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Sunday, October 9, 2011
Travel Day(s)
Monday, February 14, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Family i befriended
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A few of the cast of characters
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Day 7
Mark and Childer (our translator) picked me up from the Embassy about 1030 and we headed to the house. Things handpicked up or Global DIRT the last day or two because we had a pilot and his personal helicopter at our disposal. He is from New Jersey and comes to Haiti periodically to assist in any way be can. Adam lined him up with several missions delivering medical supplies and water purification supplies to small communities throughout Haiti. Logistical support is another facet of GD. Mark Childer and I then went to our makeshift helicopter landing zone to meet up with Adam, our private pilot and a German medical helicopter. The landing zone is in a field adjacent to the Embassy and happens to be the site of a drivers training facility. The facility consists of an open field with rocks instead of cones marking out lanes and curbs. Childed jumped on he German helicopter to translate for them as they picked up a patient. Mark and I drove to the MTI facility and picked up a truck full of water jerry cans that we took to the private helicopter to be dropped in a mountain community. The rest of the day I spent planning a water assessment mission in a mountain community which never materialized. We ran out of time and they were going to do it the next day, the day I had to leave. I was looking forward the helicopter ride and seeing Haiti outside of Port au Prince but it just didn't work out. I went on one more ride to a small airport to pick up the pilot and some goods from the street vendors. On the way back I walked back a portion of the way and spent a little time with a family living in a small shack. They let me take several pictures and video and even tour their home. I have noticed that if show even the slightest warmth, and love to anyone in Haiti they just melt from our kitchen lady to our yard guy to a guard at the Embassy and the small family. Everyone has been very greatful for material things but even more so for love.
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Thursday, February 10, 2011
Day 6 contd
The only other substantial event of the day was a transport from a medical clinic roughly thirty five minutes from the house. The clinic is run by Medical Teams International (MTI) a Christian organization in a rural tent city. I guess this is probably a superb type setting with lots of room between tents. It turns out none of these tent cities existed before the earthquake. So our transport was for a woman in active labor. When we arrived her contractions were at 9 minutes and her water had not broken. We loaded her into the back of the truck, tucked the corners of a blue tarp into the front doors and held the back and sides of it to make a shade for the patient. We took her to a Haitian maternity clinic about a 25 minute trip and dropped her off. The rest of the consisted of plumbing the outdoor shower pump to the cistern. We had the rice and bean sauce win dumplings for dinner and it was delicious.
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Passport contd
Great news! It took coming all the way to Haiti to find an efficient US Government agency. I had my appointment at 9 this morning and filled out some forms, paid the fees and walked out about an hour later with an emergency passport. Very friendly and efficient process.
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Passport contd
Great news! It took coming all the way to Haiti to find answer efficient US Government agency. I had my appointment at 9 this morning and filled out some forms, paid the fees and walked out about an hour later with an emergency passport. Very friendly and efficient process.
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Day 6
Things were a little slow getting going this morning. There was nothing planned except to continue the picnic table and shower projects. I headed out between 9 and 930 with G and Mark to find the proper police station and hopefully get a police report for the lost passport. It took nearly thirty minutes to get to it. Parked out front were three water tender/pumper fire engines and one rough looking ladder truck. It turns out these are the only fire protection vehicles for the entire city of 3.5 million people. G told the front guard what we needed who then pointed to a room win a line of people outside and a female in a uniform writing police reports sitting on one of those old chair/desks from school. Inside the room the walls were lined with benches that we're nearly full of people. It didn't look very promising. We sat in the corner of the room next to a pathway that led to a room filled with trash and smelling of urine. We waited for about ten minutes until G informed us hat his cousin did indeed work at this very same station. He made a few phone calls and tolls he'd be right back, then disappeared. Five minutes later he came back and motioned for us to follow him. He led us through a courtyard filled with cars, up some stairs to another waiting room that actually had air conditioning! We waited here for 15 minutes because his cousin was busy. Finally our turn arrived. We walk into the office consisting of a desk with two chairs in front, another desk with a large tv on top on the side of he room next to a file cabinet and chair. The officers desk had a laptop on he side, two cell phones and a small stack of papers in the middle and a larger stack of papers on the other side topped by two Bibles and a clip full of ammo. Along the front of his desk were typical desktop items besides the neatly lined up row of ammo in defending order. I set up this scene because it has been one of the best so far. Thankfully he spoke English and I explained to him the situation and what I needed. He obliged and made a phone call. While we were waiting he continued his work making various phone calls and filling out paperwork all the while refreshing his facebook page every 60 seconds. He must have been important because he had a lot of visitors. When someone would knock he wouldn't look up but ring a bell and they would enter and state their business. Long story short another man came in a.d filled out the report with no problem and we were on our way. On the way back we stopped at a photo studio to get my passport photos. It was located in the same kind of dilapidated concrete block building as the rest of Haiti but what lay in the back was truly amazing. After paying 200gdes or 5 bucks the photographer took me to the back where their studio was. What took place next was Uncle Ricos photo session from Napolian Dynamite. Walking into the studio was no different than your typical mall picture place just a little more run down. Here were various backgrounds, toys for the kids and props. The photographer hung a semiclean whit sheet up for a background and placed a nice white Romanesque bench there for me to sit on. Before sitting he offered me a vest to wear because I just had a plain t shirt on. I declined because it was just a head shot and took a seat. He came up to me folded my hands across my lap and put his hands on either side of my face and tilted my head just where he wanted it. He snapped a few shots making sure to use the big umbrella flash behind him. We walked out he printed the photos and we left for home. This is way too long and I'm tired so i'll finish later.
