Sunday, November 21, 2010

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

Monday, November 15, 2010

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

Monday, November 8, 2010

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