Saturday is the last workday of the week so everyone is usually pretty worn out – yesterday was the same deal. While I was in the tool shed in the morning getting the tools for my crew I dropped a sledge and it feel and grazed my hand. Now just 24 hours later its become infected. Luckily there is a nurse volunteering here so she’s been giving me advice. Anyways I went out in the morning to the site and attacked it. We had a HODR Bobcat come in and help us for much of the morning. On top of that, another organization called CHF alongside this work-for-pay program run by USAID helped us clear more of our site. We had another, more mobile Bobcat help us along with a giant Caterpillar taking away huge piles of our rubble, which was all getting hauled away by giant dump trucks. So I ended up spending most of the morning doing something I wasn’t expecting to do in Haiti – directing traffic. Now drivers in Haiti don’t tend to follow “traditional” driving rules as we know them, so this tasked proved to be somewhat difficult and somewhat dangerous, but it had to be done. So basically I’d stop traffic while the Bobcat came in and out. We got a whole lot of work done in the morning but it’s still going to be another week or more to finish the site entirely.
After lunch I went back to the site with a slightly smaller crew (which is ok since the site is pretty narrow and there isn’t room for many people). We didn’t have heavy machinery so we were just running wheelbarrows. At this site there is a lot of stuff and an especially large amount of broken electronics. In the afternoon there was a point where things almost got bad when like eight or ten Haitian guys were crowding around the stuff and fighting over it. Dealing with all the stuff we salvage is a really big problem. People like to steal everything from rebar and bricks to broken electronics. There is only one woman who I’ve met from the site that I believe actually lived in the house so I’m directing the questions to her. When all the people were fighting over the stuff I asked her if that was ok with her and she said no so I had one of the translators say, essentially, that we were working, they were in our way, and they had to leave right away. Things ended up ok and didn’t get too out of hand. We finished up the afternoon work and returned to base. For dinner there were lots of fried plantains (among other things), which are one of my favorites. Saturday night was fun – I stayed up a little late (as in 10:30 instead of 10). It was Salsa dance night at Joe’s next door and I met a couple of women who work at a child nutrition program at the hospital next door. What caught my eye was one of the women was wearing an Elon shirt. It turned out she had graduated from Elon in 2009 and one of the other women she was with lives and works in Durham when she’s not in Haiti. I had a nice time talking about southern food and how underrated a state North Carolina is.
Today was a relaxing day. I did some computer stuff in the early morning then took a walk with my friend Brian (an architect from Seattle) around Leogane. We took some photos and I bought a sim card for my phone. I can now call the US at the price of 15 gourde per minute (about 20 cents). It’s nice to know I can make calls but the internet is still the best way to keep in touch for sure. The walk was really nice – we went to a bakery and got Haitian croissants and we ended it by checking out the market. The rest of the day was spent watching episodes of The Simpsons on my computer. I just had a hotdog on a stick for dinner. Tomorrow it’s back to work. But I have my trip to look forward to on Friday!
Hope everyone had a nice weekend.
Love,
Daniel
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Cine
Yesterday was a pretty average day. I finished making a second rain cover for the giant window by the bunks. It rained last night and today and it seems that they have been helping keep water out. In the afternoon I went to a rubble site – pretty typical, nothing noteworthy as far as I can remember. Last night I got a tarot card reading from a practicing witch – a volunteer named Al (female). The reading showed had some real negative aspects but overall came out pretty positive.
Today I took over as team leader for a site called Cine. It’s a very short distance from base and right on a busy road. The site pretty much sucks. Basically it was a three-story structure, which totally collapsed. On top of the three stories of rubble we suspect the neighbors have been dumping their rubble as well. The building was right in between two others so it’s not a very wide area to work with. It’s essentially a very high pile of rubble and we’re working our way from the front of the site back. I did have a bit of a reality check involving the site last night, though. I was given the paper, which gives the details about the site I’d be working at. 20 people had been living at the house - four had died in the earthquake – one child, three adults. It sort of just made me think again about the extent of the devastation. It’s easy to just think of the sites we go to as JUST rubble but they’re definitely more than that – they’re peoples’ houses. The places they’ve lived, often, for generations. Possessions were buried and people were injured and killed. But anyways the site today went pretty well. In the morning we had the HODR Bobcats (you know, the heavy machinery that scoops and such) come in and clear some of our rubble. Late morning we got absolutely poured on. It made for a really, really dirty site. After lunch we came back and just kept going at it. There were a lot of kids and other locals around – some watching, some helping. It’s really tough dealing with kids. You want them to help – in fact, HODR wants kids to help too. But as team leader I still have to make sure the kids stay as safe as possible. My rule has been that kids can shovel and move rocks by hand and move empty wheelbarrows (as long as they’re not in the way too much) but I still find myself telling kids to stop doing something or making them move a lot. Unfortunately this site is probably going to take another week or ten days to finish.
Tonight I’m going to try to get into bed early. Tomorrow is another day at Cine, rubbling my heart out.
An update on my vacation – I will be going to the Dominican Republic in week from today with Jeanene (and others, maybe)! We booked a room at a place called Costa Caribe. It’s going to come out to about $50 per day for me but that includes a room, all my meals and snacks, drinks, and activities! I’m also looking into some day trips around Santa Domingo. It’s amazing to have something to look forward to – it really helps keep me going when things get tough.
Love,
Daniel
P.S. One thing I forgot to mention that just occurred to me while I was taking my bucket shower a minute ago – when I was working at a rubble site a few days ago there was an aftershock. It wasn’t that big. In fact, I didn’t even feel it because I was hammering at the time. But I heard one of the team member shout “earthquake” and we all gathered in the middle of the site. It wasn’t really a big deal and we got right back to work but it reminded me that I was living in an earthquake zone, something I’m definitely not used to.
Today I took over as team leader for a site called Cine. It’s a very short distance from base and right on a busy road. The site pretty much sucks. Basically it was a three-story structure, which totally collapsed. On top of the three stories of rubble we suspect the neighbors have been dumping their rubble as well. The building was right in between two others so it’s not a very wide area to work with. It’s essentially a very high pile of rubble and we’re working our way from the front of the site back. I did have a bit of a reality check involving the site last night, though. I was given the paper, which gives the details about the site I’d be working at. 20 people had been living at the house - four had died in the earthquake – one child, three adults. It sort of just made me think again about the extent of the devastation. It’s easy to just think of the sites we go to as JUST rubble but they’re definitely more than that – they’re peoples’ houses. The places they’ve lived, often, for generations. Possessions were buried and people were injured and killed. But anyways the site today went pretty well. In the morning we had the HODR Bobcats (you know, the heavy machinery that scoops and such) come in and clear some of our rubble. Late morning we got absolutely poured on. It made for a really, really dirty site. After lunch we came back and just kept going at it. There were a lot of kids and other locals around – some watching, some helping. It’s really tough dealing with kids. You want them to help – in fact, HODR wants kids to help too. But as team leader I still have to make sure the kids stay as safe as possible. My rule has been that kids can shovel and move rocks by hand and move empty wheelbarrows (as long as they’re not in the way too much) but I still find myself telling kids to stop doing something or making them move a lot. Unfortunately this site is probably going to take another week or ten days to finish.
Tonight I’m going to try to get into bed early. Tomorrow is another day at Cine, rubbling my heart out.
An update on my vacation – I will be going to the Dominican Republic in week from today with Jeanene (and others, maybe)! We booked a room at a place called Costa Caribe. It’s going to come out to about $50 per day for me but that includes a room, all my meals and snacks, drinks, and activities! I’m also looking into some day trips around Santa Domingo. It’s amazing to have something to look forward to – it really helps keep me going when things get tough.
Love,
Daniel
P.S. One thing I forgot to mention that just occurred to me while I was taking my bucket shower a minute ago – when I was working at a rubble site a few days ago there was an aftershock. It wasn’t that big. In fact, I didn’t even feel it because I was hammering at the time. But I heard one of the team member shout “earthquake” and we all gathered in the middle of the site. It wasn’t really a big deal and we got right back to work but it reminded me that I was living in an earthquake zone, something I’m definitely not used to.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Shirtless Apprentice
Today I was an apprentice to one of the long-term volunteers name Miso (a guy from Slovakia with a Λ over the “s” in his name). We started the morning with some basic, shirtless carpentry stuff – using a table saw to cut some wood, hammering, measuring – being that I had a pencil behind my ear I felt pretty official. God, measuring twice and cutting once without a shirt on feels so manly. We were building some overhangs with tarp to be attached to certain key locations where a lot of rain comes into the base. Putting these things up was pretty damn difficult. For the two we put outside the windows of the baggage storage room (which flooded two days ago and soaked all my stuff) we had to take a ladder to the side of the base, stick it on top of a ton of mud and non-flat surfaces, and Miso did the hammering while I held the ladder. He reminded me early on that my life was in his hands. As if this wasn’t enough, we had to go to the roof to attach the second half of the piece where I layed on my stomach, hanging off the edge holding the wood while he hammered. It made me nervous, not so much because I’m afraid of heights but rather am afraid of falling of the sides of buildings. We got up three rain diverters in total in the morning. I also got started building rain flies for the giant windows near the bunks (when it rains hard, the bunks nearest to the windows usually get pretty wet). The first one we were making was just a prototype to see if it was feasible and workable.
In the afternoon I worked with a couple volunteers, Steve and Al, in finishing the prototype for the window cover. We did and tested it out – worked like a charm. We’ll just have to see how it stands up to the rain. Tomorrow we are going to make a second one to put over the other giant window. Today I felt good about knowing I helped to make the base a little less wet! Team leaders have to speak at the nightly meeting about how things went for their project for the day –Miso asked me to speak because he thinks his English isn’t good (even though it is) and everyone seemed appreciative of the new designs.
Tonight I’m looking more into the mandatory trip I’ll be taking in the next week or two. I say mandatory (it’s true, it is) but I’m really looking forward to it. I’m fairly sure at this point I’ll be going to the Dominican Republic for my break. I’ll be joined by Jeanene, another volunteer, from Brooklyn, and possibly others; at the meeting I announced our trip to see if anyone wanted to join as well. Hopefully I’ll have everything sorted out ASAP.
Hope you had a good hump day.
Love,
Daniel
In the afternoon I worked with a couple volunteers, Steve and Al, in finishing the prototype for the window cover. We did and tested it out – worked like a charm. We’ll just have to see how it stands up to the rain. Tomorrow we are going to make a second one to put over the other giant window. Today I felt good about knowing I helped to make the base a little less wet! Team leaders have to speak at the nightly meeting about how things went for their project for the day –Miso asked me to speak because he thinks his English isn’t good (even though it is) and everyone seemed appreciative of the new designs.
Tonight I’m looking more into the mandatory trip I’ll be taking in the next week or two. I say mandatory (it’s true, it is) but I’m really looking forward to it. I’m fairly sure at this point I’ll be going to the Dominican Republic for my break. I’ll be joined by Jeanene, another volunteer, from Brooklyn, and possibly others; at the meeting I announced our trip to see if anyone wanted to join as well. Hopefully I’ll have everything sorted out ASAP.
Hope you had a good hump day.
Love,
Daniel
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Finish Site? Check.
Today was a really great day – I finished my first project as team leader! The morning was, again, stressful before leaving as I was running around making sure we had everything and such. I got to the site with the group, which included a few people rubbling for the first time, and did tons of shoveling and wheel barrowing all morning and finished with about 45 minutes to spare. Like yesterday there were tons of kids and other locals watching and running around near the site so I did have to constantly have to ask them to move off the slab we were working on. But we finished without incidence.
I had a nap after lunch and woke up groggy. One of the teams already at a site needed a bunch more people so my group split up and went to two different active sites. I went back to the team I usually work with and got to go to an awesome project. Most of the team did rubble clearing while the rest (myself included) did some demo (demolition) work. Usually a site is classified as either rubble or demo/decon. This site had some of both. Demolition means there are dangerous things going on and there are usually hazards – for example, a site with a roof or high walls or something else when specialized things need to be done. In our case there were a bunch of walls needing to be taken down. I learned a lot about the process – I got to help use a pulley (or “come along”, rather) to bring a wall down and did some precision sledging. So it was a lot of fun. Now I’m back on base and tired as usual. The executive director of HODR, David Campbell, came to the base today. Apparently he comes down here about once a month and then returns to the US to fundraise and all that.
Every 30 days Hands On requires that volunteers take a mental health break somewhere off base for a few days so I’m starting to seriously plan for that. I really want to go to the Dominican Republic so I may do that. I want a room with AC and something to eat other than rice and beans. I’m not being too demanding so I’m sure I’ll be able to find some accommodations to suit my needs.
Tomorrow I’m staying on base to help out doing some infrastructure work around the house. It should be pretty interesting and now that I’ve done two days of rubbling I want to rest my back (part of my process of easing my back back into work).
Hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Daniel
I had a nap after lunch and woke up groggy. One of the teams already at a site needed a bunch more people so my group split up and went to two different active sites. I went back to the team I usually work with and got to go to an awesome project. Most of the team did rubble clearing while the rest (myself included) did some demo (demolition) work. Usually a site is classified as either rubble or demo/decon. This site had some of both. Demolition means there are dangerous things going on and there are usually hazards – for example, a site with a roof or high walls or something else when specialized things need to be done. In our case there were a bunch of walls needing to be taken down. I learned a lot about the process – I got to help use a pulley (or “come along”, rather) to bring a wall down and did some precision sledging. So it was a lot of fun. Now I’m back on base and tired as usual. The executive director of HODR, David Campbell, came to the base today. Apparently he comes down here about once a month and then returns to the US to fundraise and all that.
Every 30 days Hands On requires that volunteers take a mental health break somewhere off base for a few days so I’m starting to seriously plan for that. I really want to go to the Dominican Republic so I may do that. I want a room with AC and something to eat other than rice and beans. I’m not being too demanding so I’m sure I’ll be able to find some accommodations to suit my needs.
Tomorrow I’m staying on base to help out doing some infrastructure work around the house. It should be pretty interesting and now that I’ve done two days of rubbling I want to rest my back (part of my process of easing my back back into work).
Hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Daniel
Monday, May 24, 2010
Captain Me
Sunday was a pretty typical day off. I spent most of the day doing nothing of real importance. I took a walk around Leogane in an attempt to find a sim card for my phone. I didn’t buy one but I now know where I can buy one. I should have known you couldn’t buy a sim card after 1 p.m. on a Sunday, right? It was nice just walking around town a bit – it gave me a chance to take some pictures, which I often don’t do enough during the week. I also went to the hot Sunday restaurant – Massaje - and got a chicken burger, fries, and a strawberry milkshake! The rest of the day was nice, as Sunday’s are. It rained unbelievably hard last night and my bed got wet.
Today was a pretty epic day for me. We had our usual Monday morning pancake breakfast-meeting. I was really excited to get back on rubble after being off of it for so long so I planned to sign up with the team leader I usually work with. By the time I got to the board the site was already full. I went to ask the team leader, Ton, if I could join anyways and he pretty much just grabbed my name magnet and put my name on the board for a new rubble site in the team leader position. Being a team leader was something I didn’t think I’d do for several more weeks but now works too, I guess. So being team leader I had to pick up a cell phone to keep on me at the site. I also had to go to the tool shed and coordinate all the tools and wheelbarrows we were going to take (which was tough since I hadn’t been to the site before). The team also has to take water and a first-aid kit. But I wasn’t planning to be team leader so remembering all this stuff made for a kind of stressful morning. Each tap-tap makes two runs to different sites in the morning and my team was scheduled to be second so we were requested next door at the hospital where we moved a big triage structure. After that we headed out to the site (about 12 of us, including a few local volunteers). When we got to the site it was just a whole bunch of rubble – usually there are huge slabs of concrete that need to be sledged, but in this case all the structure was totally in pieces. This meant there was a lot of shoveling, pick-axing, and wheel barrowing going on. There was also this one piece of solid concrete that proved to be a real challenge – it was leaning up against a neighbor’s wall so every time we hit the piece, we risked breaking the wall, not to mention there was the danger of somebody getting hurt if we weren’t careful. I decided I would consult with someone at lunch and we’d take care of that problem in the afternoon. One of the other jobs of team leaders is to make decisions on what people do work-wise and all the questions about pretty much everything on site came to me. Despite my being nervous and the rain we got, the morning went really well. Lots of stuff got taken care of. And the neighbors all wanted to keep the rubble to use to elevate areas from flooding. One other real concern I had were all the kids around. This site was in a pretty confined area and there were literally a couple dozen kids so I was constantly having to ask them to back away for their own safety and so that we could work. Being team leader all these things fall on me so even though all the volunteers are responsible adults, there is a fair amount of responsibility (and pressure) on the team leader, I learned to appreciate today.
Lunch/afternoon break was really interesting today. I saw some people with badges milling around while I was eating and was told they were Acupuncturists Without Borders. They had come from their base in Port-au-Prince and did a session with us! So everyone who wanted to went to the big outdoor tent, sat down, and got ten needles, five in each ear! I’m not sure how much of it was the needles and how much of it was the fact that I was closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, but the whole thing felt really great and was totally relaxing. When this was done I had to go get all the equipment ready for the afternoon.
The team returned to the site in the afternoon and we basically kicked ass. Everyone worked so hard clearing the slab and doing what needed to be done. I worked with a couple of the guys taking the wall down – which got done safely with very little damage done to the neighbor’s wall. We got rained on once again in the afternoon, which was pretty refreshing. Our ride arrived and the team all got back, everyone and everything still intact, so I feel like I didn’t completely fail as a leader. Thinking about it, it’s also a bit weird being team leader but also being younger than everyone I’m leading. It’s not an issue or something anyone brings up (or even thinks about, probably) but it’s been on my mind. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before but here’s an interesting fact – I’m the youngest person on base. But anyways, I’ll be leading the team again tomorrow and plan to finish the site in the morning. Then I’ll be off to a new rubble site and a new adventure.
I’m so tired.
