observation full and felt.: haiti. {day one}

my family has been planning this trip for years. a trip to Haiti. the place where my father always talked of the immense joy of a people despite the devastating poverty they live in. a place that would often move my father to tears just to think about. i have a distinct memory of my dad and i sitting at some chain restaurant in Austin, as i complained about wanting, or not having some petty teenage possession. my father sat with his head down almost in tears, disappointed, and reminded me of those who have nothing. literally nothing. he never said this to manipulate, but his heart was so full of love and desire to live for the many he has seen struggle that he wanted to share that desire with everyone around him. my father had always been a compassionate and loyal man, but i think it was after his first trip to Haiti that his world truly shifted. he would spend the rest of his life learning, challenging, and teaching to love fully; to never let him self be too comfortable in his beliefs, in his relationships, and mostly in how he lived out his life.

after my father passed from an unexpected accident on December 18th 2009, my sisters and i, charged with both the responsibility and honor of finding the perfect location to spread his ashes, pictured Haiti. we each knew that in the last few years he had thought of retiring in Haiti, and we could not think of ANYWHERE else that would allow him to rest with the people who gave him so much passion for life and love. we were also compelled by the potential opportunity to take a final trip together as a family to Haiti, the way he had always wanted.

after months and months of preparations, story telling, phone calls, shots, and fundraising--and with thanks to so many who have not only supported us in this but in so much more, we were able to finalize our trip and set our course to put our father to rest in the most special way we could imagine.

in addition to my two sisters {ariele and calla} and i, three others joined us on our journey. i think my sisters and i would agree that among the many wonderful people who made their way to my father’s memorial service in late December {the david gentiles experience}, one of the most memorable interactions we had was was with a man named tim pylate. it was brief, but he held so much genuine love and respect for our dad that it was pretty overwhelming. we came to find out that tim was in my dad's youth group as a teen and accompanied my dad on his first trip to Haiti back in 1988. his experience in Haiti would play a huge role in the path he followed as an adult: he now lives in Ukraine after serving for years with various international aid organizations. a beautiful rabbit hole of conversation after the memorial service brought tim to join us in Haiti; quite frankly, we wouldn't have been able to make it to Haiti if it had not been for tim's knowledge, leadership, and...well, the fact that he was certainly the most responsible among the lot of us.

the other spots were filled by two dear friends of ours who also happen to be brothers. ricky and ran jackson have played a pretty significant role in our family’s life for the last ten years or so. my father loved them as if they were his own children, and i know that love was mutual. my sisters’ and my connection with the boys would only grow stronger surrounding my fathers accident, as they became a pretty large support for us, along with many others who "showed up" in bigger ways than any of the three of us could have hoped for. and to all of you we are so very grateful.

in the past, we had frequently spoken of the idea of ricky and ran joining us in our family trip to Haiti. for their parents too held a special place for Haiti in their hearts and shared that love with their children as they grew up. so naturally, we felt strongly that if the boys were up to it, we would love for them to join us along this journey as a comfort, but also with the notion that it would hold a different kind of specialness for them as well.

{ariele, dad, ran, calla, ricky, and I at our friends wedding a few years ago}

before we knew it, the time had arrived. early on the morning of May 21st, the five of us found ourselves scrunched in a cab in Ft. Lauderdale with a driver poignantly named Johnny Angel sporting a strong nawlens accent on our way to meet Tim at the airport. a couple hours later we stepped outside to walk down the runway and up the steps of the tiny prop plane that would finally take us to a place we've longed to be for years. i'll just say the flight was part of the experience. amongst our fellow passengers was a rooster that never skipped a beat...or a crow, i should say.

{our boarding pass for the flight to haiti}

we arrived to some of the most beautiful landscape i've ever seen. it was breath-taking. we each talked the night before that we had no idea what to expect; we couldn't even visualize what it would look like. i can honestly say it was more beautiful than i could have imagined. many times we compared it to the scenes in jurassic park. minus the flesh eating dinos, of course.

our first couple hours in Haiti was spent in and out of a large closet-sized "office," answering a series of questions--which was tricky at first, seeing as none of us speak creole. our host Wilbert came to our rescue, and i'm sure spoke some magic words to help speed the process along. i was the lucky one chosen to endure most of the questioning. it was quite an emotional, and a bit stressful, welcome into Haiti, but certainly made us appreciate our journey all the more

{our lovely russian gifts from tim}

our first breath of fresh air onto the other side of the airport was soon met with a gasp at the sites from inside the truck as we drove the 7 minutes it takes to get from the airport to the living hope missions compound where we would spend the next week and a half. the people were more beautiful than i could've imagined, but their surroundings were, quite frankly, shocking to see for the first time. it felt as if we were in the middle of a war zone. piles of trash lined the streets, frequent scrappy cars were broken down along the roads. the bumpy, dusty roads contained no lines or street signs. cars, trucks, vans, and motorcycles weaved and swerved around each other with a fluid motion, rarely ever stopping. the horn was frequently used. it was truly surreal. i'm not sure any of us spoke until we arrived to the compound.

upon arriving at the compound, we first saw Meg, the other half of our hosts. meg and wilbert were old friends of my fathers. they were part of what he loved so much about Haiti. {you can read more about what they do and their story on their website, click here.} we had met them and their children on a couple occasions early in our childhood, and carried vague memories of them, but i couldn't have guessed how instantly familiar they felt upon seeing them again--so warm, genuine, and welcoming. this trip was so special because of them.

{living hope mission compound}

{sisters on top of the roof at the living hope missions compound}

after settling in a bit and eating some lunch, we hopped back in the truck to get out into the town. with the boys and meg in the bed of the truck balancing on tiny wooden chairs, we were off to visit the building that my father, grandfather and tim had helped build 23 years ago in Jolie--a place that wilbert and meg hadn't been back to since. so it was a special journey for all. again, we sat in awe as we tried to take in all that we were seeing around us. the roads we drove through had ditches so deep that ponds/creeks were created after it rained. freckled along the roads were livestock tied with ropes to various patches of green. throughout the trip we saw a plethora of cows, goats, chickens, roosters, pigs, horses, donkeys, and strays dogs roaming the streets. some seemed healthier than others, but for the most part, they appeared skinny and frail. the deeper we drove into rural areas the more stares we got, and the more frequently "blan!" was shouted at us {simply meaning, white}. many a kiss was blown, or a wave pointed in our direction, with the occasional disgruntled face. people seemed very friendly. granted, none of us spoke creole well enough to know exactly what they were saying.

{rural haiti}

arriving at the building was a pretty special moment. as we got out of the truck and walked up to the building that was surrounded by haitian children playing, i couldn't help but picture my father standing there. tim showed us exactly the work they did, the bricks they made in the street and stacked, the way dad played his guitar and sang for the surrounding haitian children as my grandfather directed each of them with the most efficient plan. it was powerful and beautiful.

{the building my dad, grandfather and tim helped build}

{iphone magic}

the rest of the afternoon was spent driving in and around cap-haitien, trying to gain a better picture of haiti and its people. we saw many things, some more shocking than others, but we certainly each gained a world of knowledge just from getting the chance to see it for ourselves, though we knew that we had so much more to see and to learn.