One thing I am constantly learning is that Haitian culture is very relational. A sense of space or sequence is not the main thing, and that became evident on a recent flight to Haiti. Americans tend to board a plane in the order in which they are asked to board—Haitians board all at once, which takes much longer as those sitting in the front and bump into those heading toward the back. Once I got seated, I was fascinated by observing this process. As I watched, I noticed the Haitians had brought lots of carry-on luggage and were packing it in tight in the overhead bins. The stewards came on the intercom saying not to open a shut door and to move on to the next bin, but nothing changed. Haitians are used to getting close to one another and helping everyone and their belongings get on a tap-tap or a bus, so it makes sense that a plane would be no different.

We ran into a small hiccup as this flight was so full of people (and for some reason, there were so many bags!) that we were over our weight limit. The captain came on the intercom and said the plane was exceeding weight regulations, so he was going to have to burn some fuel before taking off. I wasn’t sure what this meant until we got out of the gate, and he drove around on the tarmac until we reached the desired fuel level. Sadly, we learned that we still exceeded the weight limit and heard we were headed back to the gate. At the gate, the stewardess came on the intercom and asked for four volunteers to get off the flight so we could get down to the weight limit. They were offering $1,200 vouchers plus a hotel stay, meals, and a promise to catch the first flight out on Monday. She had no trouble getting volunteers.

We landed in Haiti a few hours later than planned, but we were excited to meet up with Poyis and the Connect 2 Ministries security team. It is always a blessing to see dear friends at the end of a long journey.

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Wiley Kennedy serves as Director of International Ministries with Connect 2 Ministries. To learn more about Wiley, visit Who We Are, and to learn how you can make a difference, visit Join an Outreach Program.