In late
January, 2012, three months after a chance meeting in the Milwaukee Airport, I
met up again with Sr. Mary. This time, we were in the Port-au-Prince, Haiti
airport and soon to meet with up the 10 others in our group, including 7 more
Mercy Sisters. The Mercies were looking
for ways to establish a presence in Haiti and, at least to start, they wanted
to partner with an organization already established in Haiti. So, one purpose of this trip was to meet with
various potential partners.
Thus, we
visited several schools, an orphanage, a medical clinic, low income housing
projects, a homeless shelter, a hospital including a cholera ward, a water
purification project, etc. Some of these projects were in the capital,
Port-au-Prince and others were in Gros Morne, a town about 110 miles north of
Port-au-Prince.
It really is
impossible to accurately and completely describe Port-au-Prince. It is a
teeming city of over 2 million people. Evidence of the earthquake’s devastation
is still everywhere, including tent cities where parks used to be. I’ve been to
developing countries many times before but I’ve never seen anything like
Port-au-Prince.
One story is
illustrative. Early one morning a call came to the “Matthew 25 Guest House”
where we were staying. The caller reported that there was a woman in distress
in the street nearby. He asked that the
two MD Mercy Sisters go to her assistance.
So, the two doctors grabbed their bags and headed out to the street.
There, they discovered a woman, giving birth….in the street. Such is life in Port-au-Prince.
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