Haiti Day 1
I have never been one to like camping. The ground is hard (even with so-called “mattresses”) and no matter how I hard I try I can never stay dry if it rains. I haven’t camped in – no joke – about 15 years. In fact, not only have I not camped, I have been somewhat vocal about my disdain for camping. It’s great for other people but not me…until tonight.
I landed in Haiti this morning at about 9:30am Haiti time. I’m here with World Concern and working with Scott Valentine of Spirit 105.3 in Seattle. Within an hour of touching down we were at a warehouse stuffed with food and supplies for earthquake survivors. Everything from food, to water, to crutches, to wheelchairs, to tarps. And the good news? It wasn’t going to be there very long. It was fun, and fascinating and a very “feel good” situation because radio campaigns helped provide a lot of those supplies!
Then, we started to drive further into Port au Prince. I noticed a few stores toppled – pictures I’ve seen on the news – and I was amazed at the destruction. Then, our truck came over a hill and I saw the vast hillside filled with tarp-type tents. And just up ahead was an entire hillside in ruins. But it was distant – overwhelming but distant.
World Concern took us next to a “home” where 20 people had once lived. It was in ruins as well, but now it started to get personal. There were a handful of men clearing out the rubble. They were cautious and careful. I found out why: five family members were still buried there. The day before they had found one body. To the side was the person’s skull. World Concern promised to bring by a body bag. Now, Haiti became personal.
We spent the afternoon working with about 40 families who were clearing rubble so they could rebuild their homes. That’s the next phase for radio fundraising – building homes. Then we interviewed about five people, all had lost their homes, some had lost loved ones. It was starting to overwhelm me.
So tonight, when we got back to the World Concern offices, I did something I haven’t done in 15 years: I pitched my tent. We’re sleeping on the roof of the office building because if aftershocks hit and the building goes down we’re at least on top of the pile not in it. I will eat MREs and I will take a cold shower in the morning. I will go to bed tonight on a thin little sleeping pad. I probably won’t sleep very much. I’m camping…and I have never been more thankful.
