Updates
|
||||||
Updates |
||||||
Earthquake Update from Hope House
the following are daily emails from Debbie Berquist, VOH Director for the week of Jan 24 - 30, 2010
Jan 30, 7:30 pm Hello all: I am writing to let you know that all is AOK. The day went well but I am feeling a wee bit tuckered out and so with your hoped for understanding I am going to take a night off from writing an update of the day. I will do a combined report tomorrow for Jan 31.....who can imagine the end of the month ALREADY! I send apologies to those who didn't get my report yesterday due to the fact that I sent so many pictures all at once. I have instructions from Marni as to how to try to reduce their size and I will see what I can do about correcting that. In the meantime I hear she finally got my report from yesterday and was able to get it posted.....thanks for the efforts Ray and Marni.
I will attach one picture of the day...that I managed to catch through my dirty windshield as I was driving along....it is of the " yellow cap teams at work" ....I told you about them yesterday.
 Hoping you are enjoying a good weekend.
Until tomorrow ...good night.
Debbie
Jan 29, 7:00 pm TGIF: Despite the fact that Saturday and Sunday will still be work days, there is still something about knowing its Friday afternoon and the end of a long work week when one can sit and relax for a bit and put work behind you...if even for an hour or two. For that reason I particulary am appreciating the presence of Jim and Shawn with me for these few days. It is good to be able to share some of the days with them. My day was full, starting with me getting medications ready for some of our staff...especially those with High BP. I can only imagine what their blood pressures are like now. Our meeting was set for 9:00 and a large portion of them arrived just before that. It was a mixed bag of emotions that is for sure.....many happy to see each other for the first time since the 12th, a lot sharing their stories and others keeping silent unable to speak for one reason or another. Clovis opened with a prayer and a short but very eloquent speech and everyone was very appreciative of his words of encouragement. I also spoke and thank goodness was able to maintain a calm and not start blubbering in front of everyone....mind you I have to take a few deep breaths from time to time. I told them of the 100's of messages I had recieved from Board members sponsors, mission team members and many others all inquiring as to their well being and sending prayers and words of encouragement for them. My overall impression is that everyone is still pretty shook up by the events of the 12th and traumatized by the incidence itself and now the ensuing problems of day to day living. One was on the fourth floor of a school that collapsed and she escaped that to arrive home to find her house collapsed but fortunately no one hurt inside. Another had to rescue his 8 year old daughter from under a pile of concrete block.....she has major bruising and abrasions to her skin but otherwise is okay. One of the primary teachers has moved to Archaie the home of good friends, where she is "camped out" as she has no place to go to...she even had to borrow clothes from a friend to come to the meeting today......she said her children are still so frightened and didn't want her to leave them to come to the meeting today. They were very appreciative of recieving their pay envelopes and especially as it was in cash so they did not have to go and fight the lines in the bank to get their cheque changed.
For their part the teachers wondered if we could arrange some psychological support for them and I responded that I would try to see what may be possible. So if anyone out there is an expert on such trauma and interested in coming, please do not hesitate to contact me.....even if it is advice from afar that I can share with the staff....ie relaxation techniques, how to help their children etc...it would be a help. Their other request was for plastic tarps....which I am working on trying to get here. I assured them that I was casting about trying to find relief supplies for them but had to date had no success. They were also thankful for the relief bags we packed up for them. One of the other teachers encouraged everyone to take time to enjoy games of cards, dominoes.etc with friends a distraction from the bigger problems surrounding them. We all ended with a laugh as the staff were kidding one of the fellows who enjoys "sport kabann (bed)" and were giving him advice on how private moments could be arrived at for such activities.....life does go on !!
Another request for copies of a map that is supposedly posted at the US embassy showing the fault lines and areas that could be affected by future earthquakes.. There is lots of talk on the local radios about the chances of other large shakes over the coming months in other parts of the country. You can imagine it is a great pre-occupation for everyone. I will have to search on some websites to see what I can find for them.
