Fort Jacques

Last Saturday, we loaded our entire youth group of 50+ kids into 6 cars and trekked up the mountain to Fort Jacques. We were given a tour of the early 19th century fort, complete with cannons and a secret tunnel that led to Fort Alexandre, a smaller structure on the adjacent hill.


One of the cannons still had an old ball inside it. Our guide told us the strongest cannons could shoot 17 kilometers, which means that from its vantage point over the city, Fort Jacques was perfectly positioned to protect Port-au-Prince from invading ships.




After touring the fort and crawling around in the tunnel, we split into teams to pick up trash. Haiti is a very trashy country - I mean, there is garbage literally everywhere and it's ugly. I worked with 4 boys: Sadrac, Junior, Anthony, and Bendy. We worked along one side of the fort, picking up trash as people gawked and laughed at us. The boys were such zealous trashmen that when every other group was done, they had to send someone to make us stop so we could leave.






The view from Fort Jacques is amazing! If you visit Haiti and have time to do some tourist-y activities, it's worth the trip.