FINAL

I left Haiti this afternoon on the smallest plane I have ever seen. It had two seats- one for the pilot and one for the co-pilot. Needing to evacuate as many people as we could, 6 people crammed on the little Baron aircraft. The 4 of us in the back were crammed on top of our luggage, and certainly exceeded the 500 pound limit the plane is able to handle. On a commercial flight, the Haiti-Florida route takes around an hour and a half, yet on our midget plane it took four hours from Port au Prince to Fort Lauderdale. The flight was really scenic as this is a low flying plane and we could see all the little islands as we hovered over the water. We landed at a small private airport in Ft. Lauderdale with just enough time to make my connection to North Carolina at the commercial airport. Im now sitting on the plane to Charlotte.

Let me explain why we needed to evacuate the country. If this is too long to read, here is a link to what was happening all over the city for this past week:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Pxddz9ATc&feature=player_embedded

The election results were announced this past Tuesday after about a 10 day counting period since the actual voting. Everyone was aware of the fraud, so the results were awaited anxiously as Haiti got more tense by the day. On this past Tuesday, the Electoral Board had until midnight to announce who had won, or if there would be a runoff between two candidates (a 50% majority is needed in order to avoid runoffs). The Electoral Board kept Haiti waiting until 9 pm that night to announce their highly incorrect results. It was a weird sensation waiting hour after hour for what could be devastating news and undoubtedly launch the country into violence. Without surprise, the handpicked candidate of the current government received a much higher percentage of votes than any of the exit polls indicated, and the front runner (Mirlande) did not win the election fully as she should have. Michelle Martelli, a very popular candidate and an absolute favourite to be in the electoral runoffs, was eliminated from the runoff with unexpectedly low results. It is safe to assume that the corrupt candidate (Jude Celestin) will win when the runoffs will take place January 16th. These announcements caused absolute chaos in Haiti and denouncement from the international community.

Following the election results on Tuesday night, riots formed a few blocks away from our compound before they marched on downtown. Our compound is quite close to the gathering spot for the start of these manifestations. The way people protest in Haiti is done by the destruction of everything in their path. They burn tires on every street, throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at passing cars, and ruin the businesses that have remained open. On that Tuesday night, 8 people died, including one cop, and many more seriously hurt.

On Wednesday the riots continued full force across the country. The cities of Les Cayes, Cap Haitien and naturally the capital (Port au Prince) saw the worst of it with violent clashes against the UN and police forces. Some of the manifestations went to the campaign offices of Jude Celestin (the crook) and burnt them down along with police stations- even the Canadian Embassy was damaged interestingly enough. On base at GRU, we were told not to go on the roof so that they could not see that there were white people in our compound, and advised to pack a small bag with our passports and money in case we had to make a run for it. At our daily morning meeting, we looked up to see the sky blackened by the smoke from the burning tires.

The airport is indefinitely closed, so we had no concrete way of getting out of the country. Later that evening, we were told a small plane would be coming in from the Bahamas which would be able to bring a few of us out to Fort Pierce, Florida. This pilot does medical drop-offs in remote parts of Haiti to bring in cholera supplies. Because these drop offs took too long and this tiny plane is unable to fly at night, we had to postpone our evacuation to this morning. After our departure, only the project managers and directors have stayed at GRU, and are meeting today in order to decide whether to continue operating in Haiti under these circumstances. This is a difficult thing to do when you are on full lockdown and all the businesses are closed.

I don’t think there has been anything more rewarding than having spent 3 months in Haiti this year. This is, without a doubt, a foundation for the type of work I aim to do throughout my life. Our group has put ourselves in some of the most volatile, poorest, endangered situations in the world, and all we can think about is returning to the Haiti we love. Doing this type of work is a testament that the traditional passageway to employment and success (high school, university, career) is not obsolete. Personally, I have never felt so productive, content, and at home as I have during those three months in what some only know as the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. This country, solely in 2010, has endured an earthquake killing a quarter million people, 2 devastating hurricanes, a cholera epidemic that has killed upwards of 2000 people and infected 120,000, and is now on the brink of civil war due to the corrupt political system.

