E-MAIL UPDATE FROM RACHEL: Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 6:10 PM

Hello! So happy to be logged on and writing you!

We made it! All is going very well, by the grace of God! Some stressful moments, but we're doing great. NO PROBLEMS!!!

This internet connection is very slow. I will try to send photos in the next email tonight (?).

Wow~! I don't know what to say first. Seems like we have been here for weeks.

The drive from Santa Dominica was rough. Ba was at the airport with tansportation arranged. We stayed at an "interesting" cheap hotel in Santa D. and left at 3:30am for haiti. Crossing the border was an experience ! But our team was strong and we had no problem.

Going thru PaP took a lot of time. We arrived in Montrouis behind schedule yesterday around 11am. Izzy at the hotel welcomed us with open arms.

Our Haitian team is amazing and has done great planning. We have 2 schools to bring refugees. One school is full with 100 people and the money I have sent (before we arrived) purchased food and bedding. (All schools in Haiti are closed now for at least 1 month).

After we arrived we went to St. Marc and spent $500 on carpet and sheets for the 2nd school for the next group of people to sleep on. Last night we took a truck and brought 50 people.

Today we went to PaP with 2 vehicles. First, we went to the us embassy to see about receiving supplies that were being shipped in with the military (which my teammates insisted we investigate). No luck - very complicated- but possible.

The traffic in PaP is horrendous. Worse than usual. We saw much destruction - but not the worst of the worse as CNN shows.

We confirmed with the U.S. that we can fly out of PaP anytime with the military.

Next we went to one of many "tent towns". Unbelievable!

The people were so nice!!! In my 5 years of helping Haitians, I have never visited more cordial, understanding people in need. Only 1-2 people asked me for money and when I explained that if I gave them money I would have to give everyone money and I didnt have enough for 15,000 - they understood!! Yes, there were 15,000 at this one site - so a pastor said (on video recording). He also said that they have received NOTHING but water from the large aid orgs.

But the people were NICE! They brought the orphans to us. We brought 6 orphans back to Montrouis with us - but had to leave quickly because we were worried that we couldn't take more yet. Their situation was verified by hundreds and names/location in Montrouis documented.

It's heartbreaking!!!

Tomorrow some of us will take the sick people in our camps/schools in Montrouis to a hospital north in St. Marc. I will go back to PaP with Ba and Kednaud to follow up on leads for purchasing a vehicle.

Better send now.

Thank you for all of your help!

Love from Haiti,
rachel
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ps. we have the best Haitian team!!!! amazing!
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from rachel@helphaitinow.org
date Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 9:05 AM
subject : update

We have had a very busy week and no chance for me to write - sorry.

Haiti is very, very safe at present with soldiers everywhere - and they say more are coming.

Here in Montrouis (pronounced "Moo-Wee"), we are providing aid for about 250 earthquake victims. We now have 2 schools and 1 church converted into shelters for our re-located people from Port au Prince (PaP). Help Haiti Now has also