aileron
Expert Expediter
As many of you know, I went for 2 weeks to Haiti on a relief mission. Here you can read a few words about it.
As soon as the earthquake hit a friend of mine came up with the idea to go there and help with anything we can. We got in contact with our Haitian friends over here and found out what we could do, so 8 of us started raising money and preparing for the trip. We had 2 nurses, 2 EMTs, 2 drivers, and 2 people that knew how things work in Haiti. In a week we were able to raise almost $9000 plus 40 tents that can sleep 6 persons each. We also bought a Katadyn water purification system, all food for ourselves plus some extra, lots of medical supplies. I know that this was only a drop in the bucket compared to what it was needed, but better something than nothing.
Now, the most challenging part was how to get all of these to Haiti. Tried to ship all the stuff to Port-au-Prince, but the port was closed, so the only chance was to take it with us. The airport in Port-au-Prince was closed, and they kept pushing the opening date further and further. Finally, we decided to fly to Santo Domingo and then take the 8 hour bus ride to Haiti.
We were surprised to find plane tickets relatively inexpensive and we purchased them. Now a bigger challenge. How can you take with you 3 pieces of checked luggage, a carry on and a personal item each? And all checked pieces couldn't be heavier than 50 lbs? We moved the things around and each bag was between 49 and 50 lbs.
Normally we could only take one free checked bag per person and pay $30 for the second, but we were told that we couldn't take any more than that, no matter what. So, after about 2 days of phone calls, we got in touch with someone higher up at Jet Blue and they allowed us to check in 3 bags each, for Free. Hats off to Jet Blue people. Fly with them when you get a chance.
We had a contact in Santo Domingo who arranged for us a ride from the airport to the bus station. Then, at the bus station we are told that we could only take on the bus 100lbs per person for free, we would have to pay for the extra. No problem, but the bus was full and there was no more room for half of our stuff. Then we were scratching our heads, and scratching our heads, and begging the bus people, and begging whoever we could, but there was simply no more room. Well, finally the boss of the bus company comes down after everybody else was on the bus and tells us that they have another 'secret compartment' that we can use. It was the compartment where they have the spare tire, so they filled that thing with our bags. We were supposed to pay about $80 for the extra weight, but he only took $40. We thanked him and on the way we were.
The bus people took all of out passports (I was a little worried since I never had to leave my passport out of sight before, but nothing we could do about it). At the border, they took our passports in, stamped it, the haitian guards were looking through the luggage, had almost all bags out of the bus, but our 'secret' compartment didn't even get open, luggage back in the bus and we were on the way to Port-au-Prince, when they give us our passports back. I was thinking, what is they lost one passport, what could be done then? We were already a long way in Haiti when the bus people handed them back to us. But all was well. In Port-au-Prince we had another contact that showed up with 2 Toyota pickup trucks and we were on our way to Leogane, which ended up our base of operation. The pickup trucks were nowhere near what we consider a good vehicle here, but we only had a break down and a flat tire. So, I am thankful for those vehicles, otherwise we would have had to walk a looong way.
When we got there we installed a few tents for ourselves and the rest we gave to the families needing them in the area. Many people don't have anything left, so they stuck 4 sticks in the ground, covered them with sheets and that is where they sleep. In the city is even worse, since they don't have that much space. In a particular place, they have a 4 lane highway with an 8 foot median. In this median they have tents set up and all kinds of stuff that they sleep in. Noise is bad, pollution is bad, the dust is probably half an inch thick, cars zooming by on both sides literally inches away, but that is where they live, with babies, an image that will stay with me for a long time.
Every day for lunch we would cook a big pot of rice and beans and many neighbors would come over to eat with us, especially children, since some of them only have enough to eat once a day. Even though out there in Leogane there was not that much damage, but the people could not take their produce to sell in the city and they don't have money to buy rice and other things they need.
