Road to Barraderas

Yesterday we took a trip to Barraderas.  A coastal city on the northern shore of the lower peninsula.  Anyway it was a two hour drive through the mountainside.  The Drive was awesome and I'll see if I can get some more pictures posted.  We went equipped with backs of rice pilaf sent down from the states for distribution.  Along the way we would stop and hand them out to people that we came across.  That in itself was pretty interesting.  We gave some out to mountain men with no teeth, some to children, some to mothers.  We also went with candy and balloons for the children.  This is method in which we traveled to Barraderas.  When we arrived, we admired the old buildings, some of them said to be colonial, so 500 years old or so.  Many were still in decent shape.  The town was actually really cool.  It had a homey feeling.  Little houses with yards and a people milling about.  The town was also very clean, uncommon for many of the Haitian cities I've been through.  Thinking back I don't remember seeing any trash at all in the street, except a granola wrapper that may or may not have slipped out…. Oops…  Anyway going through this city, the road came to a river crossing, fairly common for Haiti.  Heather asked if the road continued on the other side, they assured us it did and waved us across the river.  What we didn't see was that  there was a spot in the river that held a buried branch that you couldn't get by.  Well we didn't need them to inform us about it, it turns out we found it on our own.  So now we are stuck.  People began to jump out of the Gator, and we attempt to get the Gator unstuck.  Daryl got a good shot of Heather trying to push me out before the excitement started, which made for a good laugh later.  So then Haitians began to appear.  A few men came out and with a little rocking, pushing and spinning, we make it out.  At this point we decide to give some things out to show our appreciation.  Well in a situation like this, it doesn't take long for things to get out of hand.  And that's what happened,  Literally.  There were people everywhere eager to receive whatever they could get, and it began to get somewhat mob-like.  So we got back in our vehicle and quickly resumed our journey.  We found that the road we continued on and realized the road didn't go much further than the river.  So we turned around, rode right back through the crowd, which had thinned considerably, and crossed the river again, this time without problem. 

So we continued on our way, passing out rice here and there, stopping at a few huts and talking to people.  I'm not sure what we would have done without Heather,  Her creole is good and she did all the talking.  At one point we decided to stop at a small group of houses and pass out some more bags to some houses down a little hill.  It doesn't take long to attract attention, and before long another group began to gather.  As people started to get worked up again, we knew we had to get out again, so we began to drive away.  This time, however, we encountered an unexpected twist.  A little girl had fallen into the fire a couple of days ago, and she was badly burned.  Her knees and stomach had severe burns, and the parents had no money to pay for it.  We didn't have much money on us, and handing out money usually isn't the best route to take anyway.  We had to get out of the crowd, so we drove for a bit.  This all took place in a minute.  We drove a bit to get out of the crowd, and stopped a little ways down the road, unsure of how to proceed.  We knew we couldn't leave, but we weren't sure what to do.   So we prayed.  Once Daryl was done praying we discussed our options.   There was a clinic close by which was a possibility, but we weren't sure of the capacity of it to handle this kind of burn.  We could take the girl In the Gator back to the hospital for treatment, or I had about $30 US in my wallet we could give.  We decided to check out the clinic first and go from there.  Well we got most of the way to the clinic, and then the Gator broke down.  Starting a cycle that would not soon end.  So Daryl, Norma, and Josh stayed with the vehicle while Heather and I set out to find this clinic.  It turns out it was about a 15 minute walk further down the road.  And with Heather's creole, we found it.  We found one nurse there, but no doctors.  So we headed back to the Gator. 

When we returned the Gator, we found Daryl, Norma and Josh chatting and laughing with some of the Haitians in the shade a little ways from the Gator.  These Haitians had taken them to the shade, and had brought them water to wash their faces.  Daryl and Norma's creole is limited, but Norma said she used every word she knew, and got to know a few of them. 

We discussed our options from here.  We couldn't take them to the clinic, giving money would not have been sufficient or of much help.  Also, Daryl made the good point about the sequence of the Gator breaking down and the prayer.  We believed that God was guiding us at this point, and with a broken down Gator we had our answer about taking the child on the Gator.  We still didn't want to leave.  An honest confession here, I would have left.  I didn't know what we could do, and taking the child seemed far fetched,  but Heather and the others knew we couldn't just leave.  So then the idea of a motorcycle taxi was brought up.  We could send the child ahead of us to the hospital, and so the local group called a taxi for us, and we returned to the house.  We found the parents, and after some discussion, and explaining that we would pay for the care, the father agreed to come with the daughter to the hospital.  We assured the driver that he would be paid at the Hospital, and they took off.  Once we were in cell phone range again, we called ahead and explained the situation.  Sheila would pay the taxi, and Doctors would be ready for the child.  Payment would be settled later. 

So now we headed out again on a journey much longer than it took to get there.  We were very thankful and peaceful for the resolution of the child, and were encouraged that our trip had been for a good reason.  We still had the issue of the Gator, however.  We think the problem was a dirty fuel filter.  Haitian Diesel isn't exactly clean, and the filters clog fairly quickly.  As it were we could only drive for a short distance before the engine quit, and we had to rest.  On big hills we would get out and walk, as one person would drive the Gator to the top, and give it a chance to rest.  We found that the lessened weight helped a lot.  God was with us, though.  We were all in high spirits.  This extended journey gave opportunity for testimonies to be shared, and conversations to be had.  We continued on bit by bit, receiving many questioning looks from the locals.  We continued to hand out rice if we were moving enough not to draw a crowd.  In this manner we finally made it back to the hospital, weary but happy.  Sheila had made us dinner, which we were very thankful for, and we settle down for a nice dinner and to share stories and laughs from the trip.  It was truly an adventure and a very blessed day.