Weight of the world on Haiti

This started bright and sunny, busy getting team members off to locations in outlying areas. Lauren and Victoria went to Cap Haitian to find their reservations had been cancelled but were able to find another place to stay. The group going to Fond des Blanc were to meet the driver halfway in Leoganne but miscommunication caused them to arrive about 10 hours later to their destination. The Jacmel group arrived to their destination uneventfully I believe. The rest of the team stayed in Port au Prince- some working at Medishare Tent, some preparing for the week of work organizing supplies and such.

I haven't "burned the house" down this week. Being in charge of everything kind of felt like I was going in circles sometimes. I seemed to have spent a lot of time in the van going from meeting to meeting, showing off our prosthetic workshop and our new facility, meeting the heads of organizations such as USAID, Direct Relief International and a group of people from Israel that are setting up a rehab facility at the General Hospital and want to collaborate with us for staffing of volunteers and the usual Wednesday Disability Working Group meeting with Handicap International, CBM and Ministry of Health of Haiti. Healing Hands for Haiti International Foundation is and has been recognized as the leading experts of Rehabilitation Medicine in Haiti. Many organizations want to work with us in some aspect. That isn't to say there aren't many many more organizations on the ground - old and new that are working to the benefit of the Haitian people. The hard part is the coordination that is necessary to work within the guidelines as dictated by the government.

Then there are the duties I've assumed in preparing for the teams coming to volunteer, coordinating with placement to work, coordinating transportation, coordinating with staff- overseeing the demolition and work being done on the guest house. The demolition is progressing, injuries not too serious. Jean dropped a board on Fabalons toe and the toenail came off, another worker dropped a rock on his foot - I don't think anything was broken and tonight one of the young men in the Bidonville was injured when some one tried to rob him and hit him with a knife. He had a C shaped cut on his jaw but it will scar as obviously I can't perform plastic surgery and couldn't apply stitches to it at this point. I do not want to become comfortable suturing up lacerations anyway. All in all, I'm learning a lot and enjoy the challenge - it definitely stretches my limits.

Noel, Yasmine and I went to hear RAM play at the Oloffson on Thursday night. It was the first time that they have played since the earthquake. They played on a stage set up outside even though the Hotel wasn't damage, I think people were not ready to be inside. A warm humid night, they were celebrating their return, celebrating the May first holiday and sounded better than ever. (I still prefer the 'ambiance' of the inside performance, it being more intimate but the heat of the night would have been intolerable inside. )

We saw a horrible accident on Wednesday as a truck ran over a motorcyclist and since Lorne was hit by a car on his moto, and suffered minor road rash, I won't be getting on one for transportation purposes. I'll stick to my drivers and vans, thank you.

Officially rainy season began yesterday- May first. Tonight we have had thunder and lightening and hard rain for an hour. Its still raining but not so hard. I used to like thunder storms and listening to this hard drum corps of water hitting the roof but now its difficult and heart wretching. I'm also not generally a person that worries about things I can not change. Listening to the rain puts me in a funk. I know there will be children suffering, old people in the streets with out protection of a roof or tent. I can't begin to express the misery that will be suffered during this rainy season that everyone at home can imagine. People are being moved to temporary and slightly better conditions in terms of structures but I've been told that it is in swamp like conditions when it rains and is a mosquito breeding ground. Imagine in the city of tents made of cardboard, tin, plastic and sheets what the rain will do.

Our guesthouse roof as a few leaks..we are able to catch most in buckets but we are very fortunate. We have power so as not to sit in blackout conditions for hours.

I'm still being asked for tents; my list keeps growing. Noel has found a house for his family. he said it is very expensive but they will be safe and dry and off of the street. He hopes to rebuild his house someday. While he has taken in 6 additional children who lost their families, it is a weight off of his shoulders.