Leaving Haiti

We're back in the DR and will travel back to Canada tomorrow. As we have been debriefing as a small team, our hearts are filled with all kinds of thoughts and memories.

• people we met and held as they were cared for
• mothers and fathers trying to care for families when everything they had was destroyed
• seeing girls (and men and women and babies...) dealing with the realities of amputation
• Pondering our relative wealth that we so take for granted. Wealth in so many ways
• Asking when we will be back
• realizing the level of exhaustion - physical, mental, spiritual, emotional
• amazement at how quickly friendships can be made in times of crisis

It will take time for each one of us to deal with the realities of what we experienced.

Was it worth it? Absolutely! Being part of a team that performed over 1500 medical interventions from wound care to intense orthopedic operations was amazing. Many of these people would have died or lost limbs without our care.

I am humbled at the reality of it all.

Thank you for your support and interest...







More pictures at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190708&id=674531082&l=104873007e

New photos

click on this link to go to 60 new pictures

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190601&id=674531082&l=0a5b85d04c

New Video: What makes a good relief worker?

Sorry for the size issues with the videos in some browsers

Hospital in Port Au Prince

Calling for more relief

Help us raise funds for Support.

Please support the relief effort we are directly involved in as we financially support the long term relief efforts of the Jesuit Church in Haiti to react where there currently is no aid and respond to the long term future need of the People of Haiti.

Would you consider partnering with the Haiti team with a financial gift? All donations are tax deductible and can be sent to:

CIDO
Christian Indigenous Development Overseas
142 Dalhousie Road NW
Calgary, AB T3A 2H1

CIDO is a small Calgary based NGO specializing in international economic development and has kindly offered to handle the financial details for the team and issue tax receipts with no administrative levy.

(Cheques are made payable to CIDO. Please do not write our names on the check, simply include a note designating funds for Haiti relief team.)

Sunday in Haiti

Our day began with an ecumenical service that helped us reflect on our surroundings and situations we are experiencing.

The team then joined into 3 groups to do medical work at IDP camps and hospitals.
The group with Pat, Rey, and Colleen had a busy day seeing over 60 patients including a lot of children with diarrhea, skin diseases and PTSD.The day ended early as a truck showed up with donated water and we decided to leave over the chaps for water.

A touching story from the day was a taxi driver who showed up with a young boy who we assumed was his son, however he was a 6 year old boy who had lost his parents and grandparents and had latched on to him. This man had 4 children of his own and his wife had died. A young dominican couple agreed to foster him for month and there is a woman in Chicago who is hoping to adopt him.

Additional Saturday Update

• Team continues to work hand in hand with Team Rubicon (which has grown to more than 20 members)
• L'Arche Haiti has 11 buildings on 3 properties, 10 of the buildings have been condemned
• All 40 of L'Arche's community members are living outdoors - no electricity, only mattresses, but they do have a well. Wayne and Rey set up a sleeping area for them in a banana grove using 40 x 20' tarps
• The team is going where other larger teams are not, this has really been appreciated and become their niche
• Colleen ran a pharmacy today out of a tap tap (local vehicle), helping a team of 10 medics
• Sheila administered wound care
• Pat assessed medical needs at L'Arche
• Alex continues to serve as team communicator, and edit video from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  
• BBC News reported that between 80-90% of the homes in Carrefour are damaged, and 400,000 people will be moved into tent cities around Port au Prince
• Today team members have reported feeling fulfilled, well used, and so glad to be helping the Haitians.
• Wayne's informative phone call got cut short as he was parked on the tarmac at the airport picking up medical supplies...it's a funny world!
• The team continues to sleep in tents at the Jesuit seminary, but enjoy the morning and evening debriefs with Team Rubicon
  

Saturday Update from Port Au Prince

Today the team became part of three different teams as the group of relief workers at the Jesuit seminary continues to grow. Pat, Wayne and Rey went to Carrefour to deliver supplies to the L'Arche community there and to see if there were any gaps in medical care. The community, while very damaged, is in good shape. MSF has responded with medical care, the markets are thriving and the major roads are clear of debris. The team had a good visit at L'Arche.

