Dear Everybody: 

A number of people have been sick here lately. It is quite common for folks to get some sort of intestinal trouble here due to bad water and poor sanitary conditions. My friend Looloo even got Typhoid, poor guy. I have been happily free of intestinal trouble but a week ago I got sick and went to my bed to rest thinking I would bounce back shortly. I decided that it might be more serious when I started to shiver in spite of 90+ degree temperatures. It turns out I have malaria and let me tell you, its no fun. The base director, Terry Snow said Man, bad luck. I've been here 11 years and I never got Malaria! Well, six weeks is all it took for me. It just takes one stinkin mosquito. The cure for malaria is actually really simple, but it will take quite a while for me to regain strength. I wont be resuming my regular duties for a couple weeks. 

I wrote previously that I wanted to build a concrete form which would be used to make water filters. I managed to build a form in spite of the malaria induced haze that is my current condition. Praise God. I intend to start building another soon. There is a Haitian welder who would like to start building the forms for his profession, and I might try to train him. 

One thing I have started doing is driving. There are a number of errands that need to me done in Port-au-Prince every week because a lot of things aren't available in St. Marc. I have started doing the port run every Wednesday and it is always an adventure. Once I left for Port and only made it 20 miles before finding that the road was blocked with burning tires. The people were protesting not having electricity for a long time. Such tire burning incidents are known as manifestations. 

A few weeks ago I had to pick up Terry Snow from the airport. As I waited in the parking lot, a tow truck came and began to hook up to my back bumper. I quickly put the truck in gear to drive away but I found the wheels were already in the air. I stood hard on the brake but they towed me anyway with the tires skidding on the pavement. Shortly after Terry called me on the cell phone as I sat steaming in the airport impound lot: Where the heck are ya? In trying to explain the situation to the airport police, Terry eventually got the mayor of St. Marc on the phone who explained to them that YWAM does some very good things in Haiti and it was wrong to try to extort money from us by towing us unjustly. Shortly after, the tow guys who were so rude to me before returned my license plates with big smiles and explaining that there was a misunderstanding. Truth and justice 1, Evil airport extortionist tow truck guys 0. I feel incredibly lucky that Terry and others have previously put in the work to establish YWAMs reputation in Haiti and make my life so much easier. 

Travel in Haiti is a completely different experience than in America. The main method of public transit is by Tap-Tap. Tap-Taps are pickup trucks that have had covers welded on to the back for people to cram themselves under. In Port-au-Prince, the fare is 3 gourdes (12 cents) to go however far you want on that particular Tap-tap. Longer distances are covered in buses that are typically filled to bursting and have completely insane drivers. Often people will ride in the back of big, open trucks with the goods they intend to sell in the market. Many folks use donkeys with big baskets on their sides instead. They may be slow, but at least you can be sure to get where youre going in one piece. 

St. Marc has a different system of transport. There are about a million 50cc Honda scooters called taxis with drivers that have no concept of traffic rules. You pay 5 gourdes, get on the back of the scooter, and the driver will take you almost anywhere in St. Marc. I have already witnessed 4 scooter accidents. Once, a friend and I were trying to flag down 2 taxis to take us somewhere and a whole bunch of them wanted to stop for us. One of them went to come over, and another taxi plowed straight into the side of him. When there is an accident here, about 50 people gather around and start yelling at each other. Our taxi drivers seemed to want to join the discussion so we had to entreat them to continue on anyway. It is common to see two people plus the driver on a taxi, and I have seen even more people than that on frequent occasions. I think they might be exceeding the manufacturers recommended maximum capacity of the vehicle. 

Any vehicles most important accessory is the horn. They are used constantly, whether there are people in the way or not, but the popular wisdom here is that people will come in out of the rain, but they wont come in out of the road. Now, a funny thing is that my VW bus back home has no horn. I took a car alarm siren and hooked it up to the horn button and I find that it is plenty loud. Well, Haitians are creative in the same way I am and there are MANY cars that use sirens in place of, or in conjunction with, horns. It is absolutely obnoxious. There is no use for a car alarm here but many cars arrive in Haiti after they have been stolen in the states, so there are plenty of alarm sirens to be hooked up to horns. Once Joel Amundson and I went camping out on the Olympic Peninsula and I drove through a small river and my siren/horn didn't work very well after that. Its just as well. There are some trucks here with horns so loud that the sheer force of them actually blows you off the road. The same trucks might not have any driving lights or turn signals, but they've got what matters.

The pictures I attached this time are scenes from the road. It is so hot on the buses that the riders need to keep drinking. Wherever there is a speed bump in the highway, water sellers gather and sell bags of water through the windows of the buses that slow down. Travelers bite off the corner of the bag, suck out the water and throw the empty bag out the window. The bus drivers don't wait until everyone gets their drink to start driving again, so water sellers are occasionally seen hanging on to the side of a bus until it slows down again and they can jump off. The last picture is a scene from Port-au-Prince during Fete Dieuor Gods Party. 

Please pray that I get all my energy back soon. Also pray that I don't get killed or maimed as I travel about in Haiti because I really am somewhat concerned about that. 

Hey, my website is up and running now: www.chrisrolling.com. You should check it out and tell me what its like because I cant look at it here. 

God Bless, Chris