Haiti Response

Proud, genuine, and shamelessly generous:

This event has served as a great equalizer, if only for an intermittent period of time lines between social and cultural classes have been blurred. The guy without shoes or a shirt wakes up in a tent next to the family who leaves their tin shack to go into town in their Mercedes. Regardless of prior status the population in the tent camps are as mixed as they come.

Despite the lack of home, business, or general stability, Haitians still manage to be incredibly generous. There is a cognitive disconnect for me coming form the States where people of drastically different social classes rarely meet. The disparity between graciousness and means in Haiti is as drastically different from the US as can be. Interestingly enough this trait, however only seems to extend to foreigners and family members. Haitians amongst themselves are quite discriminating at times.

I was walking through an IDP camp yesterday with Dr. Steve Victor, a close friend and Hope for Haiti’s head healthcare coordinator. The best way to describe Steve is as a jolly green giant with a PHD and cartoon fixation. He is a Haitian who studied medicine in Cuba, speaks French, English, Spanish, and Creole fluently. The rules in regards to masculinity are far different in Haiti. It is a very touchy feely culture amongst men. Long hold handing, hugs etc. It takes some getting use to and just about slashes all pre-conceived notions of big burly violent savage Haitians on the spot, when first identified. Point being Steve always has a protective eye out for me. Whether he is pulling out of the street to keep me from getting slammed by one of the million mad bomber drivers or ensuring all is good with his “Blan” (white guy) he is always there. After eight hours in the field yesterday with no breakfast or lunch he lead me to his aunts tent in a camp close to the one where we had been working. We were greeted with huge smiles, and an overflowing pot of the best rice beans and fish I have ever had. These people were starving, without a home and or any basic amenities and yet here they were entertaining! I felt like I needed a bottle of wine or some flowers as a thank you gift, talk about text out of context.

5 star Rice beans and company

Posted in Culture shock

Yummy in the tummy

I have been back in Haiti since the 27th, but my bags just arrived so I have not had the chance to update. The vibe in country is entirely different from when I left on the 9th of February. The crowd and conversation has shifted and the focus of the international aid left on the ground is beginning to shift on the development of longterm development solutions. There are so many elements to digest and the opportunities to implement really cutting edge concepts is on the forefront of peoples mind. It is a longshot that Port au Prince will be rebuilt in a truly positive way, but we have to think positively, act small, and push toward the implementation of projects and concepts that may just pull Haiti’s socks up.

Fortified crackers for the wee ones

A major element to this whole thing is the decentralization of the population and industry from Port au Prince to the provinces. The slate is clean and certain heads of industry here have alluded to having a real interest to moving their production facilities out from Port au Prince. For those who can get their act together this presents the opportunity to design a community from the ground up. From the implementation of truly sound and scalable infrastructure to micro-financing and EMS services its like Simcity 2010. Haiti presents tremendous opportunities for sustainable developers and urban planners. It does not seem as a result of the general lack of resources, that the government has the means to effect any sort of change here so its up to the private sector. I only hope the sharks are to intimidated by the logistical and cultural nightmare of the notion of operating here, and those qualified with truly good intentions and creative development ideas are just idealistic enough to give it a go.

Posted in On the Ground

The destruction in Port-au-prince is complete. Imagine if all of the institution buildings and residences in Washington DC simply disintegrated overnight with the entire workforce indoors. Such is the situation in Haiti. The people are incredibly resilient, the culture is beautiful and the work to be done is beyond staggering. Most concerning is the looking rainy season that may claim more lives as a result of secondary infection and exposure related diseases then the quake itself if the shelter situation is not solved immediately. According to some estimates the number of homeless in the capital is 1.5m. The people are literally sleeping in the streets and in IDP (internally displaced person) camps where bed sheets serve as shelters.

Tent camp

The visual is apocalyptic, and in a bizarre and disturbing way incredibly beautiful. The air was so filled with smoke from fires that at night peoples shadows looked like ghosts floating through the smog. When driving you had to be careful when rounding a corner as entire communities were relocated to the street. At one point 500 sheets flew into the air as we came down a hill that was blocked by a hundred people who had set up camp in the road.

Don Bosco Tent Camp initial days

AGI was on the ground serving in the capacity of search and rescue and logistics within the first week after the quake hit. Jesse will be spending a few months on the ground working with Hope for Haiti to continue with the triage and long-term rebuilding effort.

Loading blankets

Posted in On the Ground

Los Topos and other rescue teams at work

I recently returned to the States from three weeks in Haiti, and will be heading back down for an extended period in a weeks time. I spent the first

trip conducting search and rescue with a joint Latin American task force and then hooked up with Hope For Haiti an NGO that has been active in Haiti for 20 years. The rescue team I had the honor of teaming up with was comprised of the Los Topos from Mexico and personnel from Argentina, Paraguay and Guatemala. These guys worked literally round the clock with tools from the stone age. While not the team with the most sophisticated gear, they pounded and chipped away at collapsed story upon story of cement to dig tunnels to search for survivors and to recover the bodies of loved ones at the request of others. While aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 6.1 shook the rubble we were crawling through, nothing stopped these guys, and the energy with which they worked spoke to the size of their hearts.

At Hope for Haiti alongside Mike Stewart the in country director I worked to triage the initial triage effort. The turnout of countries and NGO’s supporting the relief was truly astounding. The UN compound logistics base, and the airport that had been turned into a base camp resembled what can only be described as a rescue festival. The flags from countries as varied as Jordan, to Japan, where flying above tents that stretched the length of the runway. While all the intentions were positive, and the aid depots full, logistic difficulties strained the relief effort. Few people had sufficient boots on the ground operating experience and or cultural familiarity to really effect serious efficient change. Hope For Haiti, thanks to Mike, and the tiny local operations team was one of the most capable groups on the ground as its ability to move supplies and the team’s knowledge of the operating environment was in-depth.

We ran 24/7 to supply the various established and field hospitals that were erected with food and medical supplies. We focused on keeping the agencies and relief teams in the field running by delivering the supplies they were having trouble moving themselves. From water and food from the US and Italian military units, to medicine and tents from the depots of UNICEF, Americares, IMC, and other NGO’s were moved quickly to the populace and teams in need. We focused our efforts on an IDP (internally displaced person) tent camp with an estimated population of 8,500. With the help of Steve from Oxfam we built a water distribution system that served the population with potable drinking water through taps erected throughout the property. We also in conjunction with IMC set up a permanent field clinic that saw on average of 250 Patience per day

By working with the local leadership, which in Carrefour happened to be a priest we were able to maximize the efficiency of the already existing social organizational structures and hierarchies to make distribution efficient and safe.

A lot more to come

Posted in On the Ground