Haiti - A view of Port-au-Prince

August 31, 2009 Carrie wildes

Last week I was in Haiti, you may have seen my blog post when I was bored in the airport waiting for the rest of the team to arrive:-) These images will be part of a documentary that will hopefully be used to build awareness and action on the need there which is very staggering and significant. I am going to do several blog postings this week and next to give you an idea of what we saw and felt while there. The first posting is going to be of some images in the city of Port -au-Prince. Here's some of the stats as well. It helps put into perspective some of what you will see. I found this on National Geographic so I assume it's pretty accurate.

Total Population
8,288,000

Capital and Population
Port-au-Prince; 1,961,000

Area
27,750 square kilometers
(10,714 square miles)

Language
French, Creole

Religion
Roman Catholic, Protestant, Voodoo

Currency
gourde

Life Expectancy
51

GDP Per Capita
U.S. $1,400

Literacy Percent
53

It takes about 1.5 hrs of flight time to get there from Tampa so it's amazing how close it is, but yet so far away. In the next few days I'll talk more about the issues and things that we saw. These were taken as we were driving around the city, from the car. I asked permission to take their picture when I could, but keep in mind these are through the windows as I saw it driving by. Port-au-Prince is a very busy and colorful city. Jobs are very scarce so people were selling anything from water to art. The streets are very crowded and the carry everything possible on top of their heads. The taxis and buses were painted neon colors with people hanging on the top and sides while they speed down the streets. One guy below is pulling a cart with tons of tires, it was pretty amazing. Take a look below and you will see the expressions and how beautiful the people are. Tomorrow, I'll be posting some images and stories on the slums in Delmas.