January 22, 2010
By Kathy L. Gilbert

Day one in Haiti.

It is a long, hard crawl from the border of the Dominican Republic to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. The closer you get to the city, the slower you move.

A crush of people, cars, buses, scooters, bikes and the occasional cow or donkey clog the two-lane road and compress it to a width that seems much too narrow for a car and too dangerous for anyone not surrounded by the secure walls of a vehicle. Somehow, everyone squeezes through.

A stretch of road, known as "no man's land" between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is bordered by a beautiful blue lagoon and mountains. Great craters have been dug out of the sides of the mountains to remove the limestone inside.

Limestone dust has painted everything white and left puddles of white mud in the deep ruts of an over-traveled road.

Most of the foot traffic and buses stuffed with people are coming from Haiti into the Dominican Republic. Most of the traffic in SUVs going into Haiti is international press and relief agencies.

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At the airport in Port-au-Prince, young men hang out, hoping to be hired as translators for the Americans passing through. "I have no home. I lost my wife and children. I only have the clothes on my back." Everyone seems to have the same story.

Tent cities have sprung up in any available open space because people have lost their homes or are too afraid to be indoors.

Homes, businesses, government offices, churches – all look the same when they are reduced to a pile of rubble.

Ten days have passed since a massive earthquake hit Haiti. No one really knows what the final death toll will be, but the spirit of the people springs up in unexpected places.

On the long journey from Dominican Republic into Haiti, we see "Love Child Village" and the "Village of Hope."

United Methodist News Service
UMNS news writer Kathy L. Gilbert is part of a United Methodist team in Haiti.