First night in Port au Prince

It's 7:30 in Port au Prince and the rain is about to come down.

We had some fun group bonding times in NoVA last night (thank you, MarioKart!) at Brian's lovely home. And bright & squirrely, we headed to DCA this morning.

Our group arrived at 3 pm ish. We navigated Customs, winded through the airport halls and met our driver, Ryan - whom I met briefly last June while visiting ICC headquarters. It was good to see a familiar face!

Traffic in PaP was dramatically easier than our last trip - this time, at least. There is less rubble on the streets, perhaps fewer tents. Otherwise, it feels just like... Haiti. Busy, busy, busy.

On our way to Walls Guest House, in the comfortable passenger seat of his sweet new van, I asked Ryan what he thought our group's best contribution could be while we're here for the week. He thought for a long time.

And then he said that so many groups have come and gone, "gotten a fix" and never returned, that now Haitians can see foreigners as dollar signs. The multitude of "help" has changed the dynamics between people as they interact. We talked about how people don't realize that giving money - and not building relationships or coming back for several trips - has bigger ramifications than that one interaction (transaction?). It sets up a culture, a system, of interacting. We, presumably the helpers, Haitians, presumably those asking for. This was different than it was before the earthquake, he said - then, people were much more focused on building relationships.

It all reminds me of a conversation AIDSTanzania had while I was with their team, with an American man living in Arusha. He said then that people there are just as smart as anywhere - they're going to do what they need to, to get by. They're going to use the system that works. Just like we all do.

Here, it seems that the system that's working is groups coming in and giving, which matters in that moment - but also sets up an economy that is not as relational as it used to be. And as we learned on our trip last June, a charity system also puts local systems out of business. Bad stuff.

A truck in front of us today had these bumper stickers: "Keep your humanitarian tourism off my culture," and "Food Aid doesn't work." Signposts to pay attention to and perhaps to return to this week.

So my wish for our week - or at least one of my wishes? That our trip leads to something much deeper than humanitarian tourism. That we see how so many kinds of aid end up being harmful to dignity and empowerment. That we see who is doing something different - who's creating sustainable models - and learn from them.

Also that we get beyond struggling with the discomfort of these ideas (because they are dissonant; they're hard to swallow) and figure out what they mean for us. How can we do something different?

And finally, that we meet and become friends with people here. Because ultimately it is relationships that motivate us to advocate, to keep at it, to work together toward real positive change.

With that, it's journaling time (in my old-school paper journal). Tomorrow we're off to Wings of Hope, to work with people with disabilities. And our two remaining team members, Wesley and Timmy, will join us! Get here quick, y'all. We miss you already.