Colleen and Sheila were each on different mobile medical teams in Port au Prince. They set up mobile clinics in three different IDP camps. Each camp is different. Colleen's team treated illness along with ongoing wound care, Sheila's team was dealt primarily with fractures,
infections and wounds. Both Colleen and Sheila are quickly earning their PA (Physician's Assistant) qualifications!

Buildings are still collapsing. It's hard to watch as people struggle to rescue loved ones from the rubble.

Where have the videos gone?

The team videos are currently being re-edited into a more detailed picture of this complex relief effort. Thank you for your support and comments

Responding to news on the ground: L'arche Haiti

Last night L'arche Haiti contacted us to let us know that their community of 40 in Haiti, has had to move outside with out any tents or tarps for shelter.

L'arche communities specialize in creating communities specifically including intellectually challenged and disabled adults these members require a high level support and care, and make up the majority of the L'arche Haiti community.

We have been requested to help and supply much needed food, water and medication for these members, particularly those requiring medication for their intellectual disabilities. As well as setting up tents and shelters for the coming weeks.

L'arche Haiti is situated in Carrefour with one of the only building not to collapse in the quake in the surrounding community. But with the aftershocks returning is still unsafe.

The Team plans to arrive at L'arche Haiti tomorrow.

L'arche Haiti Website

http://larchehaiti.org/

L'arche Haiti blog:

http://www.larche.ca/reporters/jonathan/mwen_pa_fou/en

Photos of L'arche Haiti here:

http://www.larche.ca/en/images_of_larche/photoessays/larche_haiti

Wednesday and Thursday

Just got into Santo Domingo after a 8 hour drive.

Wedenesday 6 am - I awoke thinking that someone shaking the car I was sleeping in. It was a large 15 second tremor. There were yells, "get out of the house" and screams of fear. The 100 Haitians in tents were up and out. I was filled with memories of the earthquake 11 years ago in Colombia.

To be more effective we joined agreat medical team that cam in 3 days earlier. Great group that were thankful for our help and our SUV. We wondered how we could help but it worked out well.

We drove through the rubble of the city to the Main Hospital taht was still standing. Because all of the patients had been moved out of the hospital in fear, everything was outside. The sun was hot and we could not go inside until 2:30 pm

I led the team setting up the tarps for a shelter 40 X 30 feet, using scrounged rope, boards and and tarps. We set it up on a sidewalk as the triage ward for new incoming patients. The doctors started working. One was delivering a baby, another setting bones, others cleaning wounds....

I also carried a corpse on a door to the morgue with one of the fireman. That was hard as we had to cross over 100 yards of slimy road way.We figured it was from body fluids. We later heard over 900 had been piled there.. We also saw maybe 20 in varying states of decay, and causes of death. I hope I don't have nightmares about it.

It was 35 by midmorning. I had to sit down with heat exhaustion - many of us had troubles with that, but I drank over 15 bottles of water, many with oral rehydration crystals. I feel great now.

A doctor asked me to drive back to the Jesuit compound with him. We ran out of IV, pediatric medicines etc. We got them and raced back. We had to drive through the city and saw at least 3 tent cities of 1000+ tents, tarps, or sheets housing families.

At 6pm I went on a 1.5 hour search for gasoline with our interpreter. The city is totally dark. There are no lights except the occasional garbage fire. Where someone had a generator and a light there were great crowds o people. In some neighbourhoods, they have closed of roads and everyone sleeps on the street. My heart boke for these men and wonen and their kids.

Our interpreter is a gem. His wife runs a small used clothing business. When their house collapsed she lost all her inventory and savings. They were safe but devastated....

