March 5, 2010 Day 2

Rainy season is called that because it is. Grey day from beginning to end. Short of the mosquitos and Ethans 50 plus bites, it was a good day again. Beginning started slowly as some do, hurry and wait is common cause here. Cleaned up the e-mail box. Connected to home and office and the bat cave and headed out to journey and connect.

Initial drive downtown revealed traffic flowing smoother than even before pre-quake, over the past two months many have left Paup and headed into the periphery, overcrowding these areas. The rubble in the streets has been cleaned and demolition has begun. The number of buildings that have collapsed is uncountable. Arriving at the General hospital was a comforting experience to see it operational and better organized. The Haitian staff had taken over much of the hospital again. Some tents had been removed or repositioned. Military that had been there before was gone. Goal of this visit was to re-connect to those I had met in January. The hospital grounds no longer resembled a battle ground, order seemed to have restored itself.

I found the director and associate director. Dr. Lesegue and Mrs. Thompson, despite looking very tired their, spirits were strong. They shared concerns, no pay for the entire hospital staff for two months. Apparently the ministry of finance having been collapsed and to this day the IT system has not been restored, no one has been able to begin the process of funding anything. The international community has been reluctant to give the government any monies. Literally they have to re-build everything. The whole concept seems unreal, yet it is. We were greeted with a very friendly smile and they appreciated the re-visit. We discussed whether the hospital could use a SantéBus and they were happy to say yes. We will work out details of management and ownership. The SantéBus suburban’s can help in a big way to get staff to and from the hospital,, many are living in tents and have lost their vehicles. We will need to see if we can putout an appeal to help the staff. Not sure how. Even minimal life expenses have to be incredibly hard. I am surprised most haven’t quit. I did have a very pleasant re-acquaintance with the director of the Swiss Red Cross. Most of the International Red Cross was gone, sad for me, I had hoped to see others. Olivier had returned to see the status of what they had set up. Made a good friend in this brief meeting and I will hope someday to see him in Geneva where the International Red Cross is Headquartered. Many of he amputees are healing and learning to walk or function with a missing limb, many are still far from healed. Emotionally the majority of people are still reluctant to live indoors. There is a psychological barrier that many have not

We journeyed and I took Ethan to see Cité Soleil, one cannot leave PauP without seeing this and the sea of people living in tinshacks and huts. John Anderson our point guard at SantéBus said he has never seen the likes of this poverty and it is something one cannot imagine. What is different now is the bright colors of all the tents. Tin shacks have been replaced with tents of all kinds. While this may serve better to protect from the elements, hurricane season will bring another disaster soon. The work to fix this country will take years. For me it is a task that we cannot tire from and cannot stop until it is done.

This truly is not a situation that is morally ok to walk away from, the world must stay focused.

We finished our days journey with a trip along the coast to connect with Randy and Pat Morteneson from www.worldwidevillage.org. I am on their advisory board. Apparently they didn’t make it down from Minnesota. Ended up at Wahoo Bay beach resort with no meeting and shared a lunch with Ethan over a beautiful afternoon sunset through the clouds. It was a refreshing break from the poverty tosee the beauty of nature, Ethan mentioned prior to seeing this it all looked hopeless to him of ever getting better. He saw land I have seen where communities can be someday built to house the homeless. There is hope.

Back at headquarters now at Yvon and Beverly's, nice meal of rice and vegetables. Still no running water. Amazing how one adapts.

Good day, tomorrow double harvest, see www.doubleharvest.org. Their project is blessed and a model to duplicate, we will.

Lengthy report, it was the day. I am liking the mac world I make fewer mistakes.

I shared with many today the beauty of our collective efforts to get to where we are. Peace at home to all. Yvon will be our in country rep, we discussed this tonite. He says he is lazy and is not sure, he is not and will.