Thoughts from Haiti

Every time I arrive in Haiti I feel like I am going through sensory overload. The sights and sounds and rush at the airport just hit me that this is a different place. In fact it is like no other place on earth. After a short night in Miami and a flight in to Port Au Prince. There is the chaos at the airport, immigration, getting our luggage (three carts loaded with 10 bags plus our carry ons. Then through immigration and fighting the people all working for tips to support their families. This time we seemed to get through smoother than before. Checking into the guest house and now a time of rest for the afternoon. Not sure what else is happening today if anything but it is nice to be back in Haiti.
Wall's is not very crowded and I have a room to myself. Everything I am back I see a few more improvements.
A house down the steet from the guest house destroyed in the quake 17 months ago is finally being cleared. There are still thousands of people living in tent cities. It seems all they do is just add one more layer to their tent once it begins leaking.
This is my first time here in the rainy season and it is cloudy rather than the bright sunshine. But the heat and the humidity is the same.
I am always fascinated by the people I meet at Walls. Most of them are here on some sort of mission project. (There are very few vacationers in Haiti.) There are three here from New England as a part of a project with college students to give them an immersion experience to see what most people in the world live like. Another group of about 12 high school girls are working at catholic charity doing most of the time what amounts to VBS. Then they just spend time at the orphanage holding children. As I listen to their stories I see firsthand how their lives are being transformed.
At dinner tonight we spent a great deal of time talking about the differences we saw between the last time we were here and that day coming in from the airport. For me a lot of the rubble is gone from the streets. Sidewalks have been cleared off and like I mentioned earlier a house down the street from the guest house has started to be cleared.
One thing I have noticed this time is the electricity keeps going on and off: on a few seconds and off a few seconds. I never noticed that before when I was here the reason I mention it is because I may not be able to get e-mails out because the server is constantly rebooting.