ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603080007
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E7 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Between the Lines
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON
On Page 1 of the first newspaper I had seen In 10 days - not The Roanoke Times - was a close-up of a pothole caused by January's major snowstorm.
The caption said permanent repairs would have to wait until spring.
A few weeks earlier I would have complained about the "bad roads." But 10 days in Haiti as a member of the Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church mission team changed my perspective.
I went, supposedly to help the Haitians, but the little I did - painting and helping measure children for a medical project - was nothing compared to what was done for me. The Haitians humbled, and helped me.
When my husband, Harry, and I decided to participate in this project, I was told my life would never be the same. That was not the exaggeration I had supposed it to be.
We saw potholes so deep that, as a team member put it, "you had to turn the headlights on to get out."
These were not one or two holes scattered across the firm pavement, but crumbling concrete so pock-marked that vehicles zigged and zagged trying to avoid them.
Potholes were not the only frustration we faced as visitors to Haiti. The infrastructure that Americans takes for granted - traffic signals, garbage disposals, dependable electric power and clean water - is unavailable in Haiti.
I've never seen anything like the driving. Fortunately, our skilled Haitian drivers were able to nose their way through the multitude of vehicles, dodging the worst of the potholes, to take us from the Port-au-Prince airport to a hospital in Leogane, where we would spend six days.
Despite the drivers' skills, the 19-mile trip took five hours.
Traffic jams in Roanoke cause tempers to flare. But despite the long waits and competition for the roadway, Haitian drivers did not show anger or impatience.
In the midst of the squalor of the city, pedestrians who wove their way through a labyrinth of stalled vehicles were clean and neatly dressed.
"How do they get their whites so white?" I wondered, stealing a line from an old detergent commercial. Later, I watched women washing clothing in the streams, spreading it on bushes to dry and bleach in the sunshine.
We grow so accustomed to our lifestyle that we forget what is important. Many Haitians, however, have learned to live with a positive attitude despite many inconveniences.And, Tom Clayton, a Presbyterian missionary at Hopital Ste. Croix in Leogane, advised us of the difficulties - especially with electricity and water - we might face during our stay.
When the "Haitian power" failed, as it did every few hours, light bulbs hooked to truck batteries would burn, until the generator came on to provide electricity.
A deep well on the hospital compound provided safe water, but elsewhere, we relied on bottled water for drinking and brushing our teeth.
At the hospital guest house, showers and toilets with their slow and scanty water flow, seemed inadequate until we spent three nights in a mountain area where one shower was a trickle and the other refused even to drip.
Fruits and vegetables required careful washing, a soak in a bleach solution, and a thorough rinse. We were grateful for well-trained cooks who followed these procedures because the orange, grapefruit and pineapple juices were the best we've tasted.
When you're used to weekly garbage pickup, it's shocking to witness the result of no service. Street vendors and shop owners sweep the trash into piles in the street, where it is burned or simply scattered again the next day.
Even in the rural areas, housewives swept the yards until the packed earth was like smooth concrete.
The church service we attended lasted three hours, and the children stayed for the whole service. The congregation of about 450 sang seven stanzas of one hymn without books.
The choirs could have performed in concert halls. I wondered when they found time to rehearse? And where was the sheet music?
Mary Jo Shannon, a regular contributor to Neighbors, said despite the inconveniences, she enjoyed her Haitian vacation more than any she's taken.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB