FIrst day in Haiti

Today was our first day crossing over into Haiti. It was also my first time experiencing the crossing. We went to church in Ansapit, and then we went to Sadhana Forest. We had to get to the border early because sometimes it can take a while to get through, but we also could get there too early because the border stations don’t open until 8:00 in the morning.

When we got to the border on the Dominican side, we had to fill out those migration cards like you do at the airport; it wasn’t too much trouble for us to leave the Dominican Republic. When we got to the border on the Haiti side, however, it took us a little longer because each of us had to turn in our passports and a fee; then, the border guards had to fill everything out by hand. Before we were able to give them our passports, I was a little worried that we wouldn’t be allowed in, but it did work out.

Church had already started by the time we arrived, but the ushers there pointed us out to some seats right in the front where we could all sit together. I have been to church services in other countries before, but this was one of the first times where I did not understand the language of the service. It was such a good experience, though, because I could still get a sense of being in worship, despite not understanding the language. At one point, Kara was invited up to tell the congregation who we were. They then all sang a welcome song for us. I just felt so welcomed during that service. They sang a lot, and several times, people from the congregation would come up to us as we were struggling to figure out what song everyone was currently singing. Sometimes they would take our hymnals and turn them to the right page; other times, they would just hand us a new hymnal with the page already turned to the right song. It was a nice experience being able to worship with the church in Haiti.

After church, we walked over to Sadhana Forest. I’ve heard about Kara’s visits to Sadhana Forest over the years, but this was my first time getting to see it myself. It takes a lot of dedication to keep up their reforestation effort, and I really admire what Sadhana Forest is trying to do. We spent some time resting while Kara helped make lunch. We had lunch with several of the people who are currently volunteering at Sadhana. Kara took us on a tour around the property.

After our visit to Sadhana today, we walked back to the border and walked back to the Dominican Republic.

One thing I noticed about the trip over the border was just how different things looked in the Dominican Republic vs. in Haiti. The roads in Pedernales, for examples, are generally all paved, but in Haiti, we walked on a lot more gravel roads, especially towards Sadhana Forest where you aren’t right in the center of the city. I know both places experience poverty, but I hadn’t thought about how different that would look in each country.