Love,
Daniel
Today was a pretty epic day for me. We had our usual Monday morning pancake breakfast-meeting. I was really excited to get back on rubble after being off of it for so long so I planned to sign up with the team leader I usually work with. By the time I got to the board the site was already full. I went to ask the team leader, Ton, if I could join anyways and he pretty much just grabbed my name magnet and put my name on the board for a new rubble site in the team leader position. Being a team leader was something I didn’t think I’d do for several more weeks but now works too, I guess. So being team leader I had to pick up a cell phone to keep on me at the site. I also had to go to the tool shed and coordinate all the tools and wheelbarrows we were going to take (which was tough since I hadn’t been to the site before). The team also has to take water and a first-aid kit. But I wasn’t planning to be team leader so remembering all this stuff made for a kind of stressful morning. Each tap-tap makes two runs to different sites in the morning and my team was scheduled to be second so we were requested next door at the hospital where we moved a big triage structure. After that we headed out to the site (about 12 of us, including a few local volunteers). When we got to the site it was just a whole bunch of rubble – usually there are huge slabs of concrete that need to be sledged, but in this case all the structure was totally in pieces. This meant there was a lot of shoveling, pick-axing, and wheel barrowing going on. There was also this one piece of solid concrete that proved to be a real challenge – it was leaning up against a neighbor’s wall so every time we hit the piece, we risked breaking the wall, not to mention there was the danger of somebody getting hurt if we weren’t careful. I decided I would consult with someone at lunch and we’d take care of that problem in the afternoon. One of the other jobs of team leaders is to make decisions on what people do work-wise and all the questions about pretty much everything on site came to me. Despite my being nervous and the rain we got, the morning went really well. Lots of stuff got taken care of. And the neighbors all wanted to keep the rubble to use to elevate areas from flooding. One other real concern I had were all the kids around. This site was in a pretty confined area and there were literally a couple dozen kids so I was constantly having to ask them to back away for their own safety and so that we could work. Being team leader all these things fall on me so even though all the volunteers are responsible adults, there is a fair amount of responsibility (and pressure) on the team leader, I learned to appreciate today.
Lunch/afternoon break was really interesting today. I saw some people with badges milling around while I was eating and was told they were Acupuncturists Without Borders. They had come from their base in Port-au-Prince and did a session with us! So everyone who wanted to went to the big outdoor tent, sat down, and got ten needles, five in each ear! I’m not sure how much of it was the needles and how much of it was the fact that I was closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, but the whole thing felt really great and was totally relaxing. When this was done I had to go get all the equipment ready for the afternoon.
The team returned to the site in the afternoon and we basically kicked ass. Everyone worked so hard clearing the slab and doing what needed to be done. I worked with a couple of the guys taking the wall down – which got done safely with very little damage done to the neighbor’s wall. We got rained on once again in the afternoon, which was pretty refreshing. Our ride arrived and the team all got back, everyone and everything still intact, so I feel like I didn’t completely fail as a leader. Thinking about it, it’s also a bit weird being team leader but also being younger than everyone I’m leading. It’s not an issue or something anyone brings up (or even thinks about, probably) but it’s been on my mind. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before but here’s an interesting fact – I’m the youngest person on base. But anyways, I’ll be leading the team again tomorrow and plan to finish the site in the morning. Then I’ll be off to a new rubble site and a new adventure.
I’m so tired.
Love,
Daniel
Sunday, May 23, 2010
My Adventure
Alright so the following post is a summary of the trip I took to Jacmel for the satellite teaching project. Some of this I wrote during the trip and some after so the tense changes a lot and whatnot. It’s a pretty long post but I suppose a lot can happen in a few days.
Day I: Today, Thursday, has been a pretty wild day. It started off with my waking up at 4:45 a.m. I finished packing for the Jacmel trip and had some breakfast. We left base around 6:30. The tap-taps are not comfortable to begin with but taking long trips on them pretty much sucks. But aside from the discomfort, the ride was really nice – we rode up and through the mountains. We got to the place we’re staying at within a couple hours. Unfortunately we were meant to be at the school (our first teaching site) by 8:30. So anyways we arrive at the base here in Jacmel. We set our stuff down and left for our first work site in a town called Etain (sp?), a supposed 30 minute drive away. The first bit of the drive was fine – semi-paved roads, nothing crazy. It was when we got to the first river that the problems started. Just for a little background – the tap-tap we were in was a piece of shit to begin with. An old, rusting pickup with some elevated bench seating in the back and a metal piece covering the top. Ok so we get to this river and we just go at it, full on. Drove right into it. It wasn’t a huge, deep river (at least at the part we were crossing) but it was still several feet deep and totally rocky on the bottom. Half way across the car stalls. This is an occurrence that subsequently happened about 200 more times throughout the day. So after a couple minutes the boyfriend of one of our translators (who is tagging on long on this trip for some unknown reason) hopped out of the tap-tap and, with some assistance from the locals, got the truck going again. We get across the river and drive on some road that was getting progressively worse. Then we hit another river. We got through it, barely. Then came the mountain. Now perhaps it should have been a sign to us not to proceed seeing as how there were only a couple motorcycles going up – maybe our vehicle would be unable to handle the terrain. But we went for it, of course. The next hour was some of the scariest minutes I’ve had in a while. Basically think – extreme inclines and declines, no real road to speak of, a very narrow and rocky path, and being inches away from a cliff steep enough to base jump off – this was non-stop the whole way up. There were several occasions we had to jump off the back of the tap-tap due to close calls. We’d walk while the driver negotiated the particularly nasty bits of mountain. But somehow we got up! We were two hours late but glad to be alive. The teaching sessions went smoothly in the morning for the most part. The teachers were asking lots of questions and we didn’t have much time since we were so late but we managed to finish. We had some lunch of – you guessed it – rice and beans (and some fish and really awesome lime juice)! Afternoon session went by alright even though we were on an even tighter schedule. My portion which deals with floods/hurricanes and fire/fire safety went well although the teachers had more interest and questions about earthquakes, which is fair enough and doesn’t surprise me. Regardless I still feel like my section includes some pretty important information. So we finished up and got back in the tap-tap. Now at this point I had developed a bad headache. Let me say that the being in the back of a tap-tap, careening down a mountain isn’t the most comfortable position to be in, especially when you have a headache. As we were leaving the school everyone on the team was talking about their imminent deaths. Going down the mountain really, legitimately was scary. Even worse than on the way up. So going down was easier in that we didn’t have to jump out but, again, was way scarier. We made it down and through the river (although the engine died again in the middle). After nearly an eternity in the back of the death-mobile we got back to the house where the truck pretty much died in front of the gate. Needless to say I was happy to hear we’d be using a new truck Friday. Upon getting back we set up a big ol’ tent in the front yard of this Haitian NGO’s compound we were staying at. The group got together to go for dinner in downtown Jacmel but I was feeling pretty crap so I stayed at the compound all by myself. It sucked feeling so bad but quite nice having free range of the house – this included a real toilet, a proper shower, and cold drinking water. After less than three weeks in Haiti these things seemed like luxuries. So I had a shower (still had a cold one), got myself some water, threw on my headphones, and started writing this entry. I then took a little nap and woke up when the others came back with a box of food for me. I got a delicious piece of chicken, fried plantains, and the infamous spicy, Haitian coleslaw. I ate quickly and went back to bed. I decided pretty quickly that sleeping on a sleeping pad is not enough comfort for me but putting a pillow under my back and using clothes as a pillow made me marginally more comfortable. But I slept.
Day II: I woke up at a quarter ‘till six, had breakfast, and the team was off for the day. Being that our “30 minute ride” Thursday took a good two hours, I had some real trepidation getting onto our new, smaller tap-tap to embark on an hour and half journey through even more mountains in a town called Brettan (again, sp?). The ride was horribly uncomfortable but, again, there was a stunningly beautiful view for most of the ride. Also, when we were a few minutes into the ride we stopped and two older Haitian women got in the tap-tap with us (along with huge sacks full of something heavy). For a little while I thought they were teachers, hitching a ride to the seminar with us but when we dropped them off an hour and some later I realized they weren’t. This same kind of thing happened several more times through the rest of the trip. It only took two, two and a half hours. And there were only a handful of times when I feared for my life. It’s amazing how many more stares and looks of sheer bewilderment you get the further outside of major cities you get. And instead of the “hey you’s” I’m used to getting in Leogane, the kids mostly just shout “blanc” (white) over and over at us. Getting to the town today I was still feeling pretty sick and really tired. I barely made it through the morning session. While we were taking a break and waiting for lunch our team leader, Chris, suggested we make a quick run to the beach before eating. We made the short walk to the water – we walked through a graveyard, which had a path that ran through the gravestones (all above ground, as Haitian culture dictates people not be buried in the ground) and came right out onto the beach. The water was a beautiful, light shade of blue and there wasn’t any sand but instead there were stones. The stones were all very smooth so walking barefoot wasn’t a problem. We all basically got down to our underwear and went swimming. The water was really warm and we mostly had the beach to ourselves – there were a few young Haitian kids swimming. We only had a few minutes in the water but it was extremely refreshing and I did feel a lot less sick. We finished the afternoon and headed back to Jacmel. I know I’ve complained a lot about the tap-tap rides but this ride was no different than the rest – long, uncomfortable. But this time we even got some rain. We were lucky that the driver had a tarp, which we all huddled under. It felt like the days of making forts (kind of). We had street food for dinner (old oily chicken that didn’t agree with a lot of the group the next day). Because our last teaching site was in Jacmel itself, we were going to have to leave until 8 the next morning. That meant sleeping in!
Day III: I slept later Saturday morning than maybe any day so far – 7 a.m.! When we went to load the tap-tap there were some mechanics outside who had fixed the problem on our initial tap-tap but weren’t happy with the amount our driver was trying to give them. They were demanding twice the cost of what the work should have reasonably cost (so I was told). The mechanic even threatened to put the engine back the way it was if he didn’t get paid. One of our translator’s boyfriend, Gito, a big guy, put half the money being demanded into the mechanics pocket and hustled him away. The session was only 15 minutes away from the house and the whole day went really quickly. Before I knew it, we were packing up our giant tent and packing up the tap-tap. The ride back wasn’t too bad and I was actually happy to be back! People here are really great. Coming back in, lots of people ask how everything went and welcomed me back “home”. Seriously, the people here are so wonderful.
One thing I find very entertaining about doing the teaching sessions is the questions we get. A lot of the questions are reasonable but every session we typically get a couple ridiculous ones. I just want to share a couple of the better questions we got just so you have an idea of what I mean (I’m paraphrasing but the questions remain essentially the same):
-I heard there is a car that can create an earthquake, true?
-I heard that on December 21, 2012 the US is going to set off lots of bombs and missiles and if you want to survive you have to go underground, true?
Sometimes I seem to get so wrapped up in everything going on with HODR I forget to really look at and enjoy the country I’m in. Getting out to do this satellite project was great in that I was able to see more of the country and think more about all the cultural differences. I also got to spend time with a small group of really great people. One of the guys on the trip, Steve, did some calculation on the way back. He figured out that during the trip we had spent more time on a tap-tap then we had sleeping. Anyways, I’m really glad I went.
Day I: Today, Thursday, has been a pretty wild day. It started off with my waking up at 4:45 a.m. I finished packing for the Jacmel trip and had some breakfast. We left base around 6:30. The tap-taps are not comfortable to begin with but taking long trips on them pretty much sucks. But aside from the discomfort, the ride was really nice – we rode up and through the mountains. We got to the place we’re staying at within a couple hours. Unfortunately we were meant to be at the school (our first teaching site) by 8:30. So anyways we arrive at the base here in Jacmel. We set our stuff down and left for our first work site in a town called Etain (sp?), a supposed 30 minute drive away. The first bit of the drive was fine – semi-paved roads, nothing crazy. It was when we got to the first river that the problems started. Just for a little background – the tap-tap we were in was a piece of shit to begin with. An old, rusting pickup with some elevated bench seating in the back and a metal piece covering the top. Ok so we get to this river and we just go at it, full on. Drove right into it. It wasn’t a huge, deep river (at least at the part we were crossing) but it was still several feet deep and totally rocky on the bottom. Half way across the car stalls. This is an occurrence that subsequently happened about 200 more times throughout the day. So after a couple minutes the boyfriend of one of our translators (who is tagging on long on this trip for some unknown reason) hopped out of the tap-tap and, with some assistance from the locals, got the truck going again. We get across the river and drive on some road that was getting progressively worse. Then we hit another river. We got through it, barely. Then came the mountain. Now perhaps it should have been a sign to us not to proceed seeing as how there were only a couple motorcycles going up – maybe our vehicle would be unable to handle the terrain. But we went for it, of course. The next hour was some of the scariest minutes I’ve had in a while. Basically think – extreme inclines and declines, no real road to speak of, a very narrow and rocky path, and being inches away from a cliff steep enough to base jump off – this was non-stop the whole way up. There were several occasions we had to jump off the back of the tap-tap due to close calls. We’d walk while the driver negotiated the particularly nasty bits of mountain. But somehow we got up! We were two hours late but glad to be alive. The teaching sessions went smoothly in the morning for the most part. The teachers were asking lots of questions and we didn’t have much time since we were so late but we managed to finish. We had some lunch of – you guessed it – rice and beans (and some fish and really awesome lime juice)! Afternoon session went by alright even though we were on an even tighter schedule. My portion which deals with floods/hurricanes and fire/fire safety went well although the teachers had more interest and questions about earthquakes, which is fair enough and doesn’t surprise me. Regardless I still feel like my section includes some pretty important information. So we finished up and got back in the tap-tap. Now at this point I had developed a bad headache. Let me say that the being in the back of a tap-tap, careening down a mountain isn’t the most comfortable position to be in, especially when you have a headache. As we were leaving the school everyone on the team was talking about their imminent deaths. Going down the mountain really, legitimately was scary. Even worse than on the way up. So going down was easier in that we didn’t have to jump out but, again, was way scarier. We made it down and through the river (although the engine died again in the middle). After nearly an eternity in the back of the death-mobile we got back to the house where the truck pretty much died in front of the gate. Needless to say I was happy to hear we’d be using a new truck Friday. Upon getting back we set up a big ol’ tent in the front yard of this Haitian NGO’s compound we were staying at. The group got together to go for dinner in downtown Jacmel but I was feeling pretty crap so I stayed at the compound all by myself. It sucked feeling so bad but quite nice having free range of the house – this included a real toilet, a proper shower, and cold drinking water. After less than three weeks in Haiti these things seemed like luxuries. So I had a shower (still had a cold one), got myself some water, threw on my headphones, and started writing this entry. I then took a little nap and woke up when the others came back with a box of food for me. I got a delicious piece of chicken, fried plantains, and the infamous spicy, Haitian coleslaw. I ate quickly and went back to bed. I decided pretty quickly that sleeping on a sleeping pad is not enough comfort for me but putting a pillow under my back and using clothes as a pillow made me marginally more comfortable. But I slept.
Day II: I woke up at a quarter ‘till six, had breakfast, and the team was off for the day. Being that our “30 minute ride” Thursday took a good two hours, I had some real trepidation getting onto our new, smaller tap-tap to embark on an hour and half journey through even more mountains in a town called Brettan (again, sp?). The ride was horribly uncomfortable but, again, there was a stunningly beautiful view for most of the ride. Also, when we were a few minutes into the ride we stopped and two older Haitian women got in the tap-tap with us (along with huge sacks full of something heavy). For a little while I thought they were teachers, hitching a ride to the seminar with us but when we dropped them off an hour and some later I realized they weren’t. This same kind of thing happened several more times through the rest of the trip. It only took two, two and a half hours. And there were only a handful of times when I feared for my life. It’s amazing how many more stares and looks of sheer bewilderment you get the further outside of major cities you get. And instead of the “hey you’s” I’m used to getting in Leogane, the kids mostly just shout “blanc” (white) over and over at us. Getting to the town today I was still feeling pretty sick and really tired. I barely made it through the morning session. While we were taking a break and waiting for lunch our team leader, Chris, suggested we make a quick run to the beach before eating. We made the short walk to the water – we walked through a graveyard, which had a path that ran through the gravestones (all above ground, as Haitian culture dictates people not be buried in the ground) and came right out onto the beach. The water was a beautiful, light shade of blue and there wasn’t any sand but instead there were stones. The stones were all very smooth so walking barefoot wasn’t a problem. We all basically got down to our underwear and went swimming. The water was really warm and we mostly had the beach to ourselves – there were a few young Haitian kids swimming. We only had a few minutes in the water but it was extremely refreshing and I did feel a lot less sick. We finished the afternoon and headed back to Jacmel. I know I’ve complained a lot about the tap-tap rides but this ride was no different than the rest – long, uncomfortable. But this time we even got some rain. We were lucky that the driver had a tarp, which we all huddled under. It felt like the days of making forts (kind of). We had street food for dinner (old oily chicken that didn’t agree with a lot of the group the next day). Because our last teaching site was in Jacmel itself, we were going to have to leave until 8 the next morning. That meant sleeping in!
Day III: I slept later Saturday morning than maybe any day so far – 7 a.m.! When we went to load the tap-tap there were some mechanics outside who had fixed the problem on our initial tap-tap but weren’t happy with the amount our driver was trying to give them. They were demanding twice the cost of what the work should have reasonably cost (so I was told). The mechanic even threatened to put the engine back the way it was if he didn’t get paid. One of our translator’s boyfriend, Gito, a big guy, put half the money being demanded into the mechanics pocket and hustled him away. The session was only 15 minutes away from the house and the whole day went really quickly. Before I knew it, we were packing up our giant tent and packing up the tap-tap. The ride back wasn’t too bad and I was actually happy to be back! People here are really great. Coming back in, lots of people ask how everything went and welcomed me back “home”. Seriously, the people here are so wonderful.
One thing I find very entertaining about doing the teaching sessions is the questions we get. A lot of the questions are reasonable but every session we typically get a couple ridiculous ones. I just want to share a couple of the better questions we got just so you have an idea of what I mean (I’m paraphrasing but the questions remain essentially the same):
-I heard there is a car that can create an earthquake, true?
-I heard that on December 21, 2012 the US is going to set off lots of bombs and missiles and if you want to survive you have to go underground, true?
Sometimes I seem to get so wrapped up in everything going on with HODR I forget to really look at and enjoy the country I’m in. Getting out to do this satellite project was great in that I was able to see more of the country and think more about all the cultural differences. I also got to spend time with a small group of really great people. One of the guys on the trip, Steve, did some calculation on the way back. He figured out that during the trip we had spent more time on a tap-tap then we had sleeping. Anyways, I’m really glad I went.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
So Much to Come...
Well I made it back from Jacmel. Barely. I'm completely beat so I'm going to save all my stories for tomorrow. Check out the blog tomorrow and there will be new posts and tons of stories from my little trip.
Love,
Daniel
Love,
Daniel
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
To Jacmel and Beyond!
This morning I took charge in the next step of the orphanage sort. The process today was to take a towel, wrap in it shorts, pants, dresses, socks, shoes, shirts, hats, sunglasses, and stuffed animals. We made 20 some packages for boys and 20 some for girls aged 2-12. As I said previously, these clothes are really quite nice. In the afternoon I prepared for my upcoming satellite project (see next paragraph). For dinner we had make-your-own egg sandwiches. On one hand it was a nice change from rice and beans but on the other hand, egg sandwiches are what sustain me every Sunday. Oh well, I can’t complain – the food here suits me fine. This evening I’ve just been milling around, packing, and will try to get a good amount of sleep tonight.