I got them all taken care of and then I passed out the envelopes etc for the house staff and then raced out the door in order to get to the school for my 1:30 meeting with the support staff. I got caught in a long traffic jam but managed to get there not too far off the meeting time. It was a different group that I met compared to the teaching staff. Of course they have been unsettled by the earthquake but all in all they have fared better and you can tell by their demeanor. Their major pre-occupation is being able to manage the everyday status quo of being able to provide food for their families.....which is challenging at the best of times for them let alone now that prices for everything have skyrocketed. I had also prepared a little relief bag for them...(a little different from the PAP crew) and they too were appreciative of it and getting their pays on time. It has been my intention too to visit their houses to check out the damage from the quake and see what it was like in the School area. I will meet LouLou at the school Tues and he will tour me around to everyone's house...I told them I wanted to record the damages sustained by the earthquake. I drove 4 of the gals home today and stopped and looked at their houses. One didn't have any damage but wanted to show me how she needed doors to the rooms and other general repairs. One had minor damage to support beams she had on her porch area and the last two had cracks in the walls at the junction point of two walls. For the most part folks out at the school are still living in and using their houses. One of the cleaners uses her house in the day but sleeps outside at night.....but her house is in Croix des Bouquets and has a bit more damage than others. People from city hall in CdB had even inspected her wall and has a spray paint note on it that it has been damaged. She showed me how weak it was and for sure it will have to be replaced. On the whole the houses in the neighbourhoods I passed through today, stood up very well and I didn't actualy see any houses completely down or with major damage. I am attaching a number of pictures for you to see......it is amazing to me to see the little house literally made of sticks stood the trauma and the ones made of concrete fell apart like tissue paper.
I ran into Jn Robert, the vice president of the parents committe when I took Jesumene to her house.....I didn't realized they were married. He told me all of the members of the parents committee were okay....only one had serious damage to his house in Bonnette. Maxi Charles lost his mother -in-law and one of his grandchildren and other family members all of whom were in PAP. His PAP house is also in ruins. I will try to see him Tues when I am on tour with Lou Lou.
All in all it was a full but rewarding day.
On another note, Clovis went by BND but it was closed. However he did get through to one of the supervisors who informed him that the office would open Monday. He told Clovis under no circumstances could we use the food at the school for dry ration distribution without approval from the Director. Clovis will head there Monday to plead our case. It is frustrating knowing the food is there and not being used but that is bureaucracy for you. Maybe they will have it destined for areas of greater need. We will hope for the best. I told Lou Lou to share any produce coming from the garden to all of the Ganthier staff. I will check what is available at end of Feb and if there is enough of any one thing I wil share it also with the PAP staff.
I had a response from Kareen the Dir at Food for the Poor regarding the email I sent asking it they had any tents or other supplies and how I get VOH back into the distribution cycle since I never did get my orientation in that domain. I just have to send her a list of our needs and she will pass it to the folks in the distribution area and will let me know when to pick it up......mind you they are all out of rice.(if you could have seen the stacks and stacks of rice they had in Dec it is almost hard to believe that it is already gone. They are expecting another shipment in the near future....but who knows how long it will take to get through the port.
I forgot to share with you yesterday other signs of help and progress in PAP. There were crews of young people with yellow t-shirts and caps, out on the streets with shovels and wheelbarrows. Their task was to clean up rubble from the sidewalks and gutters and take it to a nearby area designated for the refuse. According to what I heard on the radio there are a lot of such work projects going on around town......folks are getting paid a little money and also recieving a meal during the day. Crews are rotated every two weeks in order to give more people a little chance at getting some money in Hand.
Line ups were HUMUNGOUS at the Ministry of Agriculture and several of the UN buildings as folks of all ages both men and women lined up for a few jobs that were being offered.
and thus ends another post earthquake week in Haiti. I am going to now go and enjoy a cold Prestige with the hopes that this week I do not get showered in it.