Pat was in her element in triage and the emergency room. Fixing broken femurs with Colleen, cleaning wound, prepping patients for surgery, doing infusions etc.

Sheila ran the Pharmacy and was also in her element. She immediately got involved organizing the pharmacy at the hospital, then distributing meds and IVs, then help ing doctors.

Colleen was helping everyone, doing errands, delivering supplies, helping with tarps.holding patients while Pat fixed femurs.

Alex is doing well. It was hard for him as he saw the journalists and videographers - lots of them looking for the worst cases. Jesse Jackson Anderson Cooper and lots of others. Sticking their cameras almost down patients throats they were so close. It was embarrassing. He will have more to say about that later. We have worked out well.

By the end of the day the hospital was full of every agency under the sun. they no longer needed our help.

Thursday the team was going to go to new untouched neighbourhoods where no one had helped.

When we got back to the Jesuit facility 4 big rigs were being unloaded including the one this team funded. 40 feet of protein - cheese and sausage. Wow. Its being delivered as we speak. Thanks donors.

Thursday morning we leave by 7 to get to Santo Domingo, to pick up Rey and get some desparately needed supplies, plus get medicine for the L'Arche community in Carrefour. We will go there Saturday with supplies. Pat, Colleen and Sheila are staying behind in the very good care of this team and the Jesuit priest will be watching out for them.

We are now in Santo Domingo. It took 1.5 hours to get across the border. Thousands are trying to cross the border.

Pick up Rey, supplies and then back....

Team Pat is working with

blog.teamrubiconhaiti.org

This is a link to the blog of the team that Pat will be working with this week.

The Jesuits are Amazing! (writing from Port au Prince)

We're in Port au Prince in a Jesuit seminary backyard with 100 others serving here. They set up a satellite wireless connection for communication, thinking of our communications needs.

We are amidst Haitians, Dominicans, Spaniards, Americans, Canadians and others at an Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp in the backyard of the Jesuit seminary. In the midst of all of this we have hi-speed internet!

Our drive in began early and was 9 1/2 hours long due to being lost (temporarily confused - so the guys term it). We stopped in Jimani along the border and stopped in at a Claretans parish and Parroquial Centre that has been turned into a children's orthopaedic clinic where we saw 23 children with different injuries including broken bones, fractures, amputations, etc. After this we were quickly told that we had to catch a 40 truck convoy of trucks to take us into Port au Prince.

It was a slow drive in as there were many trucks heading into the city. As we got closer to PAP we could see the destruction, collapsed buildings and people wandering around. Many people were carrying luggage with the few belongings they had left.

We're sleeping in tents and eating food we brought in. We are constantly hearing outgoing planes overhead as we are at the end of the runway.

A team of 12 men just came in - paramedics, doctors, fireman and a history teacher. Most are former army. They are led by the Jesuit history teacher. Today they did more than 200 operations including compound fractures, amputations below the knee, above the knee, arms, hands etc. Pat joins their team in the morning through next Tuesday.

They can only operate until 5:30 pm when the light ends as there is no power. Then they collapse with exhaustion, sleep and go out the next morning.

Later tonight the rest of us will find out we are doing.

Thanks for your prayers.

Jimani

The team is heading out to Jimani today, just on the Dominican side of the border to a medical and distribution camp. They will be staying overnight in a tent camp with displaced people, many of whom are injured or sick. They will be assessing the process of distribution of aid from the Catholic church to the border and then on into Haiti and the distribution centers there.

This is a map of where Jimani is:


View Larger Map

Logistics and a PAP report

At the Santo Domingo rental car area large vehicles and SUVs are in short supply. They are also expensive - $140 / day for a Suzuki SUV with insurance for Haiti. There was a French search and resue team that came with tons of stuff. They had been waiting for 24 hours for transportation.

We have met some security personnel who had driven out of PAP this morning. They say everything is much better than just 2 days ago. From a security standpoint, they say its like a rough neighbourhood. This morning they saw couples walking holding hands and some evidence of limited looting. The UN forces and armed forces are out in high evidence this morning for the first time.