I don’t want to drag this on, so here it is.
To all the people I have met on this trip: thank you, you are amazing, I wish you all the best and will undoubtedly be seeing you soon (Big Dave, Black Mountain, Bambi on Ice, Bryan, Gracie, GRU crew). Your positivity and optimism has rubbed off on me, and I look to the future with confidence. I think I already miss my tent.

Im changed, Im happy, and ill be back.

Elections for sale

Greetings,

Largely due to the elections, a lot has happened since the last time i posted. Election day happened on Sunday the 28th of November. A number of presidential candidates had called for a temporary postponment of voting given the cholera outbreak, yet their requests were ignored and everyone headed to the polls.

While a certain level of corruption seems unavoidable in Haiti, the elections were proof that the current government looks after itself before it considers the millions of people getting nothing out of the system. The current president (Preval) has given his support (funds) to an absolute crook who is relatively unknown in the political rounds (Jude Celestin). This candidate, with endless money available, the current governments blessing, and load of stuffed ballot boxes, should not win the election. The people saw it coming and it happened right under their eyes. They are pissed.

Just hours after the voting began, some of the front running candidates called for a complete cancellation of the vote after receiving many reports of ballot stuffing and fraud. Following this announcement of fraudulent voting, the current government delcared the elections to 'have been successful'- go figure. This was enough for manifestations and riots to break out across the country throughout this past week. Even in our smaller city of Jacmel mobs took to the streets to burn tires, throw rocks and car parts while marching to the UN and Police stations. Schools were indefinately canceled, and with the election results being announced in 2 days things are not looking much brighter. If this were your country, wouldnt you be in the streets protesting as well?

While everyone else at the base was on lockdown, Sierra, Bryan, David and I left in the mornings to work on our newest construction project. We spent over a week building the kitchen for a foundation for malnourished and orphan children. We had an awesome time doing it and the final product looks sharp- especially the door.

Our 3 security guards decided to all quit on the same day this past week. This was due to a combination of their work and lack of communication with the management. It was a terrible thing to see them go this late in the game after so many months without incidents, robbings or break-ins. People had to stay up that initial night to watch the house until the new guards began their shift in the morning.

With the final construction project completed, i decided to leave Jacmel and return to GrassRoots United here in Port au Prince. I arrived here yesterday morning after an amazing last night with the crew. We were greeted with the news that European Disaster Volunteers had just bought huge house and were throwing a big pool party. Damn is it good to be back in Port au Prince!
Emma and I will be going into some of the bigger slums throughout the week to do parasite treatments for hundreds of schoolchildren.

Im going back to the States on Friday after two incredibly rewarding months here and my third in-country for 2010. I feel at home and every day is a blast, but i do look forward to being in NC with the fam and everyone else and getting on with university.

Ill post one more of these before I leave, until then i will be thinking of the delicious chicken burrito im going to eat at QDoba upon my return. Flocka

Port au Princee week

Just returned to Jacmel after an amazing and intense week in Port au Prince with GrassRoots United and European Disasters Volunteers (EDV).

Sierra and I pitched our tents at the GRU compound and set off to work early on Monday. I was supposed to be sent into Cite Soleil, the notorious Haitian slum, to teach cholera education. Unfortunately, the current situation in Haiti did not allow us to go into the camps or leave our base. From Tuesday on, the camp was put on lockdown with a 6 pm curfew for all nearby activities.

The situation with cholera seems to have been building up to this point. There are some serious allegations that a Nepalese branch of the United Nations brought in cholera to Haiti, which had NO cases prior to this outbreak. The people of Cap Haitian and Port au Prince, upon hearing these accusations, took to the streets for some manifestations. These protests were planned and not meant to turn violent. Unfortunately, there have been shootings and deaths in both cities as well as 4 consecutive days of riots. The crowds have been tear gased and shot at for throwing molotov cocktails and rocks at the blue helmets. The GRU compound is right next to one of the bigger UN bases in Port au Prince, so we got quite the feeling for these protests.

