In a small corner of our livingroom I have gathered some travel memories. I look at the items and my mind wanders to Eritrea, to Laos, India, The Dominiac Republic, Italy........and today most of all to Haiti.
It was October 1998 and I was asked by Norwegian Church Aid to go to Haiti and The Dominican Republic for two weeks together with a small group. The goal was to bring back information to the churches in Norway in connection with Norwegian Church Aid's annual Lental Campaign.
It was my first travel out of Europe, I left Terje home alone for two weeks with four kids, the youngest one, Marta, only 2 1/2. But the most exciting and kind of frightening part was that we were going to visit a country only days after Hurricane George which killed over 400 people and destroyed 80% of all the crops in the country.
I am sitting here with my travel diary from the two weeks. A diary filled with strong impressions, with memories when I wanted to close my eyes and take the first plane back to Europe, but also memories of a beautiful, strong, fighting, though shy (in my eyes) people.
We divided the two weeks between Haiti and The Dominiac Republic, and most of out time in Haiti were spent in Port au Prince. In a small, charming hotel with a swimmingpool where we could rest between our meetings with people and organisations. There I could pray for the children we met at the orphanage run by The Salvation Army, there I could cry out my "why" to God after seeing the sufferings in the prison we visited downtown, where prisoners lived for years without trials, without hopes. There we could laugh and cry, sleep and eat.......though most of my nights were filled with thoughts and prayers rather than sleep. And there I could linger on sweet memories from a night at Hotel Olafsson, where Graham Greene sat his novel The Comedians.
One day we drove out into the countryside, where the hurricane had done severe damage. We slept overnight at a guesthouse and I spent the whole night listening to the strange noises of a world so completely different from my soft security at home.
I am reading my travel diary tonight, and my thoughts go to the people of Haiti.
Right now they are in need of almost everything, and we can all help. Norwegian readers, you can read more at Norwegian Church Aid's pages, international readers, please find the way your country (through UN, Red Cross, CARE and organisations like them) is giving their support.
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Later tonight I plan to start rereading Edwidge Danticat's books;
