it might be possible for them to get there. For each of them, and for many people in Haiti, the dream is to get to America. That’s the only way they can see their life improving.
This school is also where the kids go for Sunday School before church. There are a bunch of other kids there, and a ton of people at the main church as well. It was cool going to church with them, but I did almost fall asleep ;) When you can’t understand creole, it’s a lot harder to pay attention! So, to stay awake, I took pictures of the cute kids…
But, there’s more to Port-au-Prince than just Bolosse! Here are a few shots from our travels around the city…
The President’s house. It was kind of crazy to see this in the middle of everything else…
local markets line many of the streets
And as I said, there’s garbage everywhere. One of the big problems with this is that when it rains areas can flood because drains are filled with garbage. But one of the reasons flooding in Haiti can be so horrible is because there isn’t good infrastructure to allow for drainage. There is just water everywhere, rushing in torrents down the street, and just everywhere. You can easily see why hurricanes that hit Haiti can be so devastating.
Yeah, this is a street we’re trying to drive on. It gives new meaning to the idea of a traffic jam.
And the lovely tap-taps. The tap-taps are like a cross between a taxi and a bus – but the guys who drive them go all-out to make them unique. Each one seems to have a different theme, and often the music blaring out of them will go along with the theme. It was totally entertaining, but I never did get to ride in one…
A view of Port-au-Prince from the hilltop in Bolosse. You can see the President’s mansion, and the football stadium, and the giant section of blue-ish concrete near the bottom is the cemetery – it’s enormous.
This kid approached our car as we were stopped at the light and asked us for money. This kills me when I’m traveling because I know I can’t give it to them without the car being mobbed, and so I can’t give it to them at all. I apologized, but he was a little annoyed with me…
And this is one of my favorite shots. It is exactly what I think of when I think of Port-au-Prince. Miles and miles of concrete dwellings squished together, taking over every inch of space. The reality that I didn’t get to see is that outside the city, where there’s fewer people living in such tight space, it’s very green and lush and beautiful. Maybe on my next trip to Haiti, I’ll get to experience more of that…
And this last shot is one I took on the plane as we left.
Thank you to Hope For The Children for bringing me down to see and experience Haiti and the work you’re doing there. I hope and pray that the images we captured will help you tell the story of your efforts, and of the children – and that God would use them to bless and increase your ministry.