Have a good weekend all..and thanks for your continued care and concern and words of support and encouragement.
a pita.....Debbie  VOH support staff
 Jesumene and her husband (Jn Robert vice pres of parents committee) in front of their home  A sample of the type of fault line cracks I was seeing in two of the houses  Mirlande standing outside her "condemned" wall  Mirlande's and her family's nighttime boudoir On the way to the meeting I stopped at the office of our Internet provider....first of all I was happy to see it standing and second that it was functional. I spoke with the manager as I had to see about changing our billing procedure. I learned that the banking/credit card system is not functional at all right now so it is impossible to make any changes. He said it was no use even trying the automatic tellers as they just spit the cards back out. I asked him how he fared following the earthquake. His house was okay but his parents were not so lucky...he lost his dad but managed to rescue his mother from the rubble after three days...such indredible stories.!! Speaking of which, I wonder if you heard back home that they pulled a teenage girl alive, from some wreckage late yesterday afternoon. It was reported she said she survived due to a bottle of coke that she had to sip on during the 15 days she was buried......how can I even think about moaning and groaning over a cracked rib!
Next stop was Hopital Espoir which is an area inside of Delmas 75. The neighbourhood there seemed to have relatively little damage.The hospital had a few cracks but several different teams of engineers deemed it okay to use. They were packed and had people laying on mattresses or some sort of bed out in the parking...covered with various bit of tarp, sheets..whatever could be used. One of the patients I noted was on a wooden pallet resting on 4 concrete blocks. All seemed to be in order and Gladys had lots of help from various teams. Each day she was sending out a mobile team to various areas in the city. By the sounds of it the hospital and clinics are getting more organized and coordinated...sharing resources and getting a good network going so they could know where to send folks for follow up care. Not too many members of the Association turned up but those that were there had good information to share. One of the topics discussed was the need for care for the common everyday health needs of the people, as they have been getting "lost" with all of the efforts geared toward the emergency relief.....now the need is turning from surgeons and such teams to general medecine doctors and care givers to tend to all of the other problems. They also spoke of the need for follow up care, rehabillitation and psychological support for those so traumatized by the earthquake. So the need will go on for extra medical assistance for some weeks to come. We also spoke about the challenges of medical waste management, and the lack of hygiene due to the lack of toilet facilities. Some reported having built small incinerators out of drums and having mobile toilets set up. As you can guess the challengs are many!
Coming home it was a repeat of the last few days..stopping at various places to see about changing money and also looking for unleaded fuel to fill the car......I managed to get both done...so it was a bonus day for me today!
Jim and Shawn report that Marie has a crew starting to demolish the church/orphanage. Shawn said it was just incredible watching the fellows work hour after hour in the hot sun, wielding the sledge hammers breaking up the chunks of block/concrete.....all with no safety helmets, gloves, shoes etc..he said several of the fellows just wore rubber thongs.....can you imagine how the Occupational Health and Safety experts would shudder at this.
I think this is all I have to report for today......
domi byen (sleep well)
Debbie
Jan 27, 9:00 pm Hello again: There is not a whole lot to report on today......just another day "in paradise"..at least for Jim and Shawn who heard it was minus some degrees back home with the wind chill factor.
Jean worked his miracles again finding parts to fix up the pick up truck. He also used his battery booster and my car to charge up the battereis in Marie's car. The fellows went to leave this AM and got stuck when the engine wouldn't turn over. I benefitted as they helped me with the final additions to the staff relief packages. I think they should be pretty pleased with them...(to my earthquake team your left behind clothes - nicely laundered- are now distributed between all of the bags along with a few items I found. The bags are a hefty weight now with all of the goodies in them and I was moaning and groaning away as we lifted them out and into the depot...why was I groaning you ask. Well due to a stupid move on my part yesterday as I was putting items away in the freezer, I heard this popping sound and then a take away your breath pain on the rigth side of my chest.......I think I did heavy damage to one of my ribs. Shawn asked what one does for a broken rib and I said grin and bear it and suffer in silence...but what fun is that....so I groaned away!!!
