Epicenter - the Haiti Earthquake of 2010

Yesterday, there was a violent magnitude-seven earthquake in the island nation of Haiti. 

Perhaps you have never thought much about Haiti – maybe don’t even know where it is. Tragedy befalls all corners of the earth, but I believe this event will be especially harsh. 

Growing up in California, you get accustomed to the notion of the ground shaking due to tension along a fault line. You rarely feel one, yet the threat is always there. You are taught how to hide under your desk or stand in a doorway. You learn to discern whether rolling, rumbling, jerking, etc. Most of the time it is a rather cool natural phenomenon. Then, of course, you wonder, “if I felt it here, where was the epicenter?” …because it was stronger there. Californians have the ever-present notion in the back of their minds that “The Big One” could come at any moment… and is overdue. However, in California there are no brick homes. There are not many tall buildings. There are relatively few bridges. Even the subway (huh??!!) in Los Angeles, very few people ride. Buildings and freeway overpasses have been designed or retrofitted to withstand up to a certain magnitude of temblor. 

 I spent some time in Haiti not long ago. Port-au-Prince is a hilly, crowded, polluted and impoverished city. People sit around in the dirt. Random fires burn in the gutters. Homeless dogs sniff through trash for food. Strange-colored liquids stream through the streets. At night, the city is mostly pitch dark. It seems there are scant public services, except for the well-armored United Nations force that provides for basic security and stability. Unfortunately, all the buildings are made of concrete. 

Port-au-Prince was already a bit scary for me, and I had a nice place to stay. It is scary to imagine what could be happening in that city as I write this at close to four in the morning in the aftermath of that damage. It could get much uglier in the coming days. They do not have the multitude of safeguards we in the United States and elsewhere enjoy – both physically and politically. They will not have the resources or the governmental will to avert an even greater calamity. The Haitians do have something that will prove invaluable – resilience. Hopefully, that will be enough to prevent total chaos. In short, I hope you felt this earthquake in some way, because at the epicenter it is much worse than you may be able to imagine. 

God bless Haiti.

Change in Plans

Even though I have no idea how the World Series is going or anything else for that matter about the events of the world post- my October 20th edition of the Washington Post, I will use a baseball reference to say something I could have said very simply - I am on the DL. Yes, perhaps "down low" would be accurate as well, but more to the point would be "disabled list." Evidently bad backs and heavy-duty mud hauling do not work well together. Today I am back in Port-au-Prince recuperating. Due to the long distance between here and Gonaives, coupled with the fact that the shuttle "HODR Express" runs just two days a week, I have decided to alter the course of my trip. Isn't travel exciting!?! I do not even know where I will be tomorrow, but there is a good chance it will be to the east where I can utilize my Spanish skills - The Dominican Republic. Stay tuned. I'm off to get some creole food before dark. (I don't go out in Haiti after dark.) Luckily, here at St. Joseph's Home for Boys, an American doctor lady is also a guest. She offered to give me something for the pain. Since I am a long-time devotee of ER, I tried out my lingo,"I need a CT, an EKG, 20 of Demerol, and a full work up." I didn't say "stat" because they haven't said that on ER since the '90s, and I thought it would be rude.

What's a Bucket Shower?... Ohhh!

Volunteer Life in Haiti

Who knew you could take a shower with about two gallons of water from a bucket? Inconceivable! I'm learning all sorts of new things here! Like, you can find a neighborhood without Obama signs and stickers, and okra can taste good... no, really; we had a stew of it yesterday for lunch... and dinner. No wine yet, but there is a good beer called "Prestige" that I got from one of the street vendors after work. Pretty good. It was 50 gourdes. I had know idea how much that is, so I made that the end of my shopping for the day.

 

Yesterday's job was a school that had been flooded with about three feet of mud. I mostly hauled wheel barrels of "smudge." Since I am culinarily inclined, I liken smudge to chocolate cake batter, or perhaps a nice ganache. Smudge is fairly easy to dump, but it spatters so I kept my distance while the shovelers did their part. It is quite hot in Haiti. Who knew? Well, we all did. The best part of the day is when we get back to base and watch the sunset from our balcony. We cannot see the water, but at that point it is fairly cool, and breezy, and just plain perfect.

Gonaives - Arriving in Haiti

It turns out there is food in Haiti, and I have yet to eat mud. It does turn out that the volunteers on site here have determined at least four classifications for mud, like the various words for "snow" an Eskimo might have. I arrived in Port-au-Prince yesterday and was met, as arranged by "a fat man named 'Big'" at the airport. I was escorted to another man who escorted me to a driver. I flashed a few of my minuscule French repertoire so that he knew everything better be on the up-and-up. Sure enough, he navigated me safely to where I was supposed to go. Driving is more like an X-game here, and I think they have taken the idea of carpooling to a new level in oddly-rigged vehicles that aggressively zip through crowded unkempt streets. Kind of makes those politicians sound a little silly about how our American roads are "falling apart." You want to see falling apart!?!? I'll show ya. We stopped briefly en route to my hotel, and two boys started tapping on my window, asking for some sort of donation. I just said, "No hablo ingles," and they just looked at me kind of funny. Finally, the one boy said, eerily, "I am sorry for you." All sorts of thoughts, mostly Ridley Scott Hollywood type thoughts, but we'll stay positive.

Today was not only a four-hour journey north to the dusty coastal town of Gonaives, but also my first day of work. My afternoon consisted of working with local Haitian teens to assembly line shovel and bucket out a three-room home from two feet of mud. Some of the standing water had little creatures living in it. Well, I'm tired and hot, so going to call it a night and think of something interesting to write for later.

How Do You Say "Trick or Treat" in Creole? - Off to Haiti

Well, I have not set foot in new country in two years. Other friends and family members have been to fun and exciting places like Iraq, Bahrain, Italy, etc... but I'm not marking any new territory! 

 

Monday, I fly to Haiti - Country #18!

 

I will be meeting up with Hands On Disaster Response in the town of Gonaives to work for two weeks where hurricane season has not been kind. I volunteered with Hands On, or HODR, last year in Pisco, Peru and highly recommend them as a charity or volunteer opportunity. Who knows what I will be doing, but when my boss asked me what I will be for Halloween, I told him "a mud-shoveler." He didn't get it.

One more night of work (here), and I'm getting everything together. I will be back, God willing, to the chagrin of most of my friends, on Election Day. If not, I will need one liberal Virginian to volunteer to stay home. Any takers?

 

In honor of Cristobal Colon, who sailed the ocean blue in 1492... and got lost nowhere near his destination... and "discovered" a new world already strangely inhabited by my ancestors, I head south to Hispaniola. If I, too, get lost along the way, keep an eye out for postcards with scents of Cuban tobacco. Or wouldn't it be funny if I ended up in the spice islands? If so, I plan to name the people I find "Haitians" anyway.

Au revoir!