Approaching PAP (Port au Prince Airport), the view out the window wasn’t quite what I expected. You know how when you fly into just about any major city airport, the buildings around the airport tend to be nice, inviting and otherwise business and/or tourist oriented?

Not so, Port au Prince. In fact, other than the terminals, most of the buildings around the airport were houses. And, as you can see in the photo, these aren’t your nice manicured neighborhoods. The first thing that greets you when you land is poverty. The last thing you see as you leave is poverty. It’s in front of you at every turn. Yes, there are places where the wealthy can get away from it. But one cannot travel around Haiti without being confronted with poverty.

This is why I was in Haiti. It was through Jean Rony’s pursuit to get aid for his people that I met him. But that’s a part of the story that will have to wait. I will say that we’ve become good friends and through these efforts he was able to come to the US for a couple of weeks last spring. More on that later.

One problem with poverty all over the world is water. Even on a tropical island, water is a major issue. There are many reasons for this, though one of the most poorly understood may be the loss of groundwater…

Read more…