Most of the bodies are gone. The smell is letting up now except around buildings still being cleaned out.

It's a 5 hour drive to the Haiti border and then 1.5 hours to PAP. the road is safe, The big issue is the distribution of supplies at this time. Everyone is looking for water.

The Dominican people mobilizing aid for Haiti

So, it’s the end of day one. After getting to our little hotel last night at 3:30 am and a short night sleep it was our opportunity to meet with our Jesuit partners, talk about needs and gaps to be filled and see firsthand what they are doing.

The Dominican response has been incredible. The nation has totally opened their homes, hearts and wallets and the volunteer mobilization is fabulous – they are enthusiastic, energetic, well trained and hard working.

This morning we learned that this small country has already invested $12 million into earthquake efforts. That is very comparable to our canadian investment! Yesterday they had 2 one day TV telethons - and raised $2.5 million in $5 and $10 gifts - for many, that's a day's salary.

The hospitals here are filled to overcrowding and the need is recognized everywhere.

Observations - really well organized
We spent our time both at a collection/sorting point in Santo Domingo. Churches, individuals, businesses and just kept appearing at the loading dock every 10 minutes with vehicle loads of food, water, clothing, tents, bedding, and medicine in small quantities. Then a team of 30 students were furiously sorting it all for shipment out to the distribution centre.

At the distribution warehouse, everything was palletted and put on transport trucks for Haiti. In the last 3 days they have sent seven 48-foot transport trailers have been shipped to the Haitian DR border. Then a Haitian tractor is hitched up and taken to the distribution centre in Port au Prince. Four more trailers are being assembled right now.

Today's activities
Alex shot some video. Sheila was able to speak into and help problem solve some of the supply chain issues in their staging warehouse. Pat and Colleen just jumped in and sorted… Wayne was working through the financial issues with Antonio of the shipping issues. They have lots of goods, but are short on cash that hasn't flowed in yet.

What will $1300 US do?
When we came down we brought some cash to serve immediate needs that were brought to our attention. This group has moved so fat to serve and support it is amazing. But, cash to support has lagged behind in it's delivery.

We were informed that tomorrow a refrigerated 48 foot trailer filled with donated cheese and sausage is going from one of the major grocery chains. The problem was that the trucking company wanted their $1300 up front. It needed to be transported directly to PAP for immediate distribution of much needed protein for thousands.

Thanks to our wonderful supporters who have given to this team through CIDO (address on the side). As a result, thousands will be getting fresh meat and cheese tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow and beyond...
Tomorrow we are heading up to the Haitian border where there is a displaced persons camp. We will be there for 2 days sleeping in tents and getting involved. From there we’ll decide what happens.

It’s hard to tell, we’re working within the Jesuit/Caritas structure, so we’ll run with what they want us to do.

Thanks for remembering us and for all of you who have enabled in one way or another this trip.

Latest News

I received a text message from Alex this morning that said the following:

"We arrived here at 3am, about 2/3 of the flight were aid workers. We met with Antonio this morning and now we are going to visit the distribution site here in the DR."


I'll let you know as we hear more.

-Meghan (Alex's wife)

Encouraging thanks for Travelling?

It has been a humbling experience over the past 24 hours as I have picked up last minute essentials and then asked for them to be given for free. The folks at Home Depot were so happy to help as they gave us 75 pairs of work gloves, 100 masks and other stuff. They so wanted to help. (Wayne)

We have been surprised by the responses at the American Airlines desk, from the stores, even from the US immigration and customs people have said thanks for going. The AA agent, (name Yahya) stopped us after giving us our boarding passes, then shook each of our hands, looked in our eyes, and said GodSpeed. That was a new experience.