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Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Passport
Yes it happened. Friday I noticed my passport was missing. Sometime my first day here my passport either fell out of or was taken from my pocket. Im not sure exactly how, when or where it happened but it did. I tried keeping very tight security on it but at one point when driving around the city I noticed my pocket was unbuttoned. My wallet with a bunch of cash was in the same pocket and remained untouched so I'm leaning toward the passport falling out. I researched the replacement process online and called and visited the Embassy on Monday. They informed me I need an appointment, a police report and two passport photos. The guards drew me a map to the police station and Adam and G our driver/kind of translator took me there. This is where we hit our first speed bump. The guards at the front let us through into the lobby which consisted of a few women, mostly in uniform, sitting behind some glass in a small booth. G explained the situation and they were insistent that we were in the wrong place. We pressed on telling them that this is where the Embassy told us that we needed to go. Finally they gave us a visitor pass and pointed down a hall into the inner sanctum of the police station. We wound our way through the halls and eventually knocked on a door hoping it was the right one and it was. Inside was a woman typing away and a man just sitting behind a small desk with a few papers on top. He looked at us and made a gesture like "what do you want?" G wanted clarification on exactly what to say to the man so I tried to get a hold of the Embassy to no avail. Adam called someone and while G was on he phone getting schooled on what exactly a police report is I stuck out my hand and introduced myself to the man behind he desk. He said his name was James and he was doing well...in perfect English. For the past ten minutes he was just sitting there as we made a bunch of phone calls and tried to explain to G what to tell the man. I explained to to the man my situation and he disappeared for five minutes. When he returned he wanted me to write down my name and exactly what happened. After completing this he said we needed to go to another police station because they only handle big crimes like rapes and murder. So this morning we are headed to the next station and to find a place to make passport photos. Once I have these i'll bring them to my appointment at the Embassy on Thursday afternoon to get an emergency passport which I'll use to fly out on Friday morning. Pray that Gods will be done in his situation and that I see the opportunities before me, they seem to be endless here.
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Monday, February 7, 2011
Day 5
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Weather
The weather here has been in the low 90s during the day and the high 60s/low70s during the night. I can tell that the humidity is higher here but not unbearable. It feels hot during the day but the sun isn't unbearable and the shade provides some relief. There has been a slight breeze during the day which seems to die off completely during the night time hours. An inversion seems to settle in most evenings trapping the warm air, smog and smoke from the burning trash. Clouds come and go and it did sprinkle for two minutes one day. The nights are very warm and it has been a battle for me to either strip clothing to cool down or leave it on to protect from mosquitoes.
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Sunday, February 6, 2011
Day 4
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Day 3
Global dirt rents a driver and his truck for $500 a month. This is their only form of transportation so when the driver is off for the weekend we're kind of stuck. It made for a very slow morning. The rest of the day consisted of cleaning the badly neglected bathroom and helping another volunteer organize the medical supply room. We walked to Belmart and picked up a few supplies and ended the day with an eggplant curry over rice. The best part of the trip thus far has been giving the kitchen lady a creole bible which she was very happy about and very appreciative. When I walked into the house she began to read it aloud to the house boy and did so for a good ten minutes.
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Saturday, February 5, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Day two
Interesting day today. Didn't do a whole lot but got to see a lot of the city. This morning we drove to another ngo called grassroots (look em up there a bunch of hippies) dropped off some toys and picked up some meds. They are a logistics org that warehouses goods. They work it like those pennies on a gas station counter, if you have extra stuff just give it to them so if you need something they have they'll give it to you. After that we picked up a gunshot patient and took him to Medishare, a medical clinic run by an American university. Although shot on the stomach it missed all vital organs and he was able to go.home. We returned to the house picked up the rest of the crew and headed to the airport to drop off a volunteer. The guy running he show decided to fly to Miami with him because he needed some cash to buy a truck. Next we headed up the mountain out of town to an orphanage called Gods little angels and picked up some whistles. This trip took about two hours and involved running out of gas and stopping to fill the radiator several times. The orph houses 175 kids. We were lost and wouldn't have found it but a church group.from Iowa was returning from PAP and led us to it. The whistles are for another group building a battered womens shelter and will be handed out as rape whistles. I told them knives would work much better but the orphanage didn't have any. Back down the hill to the house for a bowl of pasta, a sponge bath and shave and a walk to the local Belmart which is like a small.grocery store, way out of place because a box of bran flakes cost 7 bucks and the average Haitian lives on less than two dollars a day. Don't mind the spelling or grammar as i'm typing this on my phone.
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