Surreal

The amount of happiness that goes along with the unfilled needs in Haiti is unbelievable.  As this is my first trip to Haiti, I was not too sure what to expect.  I had seen the blog posts from my wonderful Aunts, Ann and Joyce, but seeing everything in person is a world of difference.  Yesterday and today, I was trying to think of words to describe what I saw, but I was not able to think of anything even close to accurately describe my experiences.

Yesterday we worked the water truck.  On the way out to our water truck destinations, we were traveling on roads that were in worse conditions than any road I have ever been on in the states.  The roads were made of all rocks and it is not uncommon to see goats running across the street in the mingle of cars and motorcycles which appear to always be on the verge of hitting each other; it's even crazier that the roads are in the capital of the country and traveled on by thousands every day.  When we arrived at our destination, we were immediately swarmed by children wanting to be held, all of which had smiles on there faces.  The common greeting for a child was jumping up and down and yelling "Hey, you!".  At our first stop, I immediately started manning the house with my oh so fabulous cousin Kyle.  People, mostly kids, would line up ecstatically with their plastic buckets, many of which had broken handles, waiting for their precious water.  After a bucket was filled up, the kids would carry it back to their tin shacks, often by placing the buckets on their head despite the weight of the bucket and the size of the child.  Some of the youngest children would put their mouth against the connection of the hose to the truck where small droplets of water were shooting out and try to catch as much water as they could/  The rush of people and joy those people receiving water gave off an atmosphere similar to a party.  After filling up dozens of buckets, I interacted with some children that were literally begging to be held.  With these children, I walked by many of the shacks.  Seeing the living conditions of the world's poorest was surreal.  Any conception of "poor" I had before this trip was blown out the water.  Everything is so difficult to grasp that even immediately after being there I had not yet completely processed or was able to comprehend what I had just experienced.

We later played soccer with a group of wonderful boys that live in tents near our guest house.  The boys were experienced soccer players and were having just as much fun, if not more, than any young athlete in the U.S.  The field we played on was quite interesting due to the cows on the field.  That did not stop us from having a great time which ended up being an excellent bonding experience for us all.

19 year old first time Haiti goer and first time blogger signing off.

Alex Kopen