Opening Cermonies

One last trip to the Hrib Crib to return Sue's car, one last chance to drop off what I didn't want to take to Haiti, and grab things I'd realized I did want to take. Also my last chance to grab a bottle of rum, since we found out its going to be a dry build... circumstances worked against me, and I'm going to have to rely upon the kindness of my friend Scott, who is bringing three bottles of wine. He is also the Whiner Tattler, as he will be working with me, and you don't want to whine to the guy with the wine.

I got back to the hotel just in time for the Opening Ceremonies. One theme was clear - this is going to be hard.

The MC, Patrick, talked about how it was going to be a lot of really hard work. In the sweltering heat and humidity. He repeated it slowly: sweltering heat and humidity. Perhaps I should have trained by sitting in saunas over the last couple of months. He pointed out that our recovery was going to take place when we slept on cots. In tents. "How many people questioned your wisdom in volunteering for this build?"

But we know this week isn't about comfort, and it isn't about the easy way out. Patrick reminded us that, "this week is for all the Haitian people, so battered by history and the storms of life. Because humanity always wins."

When greeted with a standing ovation, President Carter told us, "Save your strength!" For the first time, he talked about his age being a factor in the build. He's 87. I'm good with him slowing down a little. A little. Rosalynn even said it was okay that they were staying in a house because (cupping her hands around her mouth like she was telling a secret), "We're old!" She still choked up when she told us that the conditions we would experience this week would remind us that we have everything.

We are being charged with more than just finishing a house. We are being deputized as advocates. Pat Blake (if I got that right) talked about how we would all be story-tellers by the end of the week, that we couldn't build every house, but we could advocate for Haiti and inspire more people to come down to help. "When you come back, you'll take the pictures in your minds and the stories that you hear and the tears that you have shed, and you'll tell stories of Haiti that will impact it for a long time."

Mark Andrews told us he has been working on this project for a year, but it feels like a century. This project is the end stage in Habitat's "Pathways to Permanence" in Haiti. They began with emergency shelter kits, then transitional houses, then upgradable houses, and now permanent homes. No repayment is required, but community involvement and sweat equity is still required to participate in the Santo project.

He pointed out a problem that was unique to this build: they were building homes for a community, but it was a community of strangers. People at that refugee camp were there because it was safe, but were completely disconnected from each other. Habitat had to build a social community, identify leaders, resolve conflicts, and get strangers working together just to get the project moving. Ultimately, this hodge-podge community came together and took part in designing the houses and community, and in determining the selection criteria.

We'll leave the Port-au-Prince airport and drive through the worst slums, including one of the most notorious slums in the world. We will pass a marketplace where raw sewage runs under the vegetable stands. Mark told us to expect to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the destruction and the magnitude of what remains to be done, to be frustrated by how little we can do, to be angry that not much of the hundreds of millions of dollars pledged to Haiti has arrived. He also told us to expect to be energised by the Haitian people, the most resilient he has ever met, who function in a world in which we could not, and do it with a smile. He said expect to be transformed (which choked me up a little), so that when we leave Haiti, we can't wait to get back and talk about it to anyone who will listen.

Our MC returned and said that he had asked Mark what the hardest thing was about working in Haiti. The answer was simple: "Working in Haiti."

Jonathan Reckford, head of HFHI, spoke last. He said that, over the course of the week, we may find something that is not exactly to our liking. And we may choose to express that this thing is not exactly to our liking. He challenged us to tack onto the end of our statement the phrase, "and that's just the way I like it." "My, that's an unusually large and intimidating bug on my bed... and that's just the way I like it." It might take the punch out of the Whiner Pool, but it just might get us through the week. That, and we found out tonight that the meal tent will be air conditioned, which is also just the way we like it.

(thanks to Habitat for the photo)