MISSION TO HAITI: DAY 6

I was unable to blog last night – no power and my computer lost its charge.

On Thursday, we got up at 5:30 a.m. to be sure we made it to the American Consulate with Ralph for his 7 a.m. appointment. What they failed to tell us on Wednesday was that the appointment was to stand on a line. An hour later we (Ralph, Paul and I) are finally through the line that lets us into the front door. The same guy that put us through the ringer the day before, was there attempting to do the same again. Not happening. I’m not going to bore everybody with the tirades of two crazy Americans, but we left with what we came for. None of the employees working that day will ever forget it and I feel very fortunate that we were not arrested. But in Haiti, if you want to get anything done, you have to be VERY 'forceful'.

On the way home we stopped at the orphanage (its name is Kola and it was where I had Easter dinner) to make sure they had food for the night. They did not and they had no charcoal to cook with. We took care of that and sat in on one of their lessons. Their makeshift school, which is comprised of a piece of plywood that works as a chalkboard and the tarp enclosure they sit in, was provided by the little group I work with. We are known as NGO’s – non government organizations. These small groups organized in response to the lack of action by groups like The American Red Cross and the U.N. I have been in Haiti for 7 days. I have not seen one Red Cross truck or worker and I have only seen a military presence by the U.N. and I have been everywhere. It’s very disappointing.

The kids at Kola are sweet, appreciative, smart and they love to have their picture taken. I had my translator ask them "what do they know about the United States. What is the one thing they think about when I say 'The United States?' They all yelled out it unison, "Denzel, Denzel Washington". Fantastic. I love that!

RESOURCEFUL!

The day ended with a 2 year old child from the overrun orphanage (with the 76 kids), being placed with an American family. She was taken out of the orphanage in the afternoon; out of squallier and into a relatively nice room by 3. After about 2 hours with me she said (in Creole of course - my interpreter translated), "I have to make a pee pee". I took her into the bathroom and she started crying. The bathroom scared her. I took her out to the patio where she squatted and relieved herself. Making outside is still all she knows.The child’s mother has AIDS and we will attempt to get her treated. Her adoptive family will be here in a week. In the meantime, she will live with a relief worker who has been given temporary custody. Adoptions are tough in Haiti. The government disproves of them for despicable reasons. This is a very complicated and desperate situation, the details of which I cannot write about.

Now that's a face!

The day really ended after I ran 2 bags of IV fluids into each of my relief workers, Big Paul and Little Paul. It is HOT and we get dehydrated in a minute. I have a photo but it is on the hardrive of my camera. It's priceless but will have to wait until I get home.

I'll blog about today, tonight. Back to work!

Maybe no one will scroll down this far - me without sleep for 3 days.