Tomorrow (and Friday and Saturday) are going to be exciting days for me. I’ll be heading to Jacmel, a coastal town about an hour and a half from Leogane. There is a group of about ten of us going and we’ll be doing seminars on disaster preparedness as well as art therapy as a medium for dealing with traumatized children. I did this locally a couple weekends ago and it went really well so we decided to expand. Over the course of three days we’ll be working with over 200 teachers! I’ll be doing the same portion I did last time – giving some background on fires and floods and talking about how to stay safe in case a fire of flood occurs. During our time we’ll be staying in a tent and (hopefully) will get some beach time. I’ll be leaving very early tomorrow morning and getting back Saturday night – this means I most likely will be unable to blog or email at all until Saturday or Sunday. I’ll miss the connectivity but I’ll hopefully come back this weekend with some cool stories.
I’m off to do a few more emails and finish packing. Be sure to tune back into my blog, which will be updated by Sunday AT THE LATEST!
Have a great rest of the week and lovely weekend.
Love,
Daniel
Tomorrow (and Friday and Saturday) are going to be exciting days for me. I’ll be heading to Jacmel, a coastal town about an hour and a half from Leogane. There is a group of about ten of us going and we’ll be doing seminars on disaster preparedness as well as art therapy as a medium for dealing with traumatized children. I did this locally a couple weekends ago and it went really well so we decided to expand. Over the course of three days we’ll be working with over 200 teachers! I’ll be doing the same portion I did last time – giving some background on fires and floods and talking about how to stay safe in case a fire of flood occurs. During our time we’ll be staying in a tent and (hopefully) will get some beach time. I’ll be leaving very early tomorrow morning and getting back Saturday night – this means I most likely will be unable to blog or email at all until Saturday or Sunday. I’ll miss the connectivity but I’ll hopefully come back this weekend with some cool stories.
I’m off to do a few more emails and finish packing. Be sure to tune back into my blog, which will be updated by Sunday AT THE LATEST!
Have a great rest of the week and lovely weekend.
Love,
Daniel
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Nice Shot, Colonel
It’s currently pouring rain here in Leogane. It’s nice because it tends to cool things off overall but sucks because causes the internet to not function. I’m writing this post in a Word document, hoping the net will be back up soon.
My Flag Day was really great! I spent pretty much the whole morning and a good portion of the afternoon on the computer (emailing, watching The Simpsons, etc.). Late afternoon I took on the responsibility of organizing the basketball team to go play against the Sri Lankan Army UN guys. I was able to get about six others to come along (two just to spectate). We took a few moto-taxis over to Sri Lankan UN compound – only a five-ten minute drive away. When we arrived and one of the Sri Lankans saw me I made the basketball shooting gesture and was led to the court. It was definitely makeshift but totally worked. Pretty much there was an area (less then half the size of a real basketball court) that was enclosed with tarps. There were two goals and even lights for when it gets dark. One of the goals was stuck around eight and a half feet and the other goal had a gaping hole in the backboard but really it just gave the court a little character. We ended up playing four on four – HODR vs. Sri Lanka. It was a hard fought game by both sides. As I suspected, our team had a slight height advantage overall but their team was full of really fit dudes. I must say Sri Lanka played a little dirty or, lets say, they didn’t play by all the rules I’m used to. There was fouling, a fair amount of goal tending, traveling and such. Regardless the game was still totally fun. I didn’t realize it until late in the game but in playing man-to-man defense I was matched up against a Colonel. Oh and I guess it is worth mentioning that we did end up pulling out the victory although it was a close game – 40-38. And I got to drink official UN water, bottled in a special UN plant. After the game the UN guys told us to come back tomorrow to play again which won’t work but I’ll definitely be organizing some games for the weekends. As soon as we were going to come back to base this torrential rain started. When it slowed down I caught a moto-taxi but the rain picked back up mid-ride. I came back to base soaking wet BUT the victory was totally worth the wet clothes. It’s back to work tomorrow so I’m going to try to get some quality sleep tonight. I’ve been waking up most mornings by 5:45 so going to bed early is key.
If anybody gets a chance, check out WWW.HODR.ORG - they just wrote a four-month update and there are also some pictures and other cool stuff. I also recommend becoming a friend of Hands On Disaster Response on facebook!
I hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Daniel
My Flag Day was really great! I spent pretty much the whole morning and a good portion of the afternoon on the computer (emailing, watching The Simpsons, etc.). Late afternoon I took on the responsibility of organizing the basketball team to go play against the Sri Lankan Army UN guys. I was able to get about six others to come along (two just to spectate). We took a few moto-taxis over to Sri Lankan UN compound – only a five-ten minute drive away. When we arrived and one of the Sri Lankans saw me I made the basketball shooting gesture and was led to the court. It was definitely makeshift but totally worked. Pretty much there was an area (less then half the size of a real basketball court) that was enclosed with tarps. There were two goals and even lights for when it gets dark. One of the goals was stuck around eight and a half feet and the other goal had a gaping hole in the backboard but really it just gave the court a little character. We ended up playing four on four – HODR vs. Sri Lanka. It was a hard fought game by both sides. As I suspected, our team had a slight height advantage overall but their team was full of really fit dudes. I must say Sri Lanka played a little dirty or, lets say, they didn’t play by all the rules I’m used to. There was fouling, a fair amount of goal tending, traveling and such. Regardless the game was still totally fun. I didn’t realize it until late in the game but in playing man-to-man defense I was matched up against a Colonel. Oh and I guess it is worth mentioning that we did end up pulling out the victory although it was a close game – 40-38. And I got to drink official UN water, bottled in a special UN plant. After the game the UN guys told us to come back tomorrow to play again which won’t work but I’ll definitely be organizing some games for the weekends. As soon as we were going to come back to base this torrential rain started. When it slowed down I caught a moto-taxi but the rain picked back up mid-ride. I came back to base soaking wet BUT the victory was totally worth the wet clothes. It’s back to work tomorrow so I’m going to try to get some quality sleep tonight. I’ve been waking up most mornings by 5:45 so going to bed early is key.
If anybody gets a chance, check out WWW.HODR.ORG - they just wrote a four-month update and there are also some pictures and other cool stuff. I also recommend becoming a friend of Hands On Disaster Response on facebook!
I hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Daniel
Monday, May 17, 2010
Project: Orphanage Sort
First of all I want to say that I’m typing right now ON MY COMPUTER! It was hand delivered last night along with a lovely photo album, work gloves, and more sunscreen – thanks Mom!
My Sunday goal had been to get to the beach. It didn’t happen. But what did happen was pretty interesting – a bit of an adventure. After lounging around base for a while I decided I desperately needed to escape the heat via a large body of water. After much discussion I ended up setting off with another volunteer named Jeanine. We left base in search of a moto-taxi to take us to a beach called Ballisimo (sp?). None of the motorcycle guys seemed to know where we were trying to go but finally we found one that seemed willing to, at the very least, take us somewhere that might be right. 20-some minutes later it became clear we had not gone the right direction at all. We pulled off to the side of the road and spoke with a local guy. After much talk (some in English, some French, some Creole) the guy on the side of the road said we could pay the driver $20 US and he’d wait for us to swim (at this beach we were at that WASN’T Ballisimo). Considering that it was about $19 more than we’d initially agreed on AND we didn’t have US dollars we told him to take us back to town. We returned to base slightly disheartened – although the ride had taken us into a lovely area in the mountains. Vowing to find water the two of us set off again – this time looking for a beach that was supposedly a ten-minute walk away. No big deal, right? Well as we were leaving base we saw one of the local volunteers and after a brief discussion he offered to take us to the beach. About an hour of hiking later we told him we had to turn around. In flip-flops I trekked through farmland, through woods, and never even made it to the beach. I got back to base a while later, admitting defeat. I sat around for a bit longer then was rounded up in a group to go get dinner. I’ve probably mentioned this before but, again, we don’t get fed on Sunday’s so we’re responsible for getting our own meals. So anyways a group of us walked over to a place called Massaje for the meal of a lifetime (relatively speaking). Just know that I ended the night with a cheeseburger, fries, milkshake, and coke in my stomach.
So because I’m still letting my sore back rest a bit more I decided to do the orphanage sort. This entailed sorting box after box of donations to take to the local orphanage(s). This huge shipment of stuff was pretty impressive. It was mostly stuff from Gymboree – apparently they decided to send a bunch of last season’s stuff to Haiti! It was really quite amazing things – all brand new. Some of the clothes donated were as much as $80 per garment. A lot of these clothes are going to help a lot of kids out. One funny note – a lot of the clothes sent were winter clothes. We’re talking down jackets, tons of sweaters, wool caps. So all of the clothes may not get used (or maybe they will and they’ll be tons of Haitian children running around in snow gear). Overall the workday went well – I got a chance to stay around base, taking it relatively easy while still accomplishing something. We’ve been given a roster of the children at one of the orphanages so the next step is to make a bag for each individual kid.
So now I’m in the office, blogging away with the music from the bar next door blasting away. As a little side note I want to say that the bar – nay – the entire country of Haiti plays one playlist ad nauseam. It’s a few mainstream American rap songs, a few Haitian rap songs, and a few “best of Bob Marley” songs. So anyways we don’t have work tomorrow as it’s Flag Day in Haiti! It’s apparently a pretty major holiday and everyone takes off work to celebrate. I’m not totally sure what tomorrow entails for me but I do know that (as of now) I and some other HODR volunteers will be heading over to the Sri Lankan UN base and challenging them to a game of basketball! I’m very much looking forward to representing my country in the name of basketball. My scouting report indicates that the UN team will be pretty short BUT in extremely good shape so it should be an interesting matchup. Assuming the game goes through as planned I’ll have a full report tomorrow and will have a friend take pictures which you can all see when I get home.
I’ve got to run – No Woman No Cry is playing!