Worked on the payroll .....making good progress but had to go on the prowl once again to change funds...it is now down to changing the dollars by the 100;s instead of the 1,000's. I lucked out at the two places I hit and my trusty helper also found some. Joel did a great job this AM hitting to local market lady stands to get me small change. So it really is a team effort getting the pay envelopes prepared for this month.
We now have our reserve of 50-60 gallons of diesel fuel...that is a nice cushion to have.
I stopped at Little Children of Jesus, dropping off a few more supplies for Gladys. As I was heading down the road three of the US Army soldier transport vehicles (low and WIDE) were heading out. I learned just afterward from Gladys that they had been to visit her as they were wanting to use some of the property to set up some sort of camp. She was getting ready to leave so I didn't get all of the details..but she was very hesitant about having all of the activity around the kids. I'll keep you posted as to what takes place.
The Agape office will be open for mail this Sat AM and they will have relief supplies. They asked for volunteers so I quickly let them know I would be there......maybe I will get some of the supplies...whatever they may be. Plus it will be nice to get mail...I just hope I have some! I'll take advantage of being over on Delmas to check out what stoers may be open again, see if the offices for our Internet provider are still standing etc etc.
Tomorrow I will attend a meeting of the Association of Christian Medical care providers in Haiti. They are meeting to see how as a group we can get some relief supplies to help each of us with our work.
.
 Debbie preparing small bottles of Chlorox for staff to have to put drops into drinking water if they can't get Culligan or some other brand of filtered water. and that folks is the news for today. .
pleasant dreams
Debbie
Jan 26, 9:45 pm Howdy one and all: The day is quickly drawing to an end. This will be my last "official" duty for the day. The early AM was spent getting the household staff organized and speaking with the wall repair people complimenting them on their fine work but also asking that they put a little more energy into it so we can get the job done. It is about halfway (picture included to show you the progress) .  Delivered Shawn and Jim down to Marie's and returned for my meeting with Clovis. It was very productive. He was at a meeting with the Minister of Ed'n yesterday. According to his report 95% of the schools in PAP and area are completely destroyed. or had such extensive damage that they will have to be demolished..this includes the universities as well. The gov't stance for now is that all schools will remain closed until further notice. They don't want students, teachers or other groups to meeting under any roofed in areas. The Inspectors are to work in their areas and with engineers to have the schools in the area inspected. Once the Minister has those reports a decision will be made as to when schools may open. Clovis estimates that we won't know anything more until sometime in March or beginning of April. We talked about enrichment, feeding program etc at the school but for now we feel it is best that we hold off for now and there are a number of reasons for that....no propane to cook food, lack of supervision (teachers are spread far and wide...some have reached family as far away as Cap Haitian, Gonaives, Mirabelais and other parts of the country). Now that he knows the Ministers stance he is heading to BND tomorrow to request that we be able to give out dry rations for the students. We think this would be better because then whatever they get can be shared with their families. He will call me tomorrow or give me an update Fri when we distribute the pays and relief packages we made up.
Oh before I forget for those of you who were wondering Clovis bumped into Jorel and Madelaine Renee and learned they were OK as is their house.
He also told me the gov't announcements are encouraging people not to sleep in their houses...one of the reasons so many little tent cities are popping up and that no meeting should be held inside buildings. I passed one church yesterday that had all its benches in an empty yard and the minister standing at the pulpit preaching to anyone walking by who was listening.