On Wednesday, one of the GRU workers took our bus to do a medical supply drop off in St. Marks (an hour north of us). On her way out of the city, she was stopped by the haitian police and threatened to have the bus impounded along with all of the medical DONATIONS because she had forgotten her license. She got out of it when our coordinator sped off to her rescue. The following day, on the second attempt to make this medical drop off, the GRU worker driving the bus drove directly into a protest. A few cars ahead of our bus was a van full of white people. Simply for being foreigners, the protestors took to smashing all the car windows by throwing rocks and bottles at it until it was completely destroyed. Its getting heated down here!

As far as work went, Sierra and I largely focused on building the GRU community workshop. This is an awesome project that will allow other NGOs to come use all our tools, facilities and building materials. We also sorted out a ton of medical supplies that are stocked at the compound. While doing this, we realized we had about 100 donated wheelchairs, so we all had a few Prestiges and played a game of wheelchair soccer. At one point, Belgium was up by 3 to Haiti, America, and Holland.

I cannot give enough praise to the work GRU and EDV are doing in Port au Prince. They are right in the heart of all the conflict, and are still giving their all to be able to impact the capital regardless of the turmoil. Every project they approach is done to high standard, for the best intentions, and with a long term vision. I will for sure be back before i go home.

Thats all for now. Go listen to the avett brothers. happy birthday glenn

Good evening, i will be taking you through my past week or so in Haiti.

I recovered fully from Dengue and Strep in time to welcome my mom, who kindly came to visit me during my stay. During her time here, we visited some of the IDP camps, our compound, and several of the projects i worked on in May and during this past month. With her particular soft spot for orphans, we set out to find sleeping arrangements for the children of Ecole Rousse. Thanks to her, we have the funds and UN contacts to get these in the coming week, thanks mommy!

Sierra and I decided to come work with GrassRoots United (GRU) for a week here in Port au Prince. This is not the quiet southern town of Jacmel we are accustomed to. We have come realize how nice we have it at GVN in Jacmel, with running water, easy transit, etc... Although its a bit harder living, I am having a blast here meeting all the new people and getting my hands dirty. Along with GRU, I will be going into some of the many tent camps in the capital to teach Cholera education. This will involve basic lessons in Cholera transmission, hand washing and prevention. Im not sure how close the outside world is following the breakout, but it caused violent riots aimed at MINUSTAH (UN) today in Cap Haitian. It has been reported that a police station has been burnt, protestors shooting at the UN, and a possible UN hostage.

There are several ways to kill mosquitoes. I have gotten particularly good at these methods ever since contracting (free) Dengue from those little munts. One of my favorites is the "Payback Snipe". This is when you see a mosquito already biting you and you snipe if right then and there while asking it the question: was it worth it? This would all be a fun and harmless snipeshow if they didnt carry diseases.

In general announcements;

I got accepted to Wake Forest for my Spring transfer.

Here is the link to our segment on Fox News from the documentary shot about our work in Jacmel. Worthy of mention is that Fox did not have my consent. I might sue:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4307532/giving-a-helping-hand/?playlist_id=87889

Dengue Fever, Hurricane Tomas, new rotation

I havent written in a while because i have been sick in bed or boarded up for Hurricane Tomas. Here's what has been happening:

Dengue Fever:

I acquired Dengue Fever for free from a nice mosquito. It is transmitted by the daytime, striped mosquitoes that are infected with it from when they breed in dirty stagnant water. A few other people have had it in the house in the past few months, but it is overall a rare occurrence. This was not fun. You pretty much get a constant fever for the duration of one week, painful body aches and shivering. My fever peaked at 103 or 104 degrees every night for a week, and i eventually developed strep throat toward the end of my Dengue bout. I've been on antibiotics and feeling much better now, so its back to work.

