Day 1: The Journey Begins

The culture shock is real. What’s even more surprising is my reaction to the culture shock. I’m Haitian, yet none of this was expected. Needless to say I am already accustomed to the idyllic scenes painted in Haiti.

 Still, there’s something magical about seeing someone experience it for the first time. The genuine reaction is like watching a bird fly for the first time; you’re almost as incredulous as they are, yet they are the ones living it firsthand.

This is the story of 18+ professional students and 2 medical professionals (#MedSquaaad) taking a medical mission trip to the most destitute nation in the Western Hemisphere.

I’m Benson, a USF Grad student studying Cell Molecular Biology. I am  fully Haitian and I thoroughly enjoy Haitian food and taking selfies in front of the awe-inspiring scenery. I took a lottt of selfies, just being honest.

I’ll be describing the 5 day journey of being exposed to a whole new place, lifestyle and culture (for some).

The overall purpose of this trip is educational and philanthropic. We aim to deliver medical attention the impoverished community in Cap Haitien. More so, we’re fighting to educate the people on how to prevent prevalent diseases that vex the population. After all, if you teach a man to fish… well you know the rest.

Just for the record, a small portion of us are of Haitian decent yet only a few of us have set foot in Cap-Haitien  before today (really just 1 or 2). And with exception to 1 or 2 of us, none have endeavored to do anything like this before. in totality this will be a learning experience for the whole of our group.

Day one was filled long waiting lines in airports, plane ascent, plane descent and even more lines. I’m very sure we waited in line for more time than the flight itself.

Nevertheless the first day was beyond eventful. After landing and getting accustomed with the house were staying in, I should also add it is beautiful by the way, ate a brief lunch, toured the historical city of Cap Haitien, ate dinner and prepared for the work in the days to come. Today we focused on familiarizing ourselves with the area; after all you have to know the population you are serving.

Although it doesn’t sound like much, today was much more tiring than it appeared, maybe it was all of the lines and traveling.

After planing a trip like this, it’s fulfilling for all of the hard work to come to fruition. Beyond that, understanding that everyone on board earnestly joined with hearts filled with service is beyond motivating.

We also can’t go without thanking out sponsors Digicel, Unitranfer, AMHE, MDF Instruments and Capital Bank for helping make this trip a success as well as the fresh gear!

Tomorrow will be exciting!

Till then

Signing off