Love,
Daniel
P.S. I had goat for lunch today which was DELICIOUS.
My Sunday goal had been to get to the beach. It didn’t happen. But what did happen was pretty interesting – a bit of an adventure. After lounging around base for a while I decided I desperately needed to escape the heat via a large body of water. After much discussion I ended up setting off with another volunteer named Jeanine. We left base in search of a moto-taxi to take us to a beach called Ballisimo (sp?). None of the motorcycle guys seemed to know where we were trying to go but finally we found one that seemed willing to, at the very least, take us somewhere that might be right. 20-some minutes later it became clear we had not gone the right direction at all. We pulled off to the side of the road and spoke with a local guy. After much talk (some in English, some French, some Creole) the guy on the side of the road said we could pay the driver $20 US and he’d wait for us to swim (at this beach we were at that WASN’T Ballisimo). Considering that it was about $19 more than we’d initially agreed on AND we didn’t have US dollars we told him to take us back to town. We returned to base slightly disheartened – although the ride had taken us into a lovely area in the mountains. Vowing to find water the two of us set off again – this time looking for a beach that was supposedly a ten-minute walk away. No big deal, right? Well as we were leaving base we saw one of the local volunteers and after a brief discussion he offered to take us to the beach. About an hour of hiking later we told him we had to turn around. In flip-flops I trekked through farmland, through woods, and never even made it to the beach. I got back to base a while later, admitting defeat. I sat around for a bit longer then was rounded up in a group to go get dinner. I’ve probably mentioned this before but, again, we don’t get fed on Sunday’s so we’re responsible for getting our own meals. So anyways a group of us walked over to a place called Massaje for the meal of a lifetime (relatively speaking). Just know that I ended the night with a cheeseburger, fries, milkshake, and coke in my stomach.
So because I’m still letting my sore back rest a bit more I decided to do the orphanage sort. This entailed sorting box after box of donations to take to the local orphanage(s). This huge shipment of stuff was pretty impressive. It was mostly stuff from Gymboree – apparently they decided to send a bunch of last season’s stuff to Haiti! It was really quite amazing things – all brand new. Some of the clothes donated were as much as $80 per garment. A lot of these clothes are going to help a lot of kids out. One funny note – a lot of the clothes sent were winter clothes. We’re talking down jackets, tons of sweaters, wool caps. So all of the clothes may not get used (or maybe they will and they’ll be tons of Haitian children running around in snow gear). Overall the workday went well – I got a chance to stay around base, taking it relatively easy while still accomplishing something. We’ve been given a roster of the children at one of the orphanages so the next step is to make a bag for each individual kid.
So now I’m in the office, blogging away with the music from the bar next door blasting away. As a little side note I want to say that the bar – nay – the entire country of Haiti plays one playlist ad nauseam. It’s a few mainstream American rap songs, a few Haitian rap songs, and a few “best of Bob Marley” songs. So anyways we don’t have work tomorrow as it’s Flag Day in Haiti! It’s apparently a pretty major holiday and everyone takes off work to celebrate. I’m not totally sure what tomorrow entails for me but I do know that (as of now) I and some other HODR volunteers will be heading over to the Sri Lankan UN base and challenging them to a game of basketball! I’m very much looking forward to representing my country in the name of basketball. My scouting report indicates that the UN team will be pretty short BUT in extremely good shape so it should be an interesting matchup. Assuming the game goes through as planned I’ll have a full report tomorrow and will have a friend take pictures which you can all see when I get home.
I’ve got to run – No Woman No Cry is playing!
Love,
Daniel
P.S. I had goat for lunch today which was DELICIOUS.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sunday
So it's a Sunday which means it's my day off. I wish that meant I could spend lots of time on the computer but since I'm using the HODR computer my time is limited. BUT tomorrow (!) I will be getting my Mac hand delivered to me from Chapel Hill. A women who volunteers here with me happened to be going to Chapel Hill for a wedding for the weekend and she agreed to bring my computer back! That means I should be able to update my blog and email more frequently.
This week went pretty well. I finished a rubble site with my group and we moved on to a new one early in the week. The new site, Lourde, was different than any of the sites I had been to before. The other sites had simply been the ceiling pancaking directly onto the flood. This one had a significant portion of the roof at an upward angle which made the job much more tactical and dangerous. We had a guy who is good at demolition come by and level the structure some. I worked on the same site for a couple days. Thursday I went hardcore on the sledging and hurt my back. I didn't quite realize I had hurt it until late that night when I went to go a calisthenics class on the roof. I slept and woke up Friday feeling much better so I went back to the site. After about five sledges I pretty much became immobile. It really sucked having to sit out. I rested a bit in the afternoon and decided I'm going to take a couple days to do other activities aside from rubbling to give my back a rest. I'd rather rest a few days now and be able to return to work than be out for a month down the road because I didn't rest.
Saturday we had a BBQ on base which meant we also got the afternoon of work. Well most people got the afternoon off, at least. I volunteered to help cook for the BBQ. In the morning I went to the market to pick up some supplies. The market here is pretty insane. Lots of people in a confined space, low ceilings, motorcycles driving around, heat, and bad smells which is all to be expected. I made it out alright and spent the rest of the morning preping. Our menu included BBQ chicken, potato salad, green salad, fruit salad, and fried dough. In the afternoon I took over cooking the chicken along with another guy. The rest of the afternoon and evening (until at least 7 p.m.) was spent grilling. It was a lot of work but everybody loved the food so it was totally worth the work.
Today I took a moto-taxi with a few other people to this gas station not far away. They sell a lot of stuff that's very hard to find - FROZEN snickers, awesome cold drinks, pringles, etc. AMAZING! The rest of today has been spent vegging. I'm probably going to head to the beach in a little while and have a quick swim.
When I get my computer I will start posting more frequently and can have more details and it will be better overall. It's hard trying to quickly write what I did in a whole week!
Hope everyone is well.
Love,
Daniel
P.S. I just got an email from my mom telling my I got accepted to UNC-Asheville for the fall!!!
This week went pretty well. I finished a rubble site with my group and we moved on to a new one early in the week. The new site, Lourde, was different than any of the sites I had been to before. The other sites had simply been the ceiling pancaking directly onto the flood. This one had a significant portion of the roof at an upward angle which made the job much more tactical and dangerous. We had a guy who is good at demolition come by and level the structure some. I worked on the same site for a couple days. Thursday I went hardcore on the sledging and hurt my back. I didn't quite realize I had hurt it until late that night when I went to go a calisthenics class on the roof. I slept and woke up Friday feeling much better so I went back to the site. After about five sledges I pretty much became immobile. It really sucked having to sit out. I rested a bit in the afternoon and decided I'm going to take a couple days to do other activities aside from rubbling to give my back a rest. I'd rather rest a few days now and be able to return to work than be out for a month down the road because I didn't rest.
Saturday we had a BBQ on base which meant we also got the afternoon of work. Well most people got the afternoon off, at least. I volunteered to help cook for the BBQ. In the morning I went to the market to pick up some supplies. The market here is pretty insane. Lots of people in a confined space, low ceilings, motorcycles driving around, heat, and bad smells which is all to be expected. I made it out alright and spent the rest of the morning preping. Our menu included BBQ chicken, potato salad, green salad, fruit salad, and fried dough. In the afternoon I took over cooking the chicken along with another guy. The rest of the afternoon and evening (until at least 7 p.m.) was spent grilling. It was a lot of work but everybody loved the food so it was totally worth the work.
Today I took a moto-taxi with a few other people to this gas station not far away. They sell a lot of stuff that's very hard to find - FROZEN snickers, awesome cold drinks, pringles, etc. AMAZING! The rest of today has been spent vegging. I'm probably going to head to the beach in a little while and have a quick swim.
When I get my computer I will start posting more frequently and can have more details and it will be better overall. It's hard trying to quickly write what I did in a whole week!
Hope everyone is well.
Love,
Daniel
P.S. I just got an email from my mom telling my I got accepted to UNC-Asheville for the fall!!!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
"Hey You"!
So I've got to keep this post short because the power will be cutting off in about 20 minutes or so. Its been raining pretty heavily tonight which is nice because that will provide a little cooler temperature tonight!
Monday morning we had pancakes (with M&Ms no less). I went to work at a new rubble site - Excelsior I'm calling it although I know that's not the proper name. A lot of sledging and shoveling went on which is always a good time. Today I went to this hospital orientation in the morning - something that is required in order to work at the hospital. It was just an hourish and was a tour of the hospital and such. There are pretty much a few main areas - a building which houses the pharmacy, the extra medical supplies, and the radiology department (which consists of one X-Ray machine operated by the Japanese Red Cross). Across the way there is a bunch of makeshift, outdoor clinics/triage centers. Haitians will line up early in the morning and wait for hours to see a doctor. There is also a main hospital unit which is basically a huge series of tents - this area is includes the ER, the surgery room, the supply room, and a few other rooms various NGOs do various medically related things in. This hospital area has air conditioning from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. I can not stress how nice it was to be in AC. Amazing. So after the orientation I started working as a runner. Essentially running errands/helping the doctors and nurses in whatever capacity they need help. I did get my own walkie-talkie which will make anyone feel important. I did a bunch of stuff - moved patients, grabbed meds, moved heavy equipment, etc. Me and three others had to carry this guy with terrible abdominal pain (who was also throwing up a very unusual looking substance) to radiology. We got there but the patient couldn't sit up for an X-Ray so they had to take it with him laying down. We carried him back to the hospital only to be told the X-Ray we had was useless. By this time, radiology was closed for the day. We tried to get the Japanese Red Cross to open back up for this guy but someone had taken their generator for the day. So the poor guy is going to have to stay at the hospital all night. I just hope they've done something about his pain.