Hurricane Tomas:

This could have been a lot worse than it was. Haiti was expected to be hit as a category 1 hurricane, which means very strong winds and a lot of damage considering the million plus people living in tents still. The major problem with Tomas was that it was such a wide system that most of Haiti was hit with at least a tropical storm status as far as wind and rain. Here in Jacmel, the storm lasted for about 2 days, with its real strength coming 3:30 am on friday night.
David and I were sent to work with the IOM (International Office of Migration) to check the status of the camps in the Jacmel area. We went off with a team and filled forms that indicated urgent need, disappearances, severe flooding, etc... By and large, the camps sustained moderate damage. The last camp we went to was absolutely destroyed. There was nothing left of most of the huts, which were made of leafs and cut up plastic tarps. The major problem in other parts of Haiti, notably Leogane, was the amount of flooding. We had the house boarded up for 48 hours, so we as a group had no problems.
We took in a family with a malaria infected baby for the duration of the hurricane. If we had not, they would have been soaked in their tent for a few days, and the baby would have most likely died.

A new rotation arrived a week from yesterday. They're all very cool people and a few of them are going to stay on board until the camp closes down in December.

Sierra and I will be going to Port au Prince in a week and doing some work for GrassRoots United. This will be a good change of scenery and it will be awesome to be there in the few days prior to the election. My mommies is coming to see me on wednesday!

Moore soon. Flocka

I can make your cot rock

Greetings since the last post, here's what we've been up to:

Work on the final classroom is coming to an end. We decided to let our "architect" go because he was of very little use and kept making pretty significant mistakes. We started putting the roof on the structure today...if anyone has ever done tin roofing you will understand this is a brutal activity in 100 degree weather. I'm sure the project will be done tomorrow and the kinder-gardeners will finally have a classroom to run around in (Maya you are lucky!).

I was watching CNN yesterday and it seems that the Cholera outbreak has garnered international attention. This is in fact very serious, especially if it reaches Port au Prince. This is an EXTREMELY rare and old school disease, which has only had a few dozen cases reported in the past 5 years; 259 have already died here. If untreated, the risk of death is from 50-70% and can kill within 3 hours of the first signs of illness. We have sent our 3 nurses to go relieve some of the doctors working the outbreak around the clock. We can only hope for the best, even if the UN has predicted deaths in the tens of thousands. Why Haiti again?

Now that i have gotten to know the group for about 2 weeks, i can honestly say how amazing these people are. This sort of work seems to attract like-minded people, and this feat has proved true again for the 3rd time in my life. About the long-term group: we have a recent Chapel Hill graduate, an italian self proclaimed actor from NYC, Mikey Mike who has lived and taught high school in South Central LA for some years and has lectured the History of Hip Hop at UC Berkeley, Sierra from Hawaii and Oregon, Steine still kickin it in Haiti at 72, and i'm sure i am forgetting some.

After returning from dinner last night, we heard four consecutive shots that must have been within 100 yards from our compound. We all waited on the balcony for our guard to go investigate and tell us what was going on. He business-casually informed us that "someone just fired a .38 semiautomatic 4 times down the street because he was pissed". Sierra went down to the corner store for beers after this assessment of the situation.

"Nous sommes en difficultes, mais nous sommes toujours solidaires"
Thank you for your strong and truthful words Kettia, i think that pretty much sums it up.

Back in the TRAP

I forgot to post this on here, but a short documentary was shot of our work here in Jacmel back in May. Head on over to wwww.explore22.com to see our living arrangements, work, and me walking around with a breu. This is being pitched to the Discovery channel at some point.

Today we began work on a new classroom for one of the schools on the outskirts of town. We made the measurements, dug all the holes for the foundation and got the lumber ready for tomorrow. I thought it would be cooler this time a year, but the heat really got to all of us around noon.

I leave you with a quote,
"white diamonds, yellow diamonds, gucci not racist"
-Gucci Mane LaFlare

Haiti Remix

Finally back in Haiti! Great to be here again.

Arrived into Port au Prince from Miami yesterday morning very early. I was impressed with the amount of work done around the airport area. It was much cleaner, somewhat organized, and easier to find GVN than last time. I also didnt have my bag snipeshowed this time around.

