The Magic of Haiti

Greetings everyone!!!  I just wanted to write a quick note as we have just recently returned from our Humanitarian Aid and Medical Mission to Haiti.   What I saw there confirmed the horror stories of poverty, suffering, hunger, sickness, grief and destruction that everybody has heard.  I realized it was all true yet so much more real than what I had seen on TV for 5 months.  The heat, the dust, the smells, the language…it all came to life before my eyes and surrounded me.

We were living and working in Quito, Ecuador when we began dreaming of how we could make a difference for the people of Haiti.  The opportunity finally came in April through an invite from our friends at Iniciativa Comunitaria, a non-profit based in San Juan, Puerto Rico that we knew from previous work they did in Ecuador.  They have been in Haiti since shortly after the devastation struck on January 12^th.  They now have a house in a community called Blanchard in Port Au Prince.  While we were picturing tents in hurricane season, you can imagine our joy and thankfulness to hear about a house with cots and semi-predictable water.

When my childhood friend Jenna Panetti, an RN from Upstate New York, and her husband Tucker Stutzman showed and interest Carrie and I encouraged it knowing they would be a great help.  It wasn’t long before the excitement grew, they agreed to go, and our group multiplied- four members strong.  This was a pretty big first step into the world of humanitarian work and travel for my friends but just as I expected they handled it with a grace that encouraged everyone around them.  They helped make a difference and offered no excuses.

I was excited to get our first week’s group together finally.  As we got ready to leave PR the four of us attended an orientation meeting where we were briefed, taught the very basic Creole, given Malaria pills and tee shirts.  It was there we meet our PR team members, a slightly rowdy group of medical students, and I knew from there on out there would be no dull moments.  You could actually feel their energy and eagerness to experience something that I’m sure many people around them had turned down.  But again, no excuses.  We were all there, ready, willing and anxious.  We left PR at 5am, June 4^th.

As I try to think about how to describe a typical day setting up a mobile clinic in Haiti to you, I realize "typical"doesn’t exist.  The days came early with the rise of the sun and a deafening noise ranging from the ambulance alarm to Salsa music to Aerosmith’s screaming rock jams from the open doors of the nearest vehicle.  It’s already hot, very hot.  You splash water on your face and brush your teeth with the available water- usually from a bottle and always precious.  We load one van with about 15 suitcases we stocked the night before (with medicine, surgical supplies, antibiotics and baby needs) and the other with almost 30 people and drive to a surprise location.  The different areas we went to ranged in location from around the corner to over 3 hours away, from a demolished town to country hills to city rubble, with only one common factor: the need.

Imagine for a minute being born in a country where your options are limited and you know you will have to work hard just to make it, to go to school and work and have a family and provide for them.  One hot afternoon as you leave school your world shakes below you and falls apart in front of your eyes.  You loose family members forever, neighbors and friends too.  A crack shoots through the President’s Palace…your school falls, classmates gone.  Five months of this misery passes, billions of dollars are sent but nobody knows where.  One million tents with random logos on them pop-up around you.  Any water or food is hard to find.  Clean water and personal hygiene becomes impossible.  Diseases multiply, infections grow, malnutrition worsens and time passes.

So we say Bonjou and smile.  We do what we can and all that we can.  With the mobile clinic set up and the suitcases of supplies and medicines unloaded, the tables out, the doctors and translators in place, the line winding off to the distance, the heat scorching, we could start seeing people.  We always had security at the front of the line that controlled the flow of patients and let them enter, one at a time, hundreds a day to sit at a table and talk to a doctor.  At the very least they had aches, pains, abscesses, skins problems and children they wanted to be seen.  At the worst it was a hellish emergency, the end of a story that will never be told for lack of breath on this Earth. 

We saw and helped thousands, literally thousands of people in a short few weeks.  We helped Iniciativa’s set up and stock their first hospital in Haiti, complete with six beds, a front desk and a vase of old silk flowers someone found and dusted off to brighten the room.  We used the $5000.00 we raised for desperately needed medications and injections and I promise you every penny was stretched and used to the maximum.  Not a cent was taken for granted.  Iniciativas De Paz and their team were nothing short of amazing at accomplishing this task.  I was truly impressed by their diligence and appreciation and would be honored to work side by side with them in the future.

The magic of Haiti is the spirit of its people.  It shines from every mother who worries for her children’s futures, every willing soul on the streets with no way out, every last one with a painful story who finds a reason to smile- a smile so bright and hopeful that it changes you forever. It shines from the children who, against all odds, haven’t lost the wonder in their eyes.  I expected to give myself away completely along with everything I owned, but instead; I left with more than I came with.  I will forever be grateful to these beautiful people for treating me with so much respect and leaving me with an impression of their country that is nothing short of magical.

Our group of four has all returned to the USA now.  Jenna and Tucker have returned to NY after leaving a legacy as the ‘power couple’ of Haiti.  Carrie is back in California and enjoying some well deserved down time with the family.  I am back in Florida signing myself up to become an EMT (something I always wanted to do but definitely motivated by Haiti) and planning new ideas for the future which, most definitely includes a “Magic Of Haiti: Part 2”!!

So, we have left Ecuador a better place and now Haiti also.  With that said, I would like to offer a most sincere and heartfelt thank you to all of you who made the choice to become part of this extraordinary effort.  You have made a difference in these peoples lives and showed them that we do care, that they are not alone, that they are not forgotten.  Thank you for making it all possible.  Thank you for showing them love…thank you.