....Rode on the back and top of a pick up truck through Port Au Prince, then you haven't lived! Lucky for all of us, Mamma T and Drea included, we got to experience that. Rick and I woke up at 7 AM to a lightening fast breakfast so that we could get down to the warehouse in Port Au Prince to unload a container (40ft) that is in holding and full of supplies onto two box trucks to be taken to the other house for GLA where we would seperate and organize everything. The ladies were at the house organizing diapers, diapers, and....more diapers. The other property is about 1/2 hour drive up the mountain from here and the view is pretty surreal. With gear and tent crew abilities, and Rick's brute strenght, (and about 12 other Haitian workers) we unloaded the supplies and boxes on to the box trucks. Then Rick and I had about a 2 and half hour ride through downtown traffic in Port Au Prince, heat and sun, and a lot of car horn honkin and broken down cars. Even one of the trucks with supplies had a flat tire and was over heating. However, it was an amazing (AND BUMPY) ride. I've never done anything like that. We arrived at the compound for GLA and unloaded one truck into a brand new warehouse they just had built. By the way, I must note that all of this is heavily gaurded by private security with shotguns. With all the volunteers at GLA at this warehouse, they unloaded box after box, diapers, an Xray machine, diapers, baby wipes, shoes, and more diapers. That was just the first box. While waiting for the next truck to arrive, I happened to dose off, Rick took a dirt bike out on the property, and after about a 45 minutes of sleeping I woke up and saw how sweaty and dirty Rick was. I asked him what he'd been up to and he said, lifting and unloading that other truck. I thought he was joking, but sure enough this truck had came, been unloaded, and was gone in 45 minutes. Pretty impressive, except I missed it. Once that was finished, everyone hopped into the back of the truck and we enjoyed a scenic, race care/demolition derby type ride back to GLA headquarters. Mamma T and Drea were troopers, and we all made it. Even Johnny and another Haitian worker who just held on to the back bumper and cage. Everyone is still doing fine here, and we sure have our work cut out for us tomorrow, as we'll do the same thing with another container. Then we'll organize, bag and distribute all of the goods to a tent city with a population of about 55,000.
On a side note, as I read our small group study/bible study last night I read this:(I think it's from Phillipians or Ecclesiastes or somewhere I was reading) I'm paraphrasing here- How easy is it for us to judge people based on their wealth, color, status, abilities, looks, talents, riches, etc. Instead of judging eachother based on these things, we should judge eachother based on gladness of heart. Rick said it best today when he told me, "It's great to see this contry moving on and rebuilding." From what I learned today, Haiti doesn't need our sypathy, rather they need our help. I'm glad that I am here and with the people I've come in contact with because I know we all feel that we are helping. It is overwhelming because there is so much to do, but it has to start somewhere. With out your support and belief in us, we wouldn't be here, so you are just as much a part of this as we are. Remember to judge eachother on the gladness of heart. I see a lot of that here, and there is no doubt, that one day soon, Haiti will recover.
We love you.
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