We met up with GVN and then I went to a different NGO in Port au Prince which i will most likely be staying with when I leave Jacmel. This group is called GrassRoots United. They have a great compound full of like minded people. Although advised not to be in the capital for elections, I hope the be there to witness them in late November.

The drive to Jacmel took roughly 5 hours because of rockslides in the mountains on the way up. Driving through Port au Prince made it clear that a lot of work has been done since i was last here in May. The streets are cleaner, the rubble has been moved for the most part. Sad to say but it just presents the poverty better. All the tents are still here.

Also, If you havent picked up Waka Flocka Flame's "Flockavelli", you really need to get on that shit.

Stories / Closing Arguments

Phillip, John (?) and I are leaving Jacmel tomorrow morning at 4 am. We have early flights and would pretty much do anything not to stay overnight in Port au Prince. I'll be flying to Miami and then to Charlotte.

Since the last update, everything has gone quite well. English class has never been so full. We had over 40 people in our Friday class. Good luck taking over for me Dan! Friday morning was an awesome day of rubbling with Phil and some of the new rotation. We took down a roof and a wall, which seemed to have really please Eron. Yesterday, most of us went to Bassin Bleu- amazing waterfalls in the jungle. This place really is unreal and i highly recommend it to the rotations to come if you're into cliff diving and/or tired of the beach.

I've been thinking about what to write in my final entry, and decided to write the stories of two of the most standout people i have met in my time here:

The internet cafe i am currently at is owned by a Haitian who's name is McKenzie. This place recently opened. McKenzie, who must be in his mid 20's, runs it with his cousins, and it has become a popular place for members of GVN (thanks for the discount). During the earthquake, McKenzie was trapped in the basement of a several story high building with his closest friends and family. I am not sure of the exact number of people that were with him, but he was the only survivor. He was caught under the rubble for 4 days until someone finally heard him. In this time, his friends and family said their goodbyes to each other one by one when they could no longer endure their situation. McKenzie and his cousins are some of the happiest people i have met in Haiti. Even when the internet is down or a computer isnt working, we stay here and talk to him as a good friend. We'll make sure the next rotations look after you McKenzie and cousins.

A place Phil and i have frequently gone to is madame Benits house. She is a retired nurse that worked in NYC her whole life before coming back to her home country in Haiti. Through her savings and her pension, madame Benit feeds around 300 kids every day of the week. She pays the chefs, staff, food, clothing, and anything else the kids may need out of her own pocket and good will. When it is time to eat, the children have been taught manners. They wait until everyone is served, pray, do not speak when eating, and have been taught table manners. Madame Benit makes sure that all of the kids that enter her home are actually in need of food. When she sees a new face, she will allow the kid to eat, and then walk him or her home and talk to their parents to determine the situation. In addition to this, Benit is seemingly the only person that remembers the people in jail here. The only time the prisoners shower with soap or brush their teeth is when she makes her rounds. People that have been imprisoned for many years call her mother and have endless respect for her. Whenever anyone from GVN meets her, they make it a point to return to her home often to talk and offer help. I can't really express how amazing she is, but one of my ideas for when i return home is to raise money for her program.

Being away from university and the rest of the world has once again been amazing. Not only is the work rewarding, but being away from home/university makes this the perfect place to reflect on the past and think about the upcoming year. I want to thank my parents (most avid readers) for once again allowing me to do this and helping me find a little more direction in life.

The new group of 27 is awesome. They arrived throughout the day on Monday with the look of "what kind of shit did I get myself into" that we all had. Canadians, once again, are showing their numbers in Haiti. We have a carpenter, an ex comedian, a chef, a politician, a calgarian oil banker, 3 or 4 shawtaays and some other people. Phil and I gave them a tour of jacmel on taxi bikes that everyone seemed to enjoy. A few of them started working today.

The building we are working on at the orphenage is really coming along. We bring two sets of people- workers and people that occupy the kids. We always seem to have a crowd gathered when we build. It must be because they've never seen anyone actually work for more than 15 minutes. The framing is up and sturdy as we've dug holes and cemented the bases. Its pretty brutal in 115 degree weather.

