there and back again

I got home from Haiti two nights ago. Culture shock set in immediately.

When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by one of the translators we had last year. "Sarah! Jessica! I didn't know you were coming!" Teams from the US and Canada show up at this place weekly, if not more often. The fact that he (and others) remembered not only my face, but my name, is incredible. I wasn't lied to when I was told that these people would never forget me.

One of the days I was working at the hospital I was talking to a woman who I also knew from last year. She asked me what I do for work at home. I was about to answer her, when it occurred to me, "she's probably never heard of Starbucks." So I said "I work at a coffee shop... have you ever heard of Starbucks?" I got a blank stare and a "no." If someone had ever asked me "do you think there are people in the world who've never heard of Starbucks?" the answer would obviously be "yes." But no one's ever asked me that question. I've never thought about it. It's a strange thing to think about, no?


I could talk on and on about the poverty, but it's unnecessary. I'll tell you about it if you ask me. It's depressing. And what's even more depressing is being back in the US. Watching people live so extravagantly, get so upset about things that don't matter at all... all while I have friends who are living in poverty. I mean, the people I know are better off than most others. They have jobs, are educated or being educated, they have places to live, and most have families. Well, the orphans don't have families. But they have each other. But they're all skin and bones. They clean their plates (when they are given meals). They have little clothing, and even less of other things that we take for granted. Like electricity, running water, internet, clean water. We walked past this water source where people bathe, do their laundry, and get their drinking water. It's all from the same place. And then we walked down a ways, and I noticed a dead pig lying in the water. Can you imagine living like that? That's reality. It's not the way the majority of the world lives, and it's certainly not the way we live, but there are real, live, loving, caring, intelligent, educated human beings out there who live like this from day to day.

Oops. I talked about the poverty. That's what happens... I try not to, because I know it disengages people's interest, and it always comes off as sounding demeaning. I'm sorry. I don't mean to. I've just seen and experienced things, and when you ask me to tell you about it I don't know how to respond. Do you want "it was a really great trip. I had a really nice time." or do you want "three days ago I was holding and hugging and feeding de-worming medication to hungry orphans with no pants or underwear, with bloated bellies and orange hair from malnutrition. So now it's really depressing and emotionally grueling to try to appease customers who are yelling at me because I ran out of chocolate chips for their Venti Java Chip Frappuccino." You know? People don't want to hear that. But it's true.

I wish people would say "I want to politely inquire about your trip, but if you speak more than one sentence in response my eyes will instantly glaze over with disinterest."