Phone calls to Haiti

Dear Friends,

I apologize for my silence over the last week or so.  I am just too devastated to be able to write anything coherent.  Kevin is recovering from malaria and is now able to spend more of a day off the couch than on it.  We are trying to keep in touch and do what we can from the US.

I finally got through to Haiti by phone last night for the first time.

Estimable Francius Dauphin, aka Jhonny, the mayor of Borgne, reports that people from Borgne who had been living in Port au Prince are starting to return to their families in the countryside.  The mayor’s office sent a bus down to the capital to pick up survivors and came back with 113 people.  There is a shortage of food and places to stay in Borgne.   The mayors would like to send the bus again, but need to raise about $500 for gas and food for survivors first.  Gas is very expensive as the supply chain is wiped out and it is being imported from the Dominican Republic.  Haiti Outreach Pwoje Espwa (HOPE) in Rochester, NY is doing a major drive for medical supplies to send to the hospital in Borgne.  They were already short on supplies before the earthquake, and now need much more.  They are raising funds and donated materials for hospitals all over the north of Haiti.  Their first shipments will go out on Thursday.

Josapha Augustine, administrator of SOL, is in Milot.  His wife had a baby just a day before the earthquake.  He is helping to support the Milot hospital as they receive patients airlifted from the capital.  SOL was able to provide food, soap, and clothing to survivors being treated at the hospital, but he says that the need is great and we need to do more.  On a positive note, he reported that the entire community of Milot is coming together to receive and support the injured.

Sasha Kramer, cofounder of SOIL, is in Port au Prince with Leah Nevada Page, one of SOIL’s former interns, Cat Laine of AIDG, and other friends and collaborators.  They are staying at a tent city/field hospital at Matthew 25 guest house and providing whatever aid they can.  Yesterday they brought loads of water to areas of the city that are considered dangerous by the larger aid agencies--areas that tend to be neglected.  I haven’t actually talked to Sasha, but got a message through her mother.  She sends out regular updates that are available at www.oursoil.org .

Peter Haas of AIDG is in Cap Haitien working to organize a team of 250 engineers with earthquake experience to come to Haiti.  He is also helping to get the port in Cap Haitien open to receive shipments, and to get food and supplies released from the port and transported for larger aid organizations like Food for the Poor.

I’ll let you know more as I find it out.  Everyone is doing what they can.  Please keep all of Haiti in your prayers.

With love,

Sarah