We didn't have that many wounded people to care for as we have hoped (I came to the conclusion that if we want to do lots of wound care, we need to be on the ground within 7 days of the disaster). We treated some eye infections, some minor cuts and bruises, only 2 more serious wounds, gave out vitamins, and purified a lot of water for the people. A few days we went to the city and bought $1000 worth of rice, spaghetti, oil and soap and distributed it to the locals. I am telling you, we almost started a riot there. More people showed up than anticipated, so the next time we gave out meal tickets, and when we came with the food, only those people with tickets were given stuff.
Every single night while we were there, there was an aftershock. Most of them were pretty small, and a second in length or less. One of them though was 4.8 magnitude and it came out of the east, shook us for about 5 seconds and the rumble underground went off to the west. I have never experienced anything like it. All animals waked up and started making noise in their own language, people ran outside making their own noise. 5 minutes later another one hit, but not as bad as this. This happened about 1:30 in the morning. Many locals did not go to sleep again that night.
The last night in Haiti we spent in Port-au-Prince at one of our team member's parents' house. Their house still stands, because it was better constructed than most. We also had an aftershock while sleeping there. The whole city came to life in the middle of the night.
I heard lots and lots of stories of what happened when the earthquake hit. One was particularly interesting. This guy named John left his house and was with a friend in another city. His house in Port-au-Prince was completely destroyed. Neighbors think that John is in the rubble and start calling for him: John, John, where are you? They hear a faint cry from the rubble, I am here, help me. Happy that he is still alive, they start digging with their hands. It took them 4 hours to get to him, by this time it was dark already. So they get to him, shine a flashlight in his face and they scream, It is not John. The poor guy then says, I am not John, but I know him, he is my friend, please get me out of here. Finally they get him out, and also John shows up from the other place, all happy that nobody died in his house.
The trip back was waaay easier than when we went. No tents, no food, only a few snacks to get us back to the US.
I made many friends there, even people that I could not communicate with, especially kids. I guess every one understands the language of Love. I hope I will have a chance to go back there sometime in the future, to meet some of those people in more favorable circumstances.
I ended up talking over 500 photos while there, so I will post a few in the following posts.
As soon as the earthquake hit a friend of mine came up with the idea to go there and help with anything we can. We got in contact with our Haitian friends over here and found out what we could do, so 8 of us started raising money and preparing for the trip. We had 2 nurses, 2 EMTs, 2 drivers, and 2 people that knew how things work in Haiti. In a week we were able to raise almost $9000 plus 40 tents that can sleep 6 persons each. We also bought a Katadyn water purification system, all food for ourselves plus some extra, lots of medical supplies. I know that this was only a drop in the bucket compared to what it was needed, but better something than nothing.
Now, the most challenging part was how to get all of these to Haiti. Tried to ship all the stuff to Port-au-Prince, but the port was closed, so the only chance was to take it with us. The airport in Port-au-Prince was closed, and they kept pushing the opening date further and further. Finally, we decided to fly to Santo Domingo and then take the 8 hour bus ride to Haiti.
We were surprised to find plane tickets relatively inexpensive and we purchased them. Now a bigger challenge. How can you take with you 3 pieces of checked luggage, a carry on and a personal item each? And all checked pieces couldn't be heavier than 50 lbs? We moved the things around and each bag was between 49 and 50 lbs.
Normally we could only take one free checked bag per person and pay $30 for the second, but we were told that we couldn't take any more than that, no matter what. So, after about 2 days of phone calls, we got in touch with someone higher up at Jet Blue and they allowed us to check in 3 bags each, for Free. Hats off to Jet Blue people. Fly with them when you get a chance.
We had a contact in Santo Domingo who arranged for us a ride from the airport to the bus station. Then, at the bus station we are told that we could only take on the bus 100lbs per person for free, we would have to pay for the extra. No problem, but the bus was full and there was no more room for half of our stuff. Then we were scratching our heads, and scratching our heads, and begging the bus people, and begging whoever we could, but there was simply no more room. Well, finally the boss of the bus company comes down after everybody else was on the bus and tells us that they have another 'secret compartment' that we can use. It was the compartment where they have the spare tire, so they filled that thing with our bags. We were supposed to pay about $80 for the extra weight, but he only took $40. We thanked him and on the way we were.