There was a demonstration of about 10000 yesterday in downtown jacmel. They were protesting the government and the UN. Interesting mix. While all the cops in the city were doing crowd control, apparently quite a few prisonners escaped the city jail.

I'd like to bitch a little bit about GVN, if I may. They seem to think it is acceptable to "tour" the tent cities (displacement camps) to show the new people. The directors must really get off on walking through other peoples misery. Don't go there unless you are doing work. These people have very little privacy as it is, show them respect and don't flash cameras in their faces while parading around an inhumane place.

I have to prepare my "conversational english" class for about 60 munts. Also, I am finally sick. I'm glad its happening now instead of earlier on the rotation. So long.

Ps; larry is leaving tomorrow which is fantastic!

Today is the first sunny day in about a week, which Is awesome.

The past few days have been interesting. The Pichinat displacement camp had some serious problems this week. In addition to about 5 inches of standing water, the manager of the camp found a few things out. Apparently, there have been adults within the camp involved in child prostitution. Imagine this: you are in tent city with nearly 8 thousand others, it is rain season and kids a dying frequently of disease, and you find out that people around you are taking advantage of these kids and making money off of them. This has to be an absolutely new low. So, the manager of the camp, as pissed off as she must have been when she found out, made an anouncement about these events. In turn, she was arrested and jailed for speaking out about it! If you cannot believe this I assure you I didn't either and hoped it wasn't true. Unfortunately that is the reality here.

This past wednesday there was some protests in town. I'm not sure what these people were protesting but they were burning the american and venezuelan flags. Aren't they here helping?

The camera crew left. One of them got really sick but they got some great footage. I found out one of the guys did a music video for the jonas brothers and worked on snakes on a plane and other movies. Pretty impressive for being 22 years old.

Ill update more when I can get on a real computer. Sorry about the spelling I'm on my blackberry. 27 new volunteers coming in tomorrow, should be fun.

Rain

It has been shitstorming regularly here for the past 3 days. This is extremely bad news for the people living here. The standing water allows the mass reproduction of 'skeeters and in turn spreads disease.

We've began to work on one of the orphenages that we frequently assist. We are planning on building them an outside structure with a tarp over it so the kids dont have to worry about the rain. The children are all amazing. All they want to do is hold your hand, climb on your shoulders and teach you Creole while you're there. For having so little they really are some of the happiest people i have met. One of the kids, a 1 year old baby, died yesterday morning after being sick for only a few days.

Our sister GVN camp in Port au Prince is shutting down. They have been getting threats there and a lot of hostility. Couple that with the horrible conditions of the capital and all the volunteers have called it quits. Quite a few of them will be joining us here in Jacmel early next week.

On a sidenote, a camera crew from San Francisco came in yesterday to shoot a documentary on our work. They are working on the pilot to pitch it to the Discovery channel. Maybe i'll get famous.

UN Convoy, GVN comm. center opening

I haven't been able to find internet for a while (big surprise there!), but ill try to recap the past few days.

We went to one of Haitis largest tent camps for displaced people on Thursday. There are 7.5 thuosand people living in a closed off place the size of a football field. They live in rows in makshift tents and are patrolled by the Venezuelan Army. Thank you, Chavez. It's pretty hard to explain the conditions at this camp, but they are beyond brutal. When it rains in Haiti, it pours. This turns the entire compund into a big pool of mud that begins to flood more often than not. The water in turn helps the spread of fun diseases like typhoid, malaria and dengue fever. This only adds on to the high rate of HIV already here- somewhere in between 4 and 12% is the "governments" estimate. We entered the compound on UN trucks along with the IOM and Venezuelan military nearby. On this specific entry, we were assigned to go from tent to tent collecting information on the people living there. We were attempting to find out who was moving out of th camps, where to, and when. Very few of the thousands are willing to leave, as they are given free food and water in these camps. This information gathering took about 3 hours in 12 teams of 4.

