Emma Flowers Reflection

As I sit down to type this reflection, I pulled out my journal that I brought along on the trip.  A lot has happened since the trip to Haiti.  I finished the summer in Kirksville, the apartment I had been living in ALL summer caught on fire, I moved, I started my internship on campus, and have started my job search.  My trip to Haiti seems like a lifetime ago.  But flipping through the pages of the journal, the memories of that 10 day trip fly by.  I have had many opportunities to talk to friends and family about the trip but no words could ever get across the full impact the trip had on me.  I could talk for days about everything I experienced and learned but I’d like to keep this reflection short and sweet!

            First off, I had never been out of the country before my trip to Haiti.  I was so excited to get to go on this trip; the group we had going was great and the opportunity to see Maison de Naissance was even better.  When I told people I was going to Haiti, many of them were more concerned than excited for me.  Going to a third world country is not what many people would like to do for a “study abroad” or “internship”.  But I could not have been more excited.  I knew I was going to be experiencing a lot of firsts and a lot of things I could not have prepared for.  I simply went in with an open mind. 

            To summarize the first few days, we landed in Port-Au-Prince, made it through the hectic airport, found our driver who took us to a guesthouse for the first night.  After having our first Haitian dinner of mystery meat and rice, we applied a few layers of bug spray and went to bed.  In the morning we woke up, applied some more bug spray, and took a driving tour of Port-Au-Prince.  It was here that I first recorded the extreme inequalities in Haiti.  For most of the drive we saw people selling many different things from the side of the road; paintings and other souvenirs along with fruit and other food.  Our driver, Zo, weaved through the people and other cars in the street, up the hills of P-Au-P and took us to the top of a hill.  This hill was the site of Hotel Montana.  It was here that Jim, our wonderful “guide” of the trip, explained that this was a very popular, expensive hotel that was destroyed in the earthquake.  It had been restored and was open.  Women were lounging by the pool, drink in hand.  The restaurant/bar area had a beautiful view of P-Au-P and the ocean from atop the hill.  It was a gorgeous view.  But I had a hard time appreciating it, knowing that a stone’s throw away, people were begging for money and food.  It was easy to see how this place is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

            We hopped back into Zo’s van and started our trip to Les Cayes.  The Haitian countryside is beautiful.  It is one of the hilliest places I have ever seen.  We stopped at a little gas station/restaurant type spot for lunch.  I got some chicken and rice with this delicious sauce that the Haitians seemed to have at EVERY meal!  We continued on our way and finally arrived at Brenda Hospital.   We settled into our rooms we would have for the rest of the trip and relaxed in the library to discuss the plans for the week.  

To be continued...