The bus people took all of out passports (I was a little worried since I never had to leave my passport out of sight before, but nothing we could do about it). At the border, they took our passports in, stamped it, the haitian guards were looking through the luggage, had almost all bags out of the bus, but our 'secret' compartment didn't even get open, luggage back in the bus and we were on the way to Port-au-Prince, when they give us our passports back. I was thinking, what is they lost one passport, what could be done then? We were already a long way in Haiti when the bus people handed them back to us. But all was well. In Port-au-Prince we had another contact that showed up with 2 Toyota pickup trucks and we were on our way to Leogane, which ended up our base of operation. The pickup trucks were nowhere near what we consider a good vehicle here, but we only had a break down and a flat tire. So, I am thankful for those vehicles, otherwise we would have had to walk a looong way.
When we got there we installed a few tents for ourselves and the rest we gave to the families needing them in the area. Many people don't have anything left, so they stuck 4 sticks in the ground, covered them with sheets and that is where they sleep. In the city is even worse, since they don't have that much space. In a particular place, they have a 4 lane highway with an 8 foot median. In this median they have tents set up and all kinds of stuff that they sleep in. Noise is bad, pollution is bad, the dust is probably half an inch thick, cars zooming by on both sides literally inches away, but that is where they live, with babies, an image that will stay with me for a long time.
Every day for lunch we would cook a big pot of rice and beans and many neighbors would come over to eat with us, especially children, since some of them only have enough to eat once a day. Even though out there in Leogane there was not that much damage, but the people could not take their produce to sell in the city and they don't have money to buy rice and other things they need.
We didn't have that many wounded people to care for as we have hoped (I came to the conclusion that if we want to do lots of wound care, we need to be on the ground within 7 days of the disaster). We treated some eye infections, some minor cuts and bruises, only 2 more serious wounds, gave out vitamins, and purified a lot of water for the people. A few days we went to the city and bought $1000 worth of rice, spaghetti, oil and soap and distributed it to the locals. I am telling you, we almost started a riot there. More people showed up than anticipated, so the next time we gave out meal tickets, and when we came with the food, only those people with tickets were given stuff.
Every single night while we were there, there was an aftershock. Most of them were pretty small, and a second in length or less. One of them though was 4.8 magnitude and it came out of the east, shook us for about 5 seconds and the rumble underground went off to the west. I have never experienced anything like it. All animals waked up and started making noise in their own language, people ran outside making their own noise. 5 minutes later another one hit, but not as bad as this. This happened about 1:30 in the morning. Many locals did not go to sleep again that night.
The last night in Haiti we spent in Port-au-Prince at one of our team member's parents' house. Their house still stands, because it was better constructed than most. We also had an aftershock while sleeping there. The whole city came to life in the middle of the night.
I heard lots and lots of stories of what happened when the earthquake hit. One was particularly interesting. This guy named John left his house and was with a friend in another city. His house in Port-au-Prince was completely destroyed. Neighbors think that John is in the rubble and start calling for him: John, John, where are you? They hear a faint cry from the rubble, I am here, help me. Happy that he is still alive, they start digging with their hands. It took them 4 hours to get to him, by this time it was dark already. So they get to him, shine a flashlight in his face and they scream, It is not John. The poor guy then says, I am not John, but I know him, he is my friend, please get me out of here. Finally they get him out, and also John shows up from the other place, all happy that nobody died in his house.
The trip back was waaay easier than when we went. No tents, no food, only a few snacks to get us back to the US.
I made many friends there, even people that I could not communicate with, especially kids. I guess every one understands the language of Love. I hope I will have a chance to go back there sometime in the future, to meet some of those people in more favorable circumstances.
I ended up talking over 500 photos while there, so I will post a few in the following posts.
