One thing though, that has been very striking to me... the dedication and passion of the World Vision staff in the field office. And I promise I'm not saying that because we're their guests. These are people from around the world (we've met staffers from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Asia and even native Haitians) who have so much compassion for their fellow man, that they've dropped everything to focus on the relief efforts here.
I'll be honest... it's really bad here. REALLY BAD. I don't see how it could ever get back to normal. Working to improve things seems so futile... but they do it anyway... because you have to... and giving up is not an option. It is truly inspiring to see this kind of passion and service and it's contagious.
And the faith of the Haitian people is nothing short of amazing. Even after 2 natural disasters and a Cholera outbreak they talk about how God is going to provide and bring them through this. A director we interviewed the first night here told us of large groups of people in the streets after the sun went down on January 12th singing hymns. There is this feeling of hope emanating from these people where there is no physical reason to be hopeful. I'm jealous of their faith.
Thursday we spent the entire day in Port-Au-Prince seeing the relief work being done by World Vision. The relief work isn't our primary reason for being here; our primary focus for the radiothon is child sponsorship. But World Vision has been working in Haiti for something like 30 years, so they had an advantage in getting things moving quickly.
Our first stop was to what can only be described as a refugee camp. I've never seen one in real life before, much less walked through one. Imagine a sea of tents packed together on a hillside. We parked at the top of the hill behind a relatively new looking school that had totally collapsed, and walked down through the tents. Some of these tents look like something we'd take camping. Others were obviously designed for this type of situation. Some where just fashioned together with tarps emblazoned with UN or U.S. Aid logos. Relief agencies from literally around the world have stepped in to provide everything from the tents themselves, drinking water, food and medical assistance.
In this camp, World Vision staff showed us an Early Childhood Development (ECD) program and a Child Friendly Space (CFS). The ECD reminded me of my son Zach's preschool room, except that it was in a tent. There were posters on the walls, little tables and chairs, art supplies and toys. Some of the teachers were making chains out of construction paper to decorate the "classroom."
The kids were all seated at the tables working on drawings, but stopped to interact with Sheri. They loved having their picture taken and squealed with glee when they got to see it on the camera preview screen. The director of the program told us in our interview with her that the parents in these camps are so appreciative of this program. It's really a chance for the kids to just be kids, and many of them are laughing and smiling again for the first time since the earthquake.
The CFS was another tent that had kids of all ages. It's open all day long. Kids who can't go to school for financial reasons (or the public school was destroyed) will spend most of the day here. Kids in school will come by afterwards. They sang a few songs for us and we talked to the director of the program about their activities and educational programs (when I get the video edited you can see what they all were, but I've had a lot to take in this week and don't remember!)
It took FOREVER to get to the next camp... traffic in Port-Au-Prince is unlike anything I've ever experienced. We probably only drove about 40 or so miles yesterday, but spent hours in the car!
This camp was much more organized... The residents had been camping in a more dangerous area and had been relocated here. The tents where lined up in rows, but were slowly being replaced by "transitional housing." These are small, 1 room buildings are on concrete foundations, are wood-framed with a metal roof and siding. They also have a covered front porch for additional space in the shade.
The coolest thing about these buildings were that World Vision was soliciting feedback from the residents about the construction of these buildings. They modified the design based on this feedback like adding a second window for a cross breeze and adding a back door since many Haitians survived the quake by running out the back door when the front was blocked. They've even modified the layout of the camp to add some recreational space.
We interviewed a new resident of one of these homes... he spoke English, and had a heartbreaking story about how his kids where at different schools on January 12. His 7-year-old daughter's school was fine, but his 9-year-old son's school collapsed, killing him. I'll post links to this and other videos once they're all edited.
Then it was back in the car again for our last stop of the day. I have to tell you that even though the U.S. State Department has some pretty scary warnings on why you should stay away from Haiti, I have not felt unsafe here once. But visiting the Cholera treatment center at the final camp we visited was a bit unnerving.
First, the guy we were supposed to meet there was an hour late, so we just had to wait outside the tent as people came and went. Then we got to go in to the treatment tent! You have to wash your hands with chorine water and soap from a bucket outside, then a guy at the entrance in disposable scrubs sprayed down the soles of our shoes with something. Inside were about 8 people of all ages on cots, most with IV drips.
The head of the program has a heartbreaking story. His wife, who had a pre-exiting medical problem was trapped in the rubble of their home, but still alive. He first tried digging her out on his own, then raced around Port-Au-Prince trying to find medical supplies to stabilize her. Not able to get the supplies he needed, he even tried making them himself, but was unable to save her. He's now dedicated his life to helping disabled people in Haiti, and also running the Cholera treatment program for World Vision.
He told us there is a huge stigma in the culture associated with Cholera, and so a lot of people don't get treatment. So a lot of effort is put on education, and encouraging people to seek treatment right away. He likes to say "Cholera can kill you in four hours, but I can cure you in one." Hope no one is eating while reading this blog, but Cholera is basically severe diarrhea and vomiting. So treatment for mild and moderate cases simply involves getting the patient clean water and often times IV fluids. They also teach the patients hand washing techniques and a team even goes to the patient's home and disinfects everything.
Leaving the treatment center was the reverse of going in... they treated our shoes again, then we washed our hands in chlorine water again. (And pulled out the Purell hand sanitizer just in case!)
The last part of our day can only be described as "disaster tourism." That sounds terrible, but in order to tell the story (which is framed in the context of the earthquake), we really need the images to go along with it. So we headed to downtown Port-Au-Prince looking for leveled buildings.
Standing in front of the presidential palace is breathtaking... and not in a good way. Can you imagine what the moral of the American people would be if the White House and capital building had collapsed on itself? The government here can't help it's people because they're in the same boat as everyone else. We also stopped at what used to be a school.
It's once again getting late, and even though I'm about 24 hours behind on blogging, I'm going to wait to write about today's trip to the Central Plateau. Good night!
Jonathan Mauney
Sent from my iPad
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