We arrive at midnight in Santo Domingo, then meet our Dominican hosts in the morning. Antonio informed us this afternoon that some, or all of us will be traveling into Haiti at some time in the next several days. What that entails we will find out... we all wish we knew....

It has been very encouraging to know that so many have been praying for us, and we really appreciated Church staff, home church and MCC leaders and friends sending us off in prayer this morning. Thank you.

We have internet in the DR and will report nightly while in the hotel.

Thank you for your interest in support.

Why, What and How?

I received an email this morning asking "Why are we helping starting in the DR and not in Haiti, and What are we doing? and then where will the money come from? Good questions...

It all starts with relationships. A dear friend with Jesuit roots asked for assistance. We give what we can. What God assembled was a really cool team. We will serve and help and train where asked. And we will look for opportunity to give.

Why not start in Haiti? The logistics are crazy and we are helping a very grassroots movement that will come in from the side.

Will we get to Haiti? Probably. But that is up to our Jesuit hosts and the teams we help train. We tell you when we do.

Where's the money come from? That's a good question when 2 of the team are unemployed right now and none of the team are well paid. We are available... we seek to be obedient and we trust God that some friends will come around us to help... In the meantime everything is on VISA.

We have been asked to help with four key tasks in the next 12 days.

1. Help assess how we can best utilize hundreds of untrained volunteers who live a 4 hour drive from Port au Prince, so that we can be most cost effective and efficient?
2. Help train available Dominican volunteers immediately in basic healthcare and rescue so that they can go into Haiti and help.
3. Help facilitate clear communication with the church in English speaking North America about what the Dominican church is doing to help the Haitian people.
4. Help the Dominicans raise $1,000,000 in North America through the Catholic Church to fund trucking costs (one tractor trailer load to Port au Prince costs $1300), water, and medicine in the next 30 days.

Our team will have our hands full assisting Antonio in these four areas.

The total cost for our small team is less than $15,000 including transportation into Haiti.

Will you come alongside us financially so that we can leverage 6 people and $15,000 to release hundreds of Dominicans to help Haitians, and send over 400 tractor trailer loads into Haiti?

When the earth moves, it’s time to pray

2010 January 16

by Mark Petersen
My friend Mark wrote this in his blog this morning. I so appreciated it.

Why is it that when we are stripped of everything we possess, that our eyes and hearts turn heavenward? Some in their misery turn and shake their fists at the sky. But even in doing so, acknowledge Someone greater is there to hear their anguish. Others turn and thank God for life. Even if that’s all they have left.

I’m struck by Peter Goodspeed’s article today in the National Post. Port-au-Prince is filled with prayer that lasts throughout the night.

This is probably the poorest and most miserable place on Earth right now, but every night, just as the sun sets, crowds of frightened people gather together in streets and parks to spend the night singing and praying.

They praise God for their misery; thank him for sparing their lives and cheer each other up with rousing choruses of popular Haitian hymns.

At night, you can hear the hymns roll up Port-au-Prince’s earthquake-shattered hills as if they were being delivered directly to heaven by angels.

Songs of praise and shouted prayers of joy rise like smoke from the shattered city.

And more…

All night long, the city is filled with prayer.

Early Friday morning, around 5 a.m., there was a severe aftershock that rattled and broke some homes that were still standing in Delmas. (The one I was in suffered severe damage to the second floor — cracks on the foundation and ceilings).

But within minutes of the quake you could hear a chorus of hymns rising all over Port-au-Prince in the dark.

The people in the Antoine Izméry soccer field sang “Alleluia, Alleluia …” over and over again. People passing in the street in the dark picked up the tune and sang along at the top of their lungs.

It was a mournful but determined singing and it helped take the edge off the people’s fear.

“There is a lot of praying going on,” says Mr. Pierre. “People sing and pray here all night,” he says. “Their churches are all gone but they still have faith.

“Anytime the Earth moves, it’s time to pray. You are going to hear a lot of prayers in Port-au-Prince when you’re here. We need it.”

