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On May 16th we got up early and packed the car with 3,800 "Liv la Vie" booklets, 10 cases of Bibles and other Christian literature, a dozen boxes of soccer equipment, a speaker system and video projector to show evangelistic films and 7 people (Two riding in the back). Five members of AIS Haiti went on the trip: Rich, Daniel, Debreus, Sylvain and Elysee, with 2 riders going up and 1 rider coming back.
We covered everything with a tarp because of the frequent rains during rainy season and set out on what we thought would be a 6 hour trip north. In reality it took us 10 hours with stops to drop off equipment for two of our regions: Verettes and Gonaives.
Just outside of Gonaives, it started to pour and so all seven of us crowded into the 4-door cab of the pickup which was meant for only 5 adults. I squeezed in the front bucket seat with another friend trying to give the driver enough room to shift. The rain also made the roads very muddy and we needed 4-wheel-drive to get up a few slippery mountains.
The rough roads didn't help, either. Although there has been much improvement in the roads since I last drove to Port-de-Paix in 2002, the were still very bad in places.
But Haiti is still a very beautiful country with its rolling hills and mountain passes, and there are still lots of huts made of mud and sticks with thatched roofs in the countryside.
The highlight of the trip was fording the wide "Trois Riviere" river. The guide sat on the hood of our truck and pointed the way to shallow water. Daniel drove and we all gave him a high-five when we got accross.
Coming back the river was even higher than we went, so we hired an experienced driver to help us ford the river while we all sat in the back to give the rear wheels more tracktion, even in 4-wheel-drive.
Although the trip was an endurance test, it could have been much worse if we had broken down, or if someone had gotten sick, or if we had run into bandits, etc.
So we thank God for a safe trip, but are glad to be home.
We covered everything with a tarp because of the frequent rains during rainy season and set out on what we thought would be a 6 hour trip north. In reality it took us 10 hours with stops to drop off equipment for two of our regions: Verettes and Gonaives.
Just outside of Gonaives, it started to pour and so all seven of us crowded into the 4-door cab of the pickup which was meant for only 5 adults. I squeezed in the front bucket seat with another friend trying to give the driver enough room to shift. The rain also made the roads very muddy and we needed 4-wheel-drive to get up a few slippery mountains.
The rough roads didn't help, either. Although there has been much improvement in the roads since I last drove to Port-de-Paix in 2002, the were still very bad in places.
But Haiti is still a very beautiful country with its rolling hills and mountain passes, and there are still lots of huts made of mud and sticks with thatched roofs in the countryside.
The highlight of the trip was fording the wide "Trois Riviere" river. The guide sat on the hood of our truck and pointed the way to shallow water. Daniel drove and we all gave him a high-five when we got accross.
Coming back the river was even higher than we went, so we hired an experienced driver to help us ford the river while we all sat in the back to give the rear wheels more tracktion, even in 4-wheel-drive.
Although the trip was an endurance test, it could have been much worse if we had broken down, or if someone had gotten sick, or if we had run into bandits, etc.
So we thank God for a safe trip, but are glad to be home.
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