Going to the bank is practically impossible unless you want to be on the road before 5 AM to get to the bank to be in line by 5AM. He was all prepared to go with his bank book in hand and then just said forget it! I read in one report the banks are even low on money, so how long they function is another question. Before opening they informed everyone that transactions would be limited to 2,500 USD or 100,000 HTG. Clovis gave me another contact where he thought I could change money but when I got there the fellow who owns one of the small market stores was unable to give me anything. However I did take advantage then of having that money in hand and did some grocery shopping.......the place was busy and shelves emptying quicky......except for the cleaning supplies and hardware aisles. Several of the bakeries are functioning as a new delivery of bread was being put on the shelves as we shopped. I picked up dog food......felt a little funny about that in light of the situation but Hopie is a GREAT guard dog.. so we have to take care of her. We are all set now, especially with emergency supply that Jim brought......little did I think I would find it here. I was happy to find the special water for the invertor batteries and picked up several gallons of that for Jean.
On the way home, we passed a group handing out water from the back of a large truck. Three US army fellows were there overseeing the distribution. It was heartwarming to see the orderly fashion that everyone was standing in line waiting their turn. This is a big change....normally something like this would cause utter bedlam with people pushing and shoving to get theri bit of the action. Maybe because so many people are in the same boat, there is more comraderie and willingness to help each other....people share what little they have with everyone.
Learned today from several folks trying to get to Haiti that American Airlines commercial flights are pushed back now to Feb 19 and may even be pushed back again into March. I am keeping close tabs as several Mission teams are scheduled to come during Feb/Mar. We will keep our fingers crossed.
I see that I have sort of gone off on one tangeant to another...not surprising because that is how my days seems to go.
To finish off today I will share a story about one of our teachers and another friend. I asked Clovis about her today as I knew she was ready to deliver her child sometime in January. Sure enough she did and was discharged from the hospital where she delivered the baby, on Jan 11........Jan 12 came with the earthquake and now that hospital is just a pile of rubble.....can you imagine what must have gone through her mind?!
I have been working with Mme Nazaire the Director of Nursing at the National School of Nursing. I was dreading the worst when I learned the building had collapsed. Last week I called her and nothing. This week I tried again and with what delight I heard her voice. She was at home on sick leave when the earthquake struck. Her house is damaged but still standing with two other houses leaning on it. She is now living out of her car and on the street with her neighbours. She was heartsick to learn that only 27 people escaped the wreckage at the school and over 60 nursing students, a doctor and one of her teachers were killed. The loss is just so overwhelming....and it hits home all that much more when it is related to people you know personally.
It is rather a disheartening way to end, but this is the reality of Haiti these days.
Keep the prayers coming.
until tomorrow....Debbie
Jan 25, 8:30 pm Hi all: Surprise...I am unexpectedly able to get the daily message to you. Things went quicker than expected and I am already back at Hope House with Jim and Shawn our two friends from Naperville, Ill who came to be with Marie and to bring some much needed supplies for each of us. Now I wil be able to sleep easier knowing for sure I can meet our payroll on time. I know our employees will be very relieved to get their pays. Joseph and I got to the border around 1:30 or so...wanted to be there in plenty of time just in case Jim and Shawn got there quicker than expected. As it was they arrived around 4:00. I was so relieved to see Shawn walking toward me in his bright orange t-shirt. No longer did I have to be pondering over how long we would wait if they didn't get there by nightfall. We quickly transferred their bags and were on our way back to Santo 3. Time at the border was not boring as we watched the various and sundry vehicles go by..the AIDE vehicle were driving right through...no passport check at all. We heard a tirade from two Haitian "business ladies" protesting over the exhorbitant fees the customs fellows wanted to charge them to bring their truck load of goods into Haiti....truly highway robbery and we know where the cash was going...certainly not into gov't coffers. I also took advantage of the time to work on payroll slips and envelopes. We also lucked out due to Joseph's hawk eye. He caught site of something going on and ran to check it out. Turns out a large truck carrying bags of bottled water had a flat tire and had to offload the water, so whoever had the truck was giving it away. Joseph scored a bag for his family and then I asked him to run back and he managed to get three more bags that we will distribute to the staff. I took the two gents down for a quick visit to Marie and the girls before they joined me for dinner. They will bed down here for the night and get themselves organized in the AM. Both were pretty beat from their long journey to get here....they have been on the road since 2:30 yesterday afternoon. The drive from the DR airport to the border alone took about 5 hours or so.