What's this all about?

What do you do when your heart is broken over a disaster like Haiti?

For some the immediate response has been to pray. For some it is to give. For some it is to see how we can help practically.

For a small group of Canadians it was, “How can we leverage our Canadian compassion, financial ability and desire to help, with the best sustainable people and resource to the Haitian people?”
We wondered if the answer wasn’t in the Dominican people who share the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

Wayne Johnson contacted his friend Antonio in the DR to understand how we as Canadians could help the Dominican people help the Haitians.

Antonio is a retired banker who has served as the Board Chair at L’Arche DR, and as the lay Chief Operating Officer of the “Company of Jesus Society - Antilles Division”, known world-wide as the Jesuits. Together Wayne and Antonio manage a $800,000 CIDA project in the DR.
The Jesuits in the DR are serving as the coordinating body for the relief efforts of the Catholic churches in the Santo Domingo area.

Antonio explained that the Dominican people were giving sacrificially in material goods to send to Haiti. They have collected tons and tons of supplies that was being sorted by 400 volunteers. This is being sent on daily tractor trailer loads into Port an Prince. (While talking with Antonio today he received confirmation that 2 more tractor trailer loads of humanitarian assistance had just got through to Port au Prince by land).

Antonio asked, “...can you help us in some specialized roles alongside our team of volunteers?”
That was at 12:30 pm Saturday afternoon. Within 2 hours a team of 6 was formed and ready to go, leaving 18 hours later, meeting the needs expressed by Antonio.


Who is on the team?

- Sheila Stam - formerly with Doctors Without Borders in a senior logistics role in African war zones - On staff with the Meeting House in Oakville
- Wayne Johnson - coordinator with extensive development and international project planning experience - TMH Oakville
- Pat Ward - An advanced care paramedic with experience in Uganda - TMH West Ham
- Reynaldo Hancock - search and rescue experience with the Nicaraguan army and a care worker at L'Arche with disabled adults - TMH
- Alex Nicholls - videographer and photography - TMH Uptown
-Colleen Lebar - teacher and recent Africa learning team member - TMH Brampton


Leveraging $15,000 into $1 million

We have been asked to help with four key tasks in the next 12 days.

1. Help us assess how we can best utilize hundreds of untrained volunteers who live a 4 hour drive from Port au Prince, and what training do we need to give them so they can the most help?
2. Help us train available volunteers immediately so that they can go into Haiti and help this week. This will happen in both the DR and Haiti.
3. Help us communicate what the Dominican church is doing to help the Haitian people back to the church in English speaking North America.
4. Help us raise $1,000,000 in North America that the Jesuits will spend on trucking costs, water, and medicine in the next 30 days.

Our team will have our hands full assisting Antonio in these four areasThe total cost for our small team is less than $15,000 including transportation into Haiti.

Will you come alongside us financially so that we can tell the Canadian Church of this opportunity, so they can partner with the Dominican church through the Jesuits, and help unleash hundreds of trained volunteers?

Sounds complicated, but it’s really very simple. All you need to do is act.


HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THE TEAM
We are asking for your partnership in this short-term relief effort that we are embarking on. There are two ways you can partner with us!

Prayer
- For the Haitians dealing with great devastation
- For the Haitian church who have lost many of their leaders in the earthquake as it happened during the time many had evening services or mass
- For the Dominican people and the church who are giving sacrificially
- For safety on the road, in Haiti and for the care givers

Finances
Would you consider partnering with the Haiti team with a financial gift? All donations are tax deductible and can be sent to:

CIDO
Christian Indigenous Development Overseas
142 Dalhousie Road NW
Calgary, AB T3A 2H1

CIDO is a small Calgary based NGO specializing in international economic development and has kindly offered to handle the financial details for the team and issue tax receipts with no administrative levy.

(Cheques are made payable to CIDO. Please do not write our names on the check, simply include a note designating funds for Haiti relief team.)