The following morning we went to visit one of the many childrens homes. It is unreal the amount of kids that were left behind without parents or any family after the quake. The children are endlessly happy to see us, climb on us, and learn the english we teach them.

We have also been "rubbling". This consists of picking up all the rubble from the collapsed buildings and removing them from the sites in order to rebuild. We work with the Salvation Army on one of the sites. They claim to have removed all the bodies from the shattered buildings, but i've heard some horror stories from past volunteers.

Friday night, about 15 of the volunteers finished their rotation and headed home. They flew private to Jamaica for their GVN debrief and a nice stay in Montego Bay. These were all great people- 2 UBC-O students, a yoga instructor, 2 old ladies from my rotation that made it a grand total of 4 days in Haiti, a San Diego zoo animal taming person, a few Kiwis, and a few others with blander descriptions.

What's left is 6 of us. A Belgian girl with an Oxford degree, a nice Texan who likes his cerveza, a Singapore Air pilot with some of the scariest stories, a GVN rep fron New Zealand, and the Most Interesting Man from the UK called Rodd. Seriously, he is the guy in the Dos Equis commercials.

Our compound is pretty empty, but we are making good use of the extra tents. Texas has acquired one as his "vestiere", Singapore and I have moved into doubles, and we are considering getting a pow-wow tent, a Blegian consulate tent, and a Zen tent where all we do is read Larry's book (what a dick!)

We are all in good spirits. More later. Hi pav.

on site

Arrived in Port-au-Prince yesterday early in the morning. There were a bunch of DEA agents at the entrance of my flight boarding i Ft. Lauderadale, which was pretty comical.

Paurt-au-Prince is hard to describe. There are hundreds of thousands of displaced people living in tents or on the streets. Some of these tent camps have had aid while most have not. The "lucky" ones that have get to live in actual tents that have the donor country printed on them. The others are left to fare with hurrican season in home made cloth and wooden tents.

We drove around a little bit to try and change some money. In order to do this, you have to go to a known street where people come up to your car and ask you what currency and how much you would like changed. This is all very confusing as Haiti uses the Haitian Dollar as well as the Gourde.

Eventually we began the drive to Jacmel. It took us 3 hours to get outside of Port-au-Prince. There are no real roads, and most dirt paths are flooded. We drove past huge camps of thousands of people living in these tents. The drive took us over some mountains and eventually arrived to Jacmel in the early afternoon.

Jacmel is one of the largest cities in Haiti. It has been extremely hard hit by the earthquake, as the only main road leading to it was blocked off for weeks after. This is where our coumpound is. We are fenced in by some walls, and we have a tarp over us to try and keep the rain out.

To those of you familiar with the UBC steam room, that is what Haiti feels like at all times. We had a really awesome rainstorm last night. Im not sure what people in the tent camps do when it rains, but they seem to live through it. Some of the people living in tents do own homes, but are too scared to return to them and live there in fear of another quake.

I am at UNICEF right now. Tomorrow we plan on going into one of the bigger displacement camps in a UN convoy. There are constantly killings and rape at these camps, so we have to go in with the UN and Venezuelan army. As i speak french, ill be going from tent to tent doing a sort of a census on the people.

More soon.

Ft. Lodi is a great place. Its a real shame Jimmy Buffett was involved.
I look forward to learning more about this place upon my return to FLA after Haiti.

I bought a pretty gnarly visor with golf items displayed on the front of it. Tom's mother purchased me a t-shirt that reads "it is all my fault" on the front. How fitting for Haiti!

Regardless, i am off to the airport with a good Vancouver buddy after a night in Florida. It is only an hour flight but im sure the contrast between here and there will be immense.

depart

Off to Haiti in a few hours. Pav and i have been moving all of my belongings down to storage for the past 5 hours. I think Sturdy is still awake watching trailer park boys.

Ill be shown the city of Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow by T. jonston prior to my flight into Paurt au Prince on the morning of the 18th.

im going to call coquitlam cabs soon and see if they come pick me up from this far away