I went to lunch and did lunch dishes. If you sign up for a chore you get first choice for what you want to do and since I wanted to do the hospital orientation and then work in the hospital, I signed up to guarantee me a spot. I returned to the hospital for the remainder of the afternoon. I spent a lot of time in the supply room familiarizing myself with where stuff is so I can be more efficient next time I go. This supply room has a lot of stuff in a pretty small space - everything from syringes to gowns, vitamins to ketamine.
I came back and had dinner (pasta)! We also had this hot chocolate that was nice and spicy (I know my sister Emily would have loved it). I decided to take it easy tonight so I was playing cards for a while and now here I am!
Oh and the post title "Hey You" is in reference to what all the Haitian kids say. I'm serious. All the kids say it. It's like the only phrase most of them know. I have no explanation for it.
Tomorrow it's back to rubbling!
Back soon.
Love,
Daniel
Monday morning we had pancakes (with M&Ms no less). I went to work at a new rubble site - Excelsior I'm calling it although I know that's not the proper name. A lot of sledging and shoveling went on which is always a good time. Today I went to this hospital orientation in the morning - something that is required in order to work at the hospital. It was just an hourish and was a tour of the hospital and such. There are pretty much a few main areas - a building which houses the pharmacy, the extra medical supplies, and the radiology department (which consists of one X-Ray machine operated by the Japanese Red Cross). Across the way there is a bunch of makeshift, outdoor clinics/triage centers. Haitians will line up early in the morning and wait for hours to see a doctor. There is also a main hospital unit which is basically a huge series of tents - this area is includes the ER, the surgery room, the supply room, and a few other rooms various NGOs do various medically related things in. This hospital area has air conditioning from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. I can not stress how nice it was to be in AC. Amazing. So after the orientation I started working as a runner. Essentially running errands/helping the doctors and nurses in whatever capacity they need help. I did get my own walkie-talkie which will make anyone feel important. I did a bunch of stuff - moved patients, grabbed meds, moved heavy equipment, etc. Me and three others had to carry this guy with terrible abdominal pain (who was also throwing up a very unusual looking substance) to radiology. We got there but the patient couldn't sit up for an X-Ray so they had to take it with him laying down. We carried him back to the hospital only to be told the X-Ray we had was useless. By this time, radiology was closed for the day. We tried to get the Japanese Red Cross to open back up for this guy but someone had taken their generator for the day. So the poor guy is going to have to stay at the hospital all night. I just hope they've done something about his pain.
I went to lunch and did lunch dishes. If you sign up for a chore you get first choice for what you want to do and since I wanted to do the hospital orientation and then work in the hospital, I signed up to guarantee me a spot. I returned to the hospital for the remainder of the afternoon. I spent a lot of time in the supply room familiarizing myself with where stuff is so I can be more efficient next time I go. This supply room has a lot of stuff in a pretty small space - everything from syringes to gowns, vitamins to ketamine.
I came back and had dinner (pasta)! We also had this hot chocolate that was nice and spicy (I know my sister Emily would have loved it). I decided to take it easy tonight so I was playing cards for a while and now here I am!
Oh and the post title "Hey You" is in reference to what all the Haitian kids say. I'm serious. All the kids say it. It's like the only phrase most of them know. I have no explanation for it.
Tomorrow it's back to rubbling!
Back soon.
Love,
Daniel
Sunday, May 9, 2010
First Week (Almost)
Alright - I'm on the internet for just the second time since I've been here. The connectivity is quite limited which is disappointing but I'm going to try to make due. Pretty much I've been unable to make my computer connect to the internet so I have to find time on the HODR computers when nobody else is using them and when the internet is working. I'm also sad to say I probably won't be able to post pictures as we have VERY low bandwidth. Check the HODR website for pictures! Sorry for not posting until now - I have a lot to say. More to say then I could possibly have time to write.
I got into Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. As we made our decent into Haiti you could see the various tent camps set up and rubble everywhere. Once out of the place and through customs/immigration you head outside to the pick-up area. This was easily the most overwhelming experience I had had in a while. You're immediately surrounded by tons of people grabbing at your bags, trying to give you a ride. That on top of the heat and lugging baggage makes for an interesting experience. I looked around for a sign with my name on it or the name of the organization (which is what I had been told to do). I didn't see it. I walked for a bit, fending off offers for rides, but didn't find the sign. I did, however, turn around to see a young women in a Wake Forest shirt. She asked if I was with Hands On. At least at this point I had a companion to wait with. After a while she called the base and asked where I shuttle was. There had been a mix up so we ended up waiting a bunch of hours. Once the driver got there we only had to wait another hour or so for another Hands On volunteers flight to get in. This time we did spend across the street from the airport being serenaded by a local and his guitar. Eventually three of us and our bags piled into a tiny sedan and headed out. The drive was pretty amazing. Just getting to see the country for a while was amazing. Most people smiled a waved. Some grabbed at the car.
Once I got to the base I got a tour and settled into a bunk. I brought a tent but am, for the moment, still in a bunk. There are pros and cons to both so I'm still working on figuring it out. Anyways, I made it to the base after dinner time but just before the nightly meeting. I stood up, introduced myself, heard about the happenings from that day, etc. At the end of the meeting you sign up for what you'd like to do the next day. I chose to sign up to work at a new rubble site called Roger.
I woke up around 6 the next morning (which, it turns out, is the time I and most people wake up. Knowing me and my sleeping habits this is pretty impressive)! Breakfast options include cereal (with powdered milk), oatmeal, bread with jam/peanut butter, and coffee (if you can get up early enough). People start heading out to the work sites at 7:30. My group of about eight or ten volunteers gathered tools (wheelbarrows, shovels, sledgehammers, pick-axe) and got in the back of a tap-tap (what the pick up trucks are called). We got to the rubble site which was a pretty large house out on some farmland which had been totally demolished. We pretty much just went right to town sledging the concrete and getting rid of the rubble. It's extremely hot and the sun is brutal so I had to take loads of breaks. We returned to base around 12 for lunch. Lunch (and dinner) are usually a combination of rice and beans, some sort of sauce, plantains, a piece of chicken or fish, and salad. Not bad at all. After lunch we went back to the site and worked a while longer. It was especially neat especially because the local children were helping as well as the homeowner.
We return around 4:30 for dinner. Dinner is followed by the nightly meeting. After that is free time until 10 (at which point it's quite time and the electricity is cut). Some people head to the bar next door (Joe's) to enjoy the local beer, Prestige, or the local rum or whisky. It's also a time to shower. Showering is pretty neat. You fill a bucket with water, go into a little tarped off stall and wash. Nothing feels more amazing than a cold bucket shower after a long, hot day.
Let me change my thought process for a minute to talk about the base, or house, I'm living in. There are currently around 125 volunteers here (25 over the limit). You either live in a bunk bed or in a tent. The bunks are all downstairs and the tents are both downstairs and upstairs on the roof. Bunks are nice because you can lay around in them anytime of the day while the tents are far too hot during the day to be in. The tents are cooler at night and provide more privacy. Again, I'm still debating where I want to stay. At this point I'm guessing I'll move into a tent sometime. There are men's/women's bathrooms. There are toilets but they do not flush. You have to fill a bucket with water to flush. And toilet paper goes in the waste bins. There is a big, open area in the middle of the first floor. This is pretty much a rec area. A crummy basketball goal (which I'm so happy to have), sports equipment, and such. There is an office with computers and fans (where I am now). There is a kitchen (there are a few hired people who cook our meals). Upstairs is totally open-air and just tent space. That is, in a nutshell, the base. More details on this and everything will come when I next post.
Ok so my first night ended well. I got into bed around 10, tossed and turned for a while in the heat, and eventually fell asleep. Day two I went back to the rubble site for more sledging action. We also began to work on cutting out the rebar. Essentially the goal is to remove all the rubble and rebar, leaving the lot just a flat slab of concrete which can be rebuilt upon. In the afternoon I went to a local orphanage. As soon as we volunteers arrived, the kids went nuts. It was a lot of fun. We did painting/drawing with one group of kids then switched and worked on teaching a little English. The kids are adorable and extremely sweet. It was an awesome experience which I'm certain I'll do more of in the future.
Friday in the morning I did housecleaning. This involved doing the breakfast dishes, clearing (and burning!) the trash, cleaning bathrooms, sweeping, etc. The upside of all this was that I had gotten first choice for what I wanted to do Friday afternoon. I signed up for something that had just one spot - it's a disaster preparedness group. Pretty much that means we go around and teach teachers (and, eventually, kids) about several things - what is an earthquake? what causes earthquakes? what can you do to stay safe in the event of an earthquake? what to do in case of a fire/flood? We prepared Friday.
Saturday we went to the middle of nowhere for my first training seminar. We went in a tap-tap outside Leogane, through a crowded market, through a dried up river, into the mountains. The area was stunningly beautiful. Completely unobstructed views of the countryside. It reminded me I was in awesome Caribbean country. The training went really well. About 30-40 local teachers showed up. They were divided into two groups (one to be with me and two other volunteers in the disaster preparedness group and the other to work with volunteers teaching art therapy and its benefits for children experiencing PTSD after the earthquake. Everything went smoothly - we did one session, broke for lunch, and did an afternoon session. The teachers were engaged, asking us lots of questions. I really feel like this was a crucial thing to be doing and the teachers really seemed to learn a lot and appreciate what we had to tell them. In about three weeks this same group of volunteers in scheduled to go to Jacmel (a nice beach town a couple hours from Leogane) for a three day conference! That's going to be a really nice change of pace. Saturday ended nicely, just hanging out, staying up a bit later, hanging out on the roof about half of volunteers, just chatting and having a good time.
