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