Why We Return

Hello, it's Hannah here, I just wanted to let you all know that we are doing great and this has been the longest day and a half I've experienced in awhile, but it all has been worth it and I've honestly loved every second of it! I just wanted to say something to the fact that 3 of us have returned, and though I can't speak for them, I want to speak for myself and sort of explain why. It took me til the bus ride up here from Petion-Ville to form the sentences as to WHY. I knew that I was meant to be here right as I stepped off the plane, but why?
The easy answer is because it's home. Honestly, the first sight of Haiti was just a relief. I can't explain why, but it was so nice to see all of our old friends from last year, and see the changes in Haiti in just a year-all of the changes are wonderful and astounding how much it's changed! There's tons of new parks in Port-au-Prince, the trash situation has drastically decreased (it's still there but has gone down) and there has been tons of new houses built and some of the people living in the slums has moved into these nice houses above and out of waterways and trash. It was also comforting to have the similar bus rides here. This afternoon, we had to back up to get into the gate here in Cange and for some reason we couldn't get the bus into gear so we would jerk backwards and then the driver would slam on the brakes, jerking us forward again, and this repeated several times. I feel like last year we would have all been screaming with the rest of the kids, but this year, I couldn't stop laughing. I knew the man had the bus situation under full control, and it was just funny to see the whole thing play out.
But the real reason as to why I came back is because Haiti has a way of burrowing it's way into your heart, through every smile, "bonswa," act of kindness, Creole lesson and so much more. You just need to fill your heart with Haiti or else you know for the rest of your life that you'll regret that you didn't come back just that one more time. The only problem though is that you can never have enough pieces to fill your heart, your heart is always growing because of how nice everyone is and how many wonderful experiences you have so you can't ever leave for too long. You just know you need to come home to Haiti again. It's the need to fill your heart with Haiti which is why we return. And, as you know, "Home is where the heart is." I'm pretty sure it's obvious: this is my new home.