Today, Sunday, was our day off. No work. I slept all the way until 7:30! I spent the whole day lounging. Just reading mostly. Sunday is the one day we have to provide our own food. I went for brunch with a few other volunteers. First we stopped at coffee stand on the side of the road. It was AMAZING. The coffee is brewed with tons of sugar and then thick condensed milk is added. It didn't taste much like coffee but, again, it was really good. We then headed to visit the Egg Sandwich Lady. It's a women with a road-side stand with one small camping stove. She makes some eggs, throws them on a buttered roll, adds some endive and tops liberally with ketchup. Delicious. I watched some of the volunteers play cricket today which was totally new to me. I'm going to a place called Massage for dinner tonight (where, I'm told, there will be hamburgers and french fries)! Tomorrow I will probably be returning to Roger for more rubbling and we will hopefully be finishing up that site tomorrow which is awesome.
There is so much more to tell but not enough time. I will post again as soon as possible. For anyone who has contacted me through email or facebook, I will respond as soon as I can!
I miss you all.
Love,
Daniel
I got into Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. As we made our decent into Haiti you could see the various tent camps set up and rubble everywhere. Once out of the place and through customs/immigration you head outside to the pick-up area. This was easily the most overwhelming experience I had had in a while. You're immediately surrounded by tons of people grabbing at your bags, trying to give you a ride. That on top of the heat and lugging baggage makes for an interesting experience. I looked around for a sign with my name on it or the name of the organization (which is what I had been told to do). I didn't see it. I walked for a bit, fending off offers for rides, but didn't find the sign. I did, however, turn around to see a young women in a Wake Forest shirt. She asked if I was with Hands On. At least at this point I had a companion to wait with. After a while she called the base and asked where I shuttle was. There had been a mix up so we ended up waiting a bunch of hours. Once the driver got there we only had to wait another hour or so for another Hands On volunteers flight to get in. This time we did spend across the street from the airport being serenaded by a local and his guitar. Eventually three of us and our bags piled into a tiny sedan and headed out. The drive was pretty amazing. Just getting to see the country for a while was amazing. Most people smiled a waved. Some grabbed at the car.
Once I got to the base I got a tour and settled into a bunk. I brought a tent but am, for the moment, still in a bunk. There are pros and cons to both so I'm still working on figuring it out. Anyways, I made it to the base after dinner time but just before the nightly meeting. I stood up, introduced myself, heard about the happenings from that day, etc. At the end of the meeting you sign up for what you'd like to do the next day. I chose to sign up to work at a new rubble site called Roger.
I woke up around 6 the next morning (which, it turns out, is the time I and most people wake up. Knowing me and my sleeping habits this is pretty impressive)! Breakfast options include cereal (with powdered milk), oatmeal, bread with jam/peanut butter, and coffee (if you can get up early enough). People start heading out to the work sites at 7:30. My group of about eight or ten volunteers gathered tools (wheelbarrows, shovels, sledgehammers, pick-axe) and got in the back of a tap-tap (what the pick up trucks are called). We got to the rubble site which was a pretty large house out on some farmland which had been totally demolished. We pretty much just went right to town sledging the concrete and getting rid of the rubble. It's extremely hot and the sun is brutal so I had to take loads of breaks. We returned to base around 12 for lunch. Lunch (and dinner) are usually a combination of rice and beans, some sort of sauce, plantains, a piece of chicken or fish, and salad. Not bad at all. After lunch we went back to the site and worked a while longer. It was especially neat especially because the local children were helping as well as the homeowner.
We return around 4:30 for dinner. Dinner is followed by the nightly meeting. After that is free time until 10 (at which point it's quite time and the electricity is cut). Some people head to the bar next door (Joe's) to enjoy the local beer, Prestige, or the local rum or whisky. It's also a time to shower. Showering is pretty neat. You fill a bucket with water, go into a little tarped off stall and wash. Nothing feels more amazing than a cold bucket shower after a long, hot day.
Let me change my thought process for a minute to talk about the base, or house, I'm living in. There are currently around 125 volunteers here (25 over the limit). You either live in a bunk bed or in a tent. The bunks are all downstairs and the tents are both downstairs and upstairs on the roof. Bunks are nice because you can lay around in them anytime of the day while the tents are far too hot during the day to be in. The tents are cooler at night and provide more privacy. Again, I'm still debating where I want to stay. At this point I'm guessing I'll move into a tent sometime. There are men's/women's bathrooms. There are toilets but they do not flush. You have to fill a bucket with water to flush. And toilet paper goes in the waste bins. There is a big, open area in the middle of the first floor. This is pretty much a rec area. A crummy basketball goal (which I'm so happy to have), sports equipment, and such. There is an office with computers and fans (where I am now). There is a kitchen (there are a few hired people who cook our meals). Upstairs is totally open-air and just tent space. That is, in a nutshell, the base. More details on this and everything will come when I next post.
Ok so my first night ended well. I got into bed around 10, tossed and turned for a while in the heat, and eventually fell asleep. Day two I went back to the rubble site for more sledging action. We also began to work on cutting out the rebar. Essentially the goal is to remove all the rubble and rebar, leaving the lot just a flat slab of concrete which can be rebuilt upon. In the afternoon I went to a local orphanage. As soon as we volunteers arrived, the kids went nuts. It was a lot of fun. We did painting/drawing with one group of kids then switched and worked on teaching a little English. The kids are adorable and extremely sweet. It was an awesome experience which I'm certain I'll do more of in the future.
Friday in the morning I did housecleaning. This involved doing the breakfast dishes, clearing (and burning!) the trash, cleaning bathrooms, sweeping, etc. The upside of all this was that I had gotten first choice for what I wanted to do Friday afternoon. I signed up for something that had just one spot - it's a disaster preparedness group. Pretty much that means we go around and teach teachers (and, eventually, kids) about several things - what is an earthquake? what causes earthquakes? what can you do to stay safe in the event of an earthquake? what to do in case of a fire/flood? We prepared Friday.
Saturday we went to the middle of nowhere for my first training seminar. We went in a tap-tap outside Leogane, through a crowded market, through a dried up river, into the mountains. The area was stunningly beautiful. Completely unobstructed views of the countryside. It reminded me I was in awesome Caribbean country. The training went really well. About 30-40 local teachers showed up. They were divided into two groups (one to be with me and two other volunteers in the disaster preparedness group and the other to work with volunteers teaching art therapy and its benefits for children experiencing PTSD after the earthquake. Everything went smoothly - we did one session, broke for lunch, and did an afternoon session. The teachers were engaged, asking us lots of questions. I really feel like this was a crucial thing to be doing and the teachers really seemed to learn a lot and appreciate what we had to tell them. In about three weeks this same group of volunteers in scheduled to go to Jacmel (a nice beach town a couple hours from Leogane) for a three day conference! That's going to be a really nice change of pace. Saturday ended nicely, just hanging out, staying up a bit later, hanging out on the roof about half of volunteers, just chatting and having a good time.
Today, Sunday, was our day off. No work. I slept all the way until 7:30! I spent the whole day lounging. Just reading mostly. Sunday is the one day we have to provide our own food. I went for brunch with a few other volunteers. First we stopped at coffee stand on the side of the road. It was AMAZING. The coffee is brewed with tons of sugar and then thick condensed milk is added. It didn't taste much like coffee but, again, it was really good. We then headed to visit the Egg Sandwich Lady. It's a women with a road-side stand with one small camping stove. She makes some eggs, throws them on a buttered roll, adds some endive and tops liberally with ketchup. Delicious. I watched some of the volunteers play cricket today which was totally new to me. I'm going to a place called Massage for dinner tonight (where, I'm told, there will be hamburgers and french fries)! Tomorrow I will probably be returning to Roger for more rubbling and we will hopefully be finishing up that site tomorrow which is awesome.
There is so much more to tell but not enough time. I will post again as soon as possible. For anyone who has contacted me through email or facebook, I will respond as soon as I can!
I miss you all.
Love,
Daniel
Monday, May 3, 2010
Pre-Departure
I've decided (once again) to try this blog thing out. I didn't do so well at keeping up with it in Singapore but I'm going to try really hard this time!
So I'm leaving for Haiti in the morning. My flight is at 6:50 a.m. which means I'm probably not going to get too much sleep tonight but I suppose that's what I get for leaving all the packing for the night before. My mom just moved into her new townhouse in Southern Village so we've been tearing open boxes looking for odds and ends I need to pack.
I'm going to be going to a city in Haiti called Léogâne which is a little under 20 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince, where I'll be flying into. I'm going to be working with an organization called Hands on Disaster Response www.hodr.org - take a look at their website for more info on details about the group. Once I land in PAP I'll be taking a shuttle to Léogâne - I've been told this is going to take a few hours and will, undoubtedly, be a rocky drive. I don't want to say too much about what will happen next because it would mostly be speculation. What I can say is that I'm really excited about the opportunity (and all that it entails) to go to Haiti.
I've been told that there is both electricity and internet connectivity every night from 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. If this is the case I will update this blog as much as possible. I'd also love to keep in touch via email - my email address is danielmatchar@yahoo.com so shoot me a message anytime. I'll also be checking my facebook periodically and should be using skype there too.
I'll miss seeing you all this summer but will be in touch.
Daniel
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