Hello Moto

Mom and Dad… I do apologize in advance for this post.  Today I’ve experienced the full gamut of Haitian transportation. Jules and I started off via foot to visit Grassroots United so that I could see our original sandal shop, and to pick up Ian.  We then made our way via car to the airport to pick up my luggage (which arrived safe and sound!).  Julie, Ian and I were then off via private car to visit Sougecedes– the Haitian organization whom we purchase our handmade sandal straps from.

Afterwards, we connected with reps from the Global Orphan project, who took us our to La Plane via private car to visit their site– they’ve purchased a large order of REBUILDERS for their visitors shop.  Afterwards, we employed local transport, taking tap taps (local trucks that pack in passengers) back to Central PAP.

… this is where it gets interesting! To get up to Pechonville, the location of Sean Penn’s outfit, we then had to take motos– these are motorcycles driven by locals.  We were visiting a camp where women are making beads from recycled paper– these are going to be incorporated into the straps of our REBUILDERS sandals.  Fortunately, I was able to hop on Ian’s moto– he is RG’s fantastic volunteer carpenter.  Unfortunately for Jules, she had the equivalent of a Nascar driver with a deathwish.  Driving rules and regs don’t apply in Haiti… we wended our way up into the hills by all means necessary.   Keeping up with him was the challenge of the day.  After a productive meeting at JPHRO, Jules decided to take a tap tap back down the mountainside.  I, however, opted for the moto.

Lesson learned: RG’s immediate need– reliable transportation!!!

More to come,

B

About these ads