12 Days Until Haiti

Real Imprints

Photo taken by Travis Gugelman, Founder of Dando Amor

The count down is on! We only have 12 days left until our adventure begins!

We’ve gotten a lot done, but we have a lot yet to do! So let’s begin the count down!!!

We’ve been to a couple team meetings. After the first one, we both climbed into our red truck and looked at each other half ecstatic and half “what the heck are we doing???” We had just sat through about an hour and a half of question & answer. It was there that it all became more of a reality!

We were told when we get to the airport to put our sunglasses on, look straight, don’t let anyone help us with our luggage, and to keep walking and kindly say “No Merci” as multiple people grab at our luggage desperate to help for money compensation. You don’t know who you can trust so you just can’t trust anyone. We were told there is only ONE person we can trust in the airport and it’s a man with only one arm. If he offers to help we can accept, otherwise, keep the course.

When we are there, we will always need to have someone with us, know where an exit is, know where our vehicle or driver is, and have a plan to escape if needed. We were told to get good travel insurance in case of an emergency evacuation, and to NOT cut corners with this. We need to be covered in full!

We were told to carry a backpack with a water bottle and maybe a couple bucks that we wouldn’t mind giving to someone if they tried to take it. They said people don’t want to hurt you, but they are all so desperate and are trying to meet their family’s basic needs. It’s so hard to comprehend such poverty and pretty soon we are going to see it.

We are to wear a money belt where we hold the things we are not willing to just give away if someone needs it and tries to take it.

We were told of their extreme medical conditions and what we might possibly see….Mr. Optimist is sure going to see A LOT that he has never seen or had to diagnose before but we know he will have help from above and that gives us great comfort!

So this all sounds a bit crazy right??? This is the “what the heck are we doing” part!

But then we were told how wonderful the people are. How strong and courageous they are. How resilient they are. How amazing this will be and how we will leave different people than we came.

We believe it and that’s the part that leaves us feeling ecstatic to go!

We know we are going to see the world from different eyes after this trip! The people of Haiti are going to inspire us more than we could ever inspire them!

Let the Countdown begin!!!

-Lindsey

This article was seen first on Real Imprints.