As the plane descended, I could not help but feel insane for coming here. Even from the air, Haiti reeks with despair. Throughout the rural areas, I could see makeshift huts that housed a dozen people. There were fallow fields and denuded mountains, ravaged by hungry peasants trying to cultivate non-arable land. Over Port-au-Prince, the huge slums came into view. It was not until I landed that the blunt reality hit me. Nothing could have prepared me for the abject poverty and the stark contrasts I saw. The slides, the pictures, the talks, the magazine articles only intimated what it was really like. Now I saw it, in glorious three dimensions, complete with sound and smell.