Walking the Streets of Les Cayes

Les Cayes is one of the largest cities in Haiti. Located in the southern department (southwestern region) of Haiti, it has been my home for the last year. Though I don't live directly in the city, I am only a 10-minute drive away. I live a mile off the beaten path in a village known as Castel Perre where the houses are made of straw and mud and the roofs covered with palms. I drive to town at least twice a week whether it be to buy groceries or supplies or give out food and toothbrushes to the street children. I remember being scared to walk around town by myself. I don't know what I was afraid of but I felt like a stranger and an intruder. Not knowing the language only made me feel worse.

Things quickly changed. I began learning Haitian Creole. I began meeting people and making friends. The street children learned my name and so did the taxi drivers. Before I knew it, I no longer felt like a trespasser. I felt welcomed. I felt at home.

These streets, which to the visitor, seem so broken, empty and destroyed are exactly the opposite. I admit that when I first came to Haiti, all I saw was pain and anguish in every face and sadness in every set of eyes. I know now that I saw only what I wanted to see. I was taught to see Haiti as a country of absolute devastation, a country that lacked hope and a country destined for suffering. There were smiles. There were people laughing. There were mothers hugging their children and husbands kissing their wives. But I seemed to ignore all of the good things and only believed the bad things that I saw. Now, as I near my exit, I understand more than ever how beautiful of a country this is and how beautiful its people are. This is a country like no other, a country that can be devastated by hurricane after hurricane, flood after flood, diasater after diasaster and still wake up each morning singing and thanking God for what they have. There is no word for suicide in Creole. The people I've met this year are among the most kind, passionate and thankful people that I have ever come across. I will never forget Haiti or the Haitians that changed my life.


Downtown Les Cayes. There is no public waste management in Haiti. For the most part, people burn their own trash. This is one of the many public piles of garbage that builds up until someone decides to burn it or move it to another location.
One of the nicer homes in downtown Les Cayes.

Downtown Les Cayes mid-afternoon.

This is a "tap tap." It's the public means of transportation. For about 5 gourdes ($0.10) you can get a ride across town and get off wherever you'd like. Yes, every tap tap is this full and if you're one of the lucky ones to get on when it's empty, just wait 10 minutes and before you know it, you'll be sitting on someone's lap.