Before heading to the border I was handing out kob ($$$) of varying amts.left and right.....Christophe needed more cement, Jean needed to buy car parts as the pick up truck would not start this AM, Joel was getting me phone cards, Joseph filled my car with gasoline (Jean took him to meet our "friendly gas station people" . Jean and I also decided to buy a drum so we could fill it with reserve diesel so he got funds for that. We want to be prepared for a few weeks down the road..just in case new tankers of fuel are unable to unload at the port. More and more stations are open but when the present stock runs out then what....so we are taking action and hope we don't need it..... it was a flurry of activity that is for sure.
I also got through more of the back log of correspondence. For all of you who have sent messages and have yet to recieved a response....please forgive me. I could be sitting at the computer non stop if I wanted to, but other duties call. Please know your messages of concern, prayers etc are very much appreciated. It is they that give me energy at times to "keep on keeping on".
I will attach a couple of more pictures.....
that's it for today...wishing you a restful night.
Debbie It has been a quiet day but the hours have sped by never the less. Already it is going on past 5:00 PM and I promised myself a little siesta when I got back from church and my afternoon errands......oh well hopefully that means I will sleep better tonight.
Church was uplifting today even if the attendance was a bit paultry compared to previous weeks. The 25 or so in attendance though, did good justice to the service and their heartfelt singing done with much gusto just makes you feel better. The songs were well chosen today and related a lot the events of last week.......Jesus is at your side no matter what, he will comfort you, ease the load from you, along that vane. Jorel and Elysee both spoke a bit of their experiences during the earthquake and how one must have faith and be strong, knowing God is with you in times of troubles and stress. It was quite moving. I got up and said a few words and let everyone know how many messages I have recieved asking about them, their families and the school. Compliments to my "Earthquake Team" were extended for the results of the work they did in the chapel.....thanks to one and all. The shiny pews newly varnished and the walls and support beams freshly painted were a very pleasant site. A team of students along with Dumas and Jorel managed to get the refurbished cross back into its resting spot.
Dumas spoke about the opening of school. He told the kids that it may be another month or two before it could begin. He said that the school inspectors had met but that no announcements had been made. The children were also reminded that many teachers had lost loved ones, their homes and a few did not even have a change of clothes to wear. He said they were too distressed right now to think of returning to school. Clovis is also gathering information and I will be meeting with him Tuesday to get further updates.
On the way home, I checked in on my place...picked up a few more items to bring to Hope House. Pretty soon I think I will have more here than I do at Santo 25. I just have to close my eyes when I go in as it is a mess....broken glass here and there..the dishes tumbled everywhere and various liquids dried up on the floor....like kerosene and red wine. I just haven't had time to tend to it and it is not a priority. I am hoping that a kind Mission team will not grumble too much when I put a day of housecleaning on their schedule. After that we dropped some water and a few other supplies off at Little Children of Jesus. Jorel by the way told me he had been there as scheduled on Thursday and will go again this week. I am sure everyone was glad to hear his spirit raising music.
Tomorrow I will head to the border to pick up Jim and Shawn who are bringing supplies principally for Marie but also for me. It will be a late day as I don't expect them to get to the border until late in the day. Therefore please do not expect an update from me tomorrow. I will check in again first thing Tues. AM. On the way to the border I will also stop at Hopital Eben-Ezer...we pass it on the way to the school. I am trying to make arrangements with the Director there for our Feb medical team to give him a hand. The team will be pared down to essential medical staff that are still willing to come.
Last night I got sidetracked and sent my message without adding the other pictuers from my visit to Love a Child yesterday....they are the ones the patient rooms.
  Now I'm off to make some chicken soup with bones I collected from my place.......its good for the soul!!
Have a good evening......talk to you Tues.
Debbie
|
| BACK to Updates Page |
