Our Return

We're frequently asked by our friends back in the US .....how much have things improved?.....it's no longer in the news, so it must be better.  Our 24 hour news cycle is premised upon keeping us hooked on the immediate.....tradegy, suffering, O.J., Tiger....don't dwell too long or we'll get bored.....

Upon our return on 5/26, several notable improvements were a welcome sight.  Most of the rubble had been cleared from all the major thoroughfares, though traffic flow didn't seem the least improved.  Even with more traffic (suggestion, not stop lights in Haiti) lights working, there are apparently more cars on the roads, more breakdowns and more kami kazi style driving.  Several weeks after arriving I was running an errand solo in one of the NLCH "senior fleet" of junk vehicles (a '96 Jeep Cherokee which has since blown an engine); turning a corner right next to the local police station two of us were going for an occupied  lane, NASCAR style,both dodging an oncoming vehicle......BOOM.......flat tire here, little dent there.  I was pretty much dead in water, stopping up traffic to thunderous horn bashing while I attempted to find someone in close proximity who could both  fix a flat  tire and understand my non Creole gesturing.  Soon Theodore arrived from NLCH and traded vehicles with me, taking care of my immediate problem, and I left the scene to complete my tasks.  Of course no police showed up to assist, intimidate or help with the newly created congestion issue.

The other main sign of improvement was the restoration of Haitian Power (EDH)  which as sporadic & inconsistent as it is, is an improvement over  pre-quake standards according to most natives.  Construction debris, other than for the roads, still lays in heaps where it had fallen; still no heavy equipment in view.  Tent housing, estimated to hold 1,500,000 in PaP was improved only to the extent that most now had tents and tarps (cardboard and blankets had been replaced; under the penetrating Haiti sun, however, the new stuff won't hold up long) but water, sanitation and any form of regular medical attention is non existant.  A major concern remains the possibility that a hurricane could still strike though, thankfully, all this season's storms have tracked north of the island thus far.  Permanent replacement housing is still in the talking stages.  Catholic Relief Services and The Clinton Foundation  have reportedly disbursed less than 15% of the monies  collected and are looking to "long term solutions"; The Red Cross is completely MIA.  This doesn't resonate well with the displaced.   Neither does the absence of jobs.

We also observed some changes at NLCH .  The church building which had housed a post op clinic for Medishare patients was again a church.  Medishare wound down their field operation center on the airport grounds  and moved into an existing structure in PaP as most earthquake victims had finally been attended to.  (On Wednesdays, however, the church doubles as a clinic facility for Hanger Prothetics, a joint program with Hospital Albert Schweitzer located 60 miles north of PaP, to provide all the amputee victims of the earthquake with prosthetic limbs and therapy.......and the necessary followup adjustments for young people.  We provide food,supplies and assist with the transportation of many of the patients.)  One other positive sign was that some of the private schools had reopened and 16 of our children returned to school; our other kids returned to class in tents on our campus, taught by teachers we hired.

Most things though remained little changed.  The air was just as foul, the heat just as penetrating (if not even a little more so...it is now summer), and the conditions sloppier---it was also rainy season.  Fortunately we brought a new tent and it worked marvelously; no leaks despite many opportunities.   The air in the compound was just as foul as the city (we sit just adjacent to the airport so we get a extra dose of jet fuel pollution) and like most in PaP, we burn our garbage, plastic bottles and all. ( I flew with a cold I had just picked up in VA and fought a respiratory condition for the 1st 6 wks there, finally replacing it with a gastro bug.)  Halfway through this trip we shuttered our incinerator operation; we now collect  garbage and have it carted off weekly....to where?.....God only knows.  In what passes for residential areas of the city, sanitation is still status quo, with animals, varmints and people living in squalor.  Notwithstanding the fact that Haiti in no longer a daily news story in the US media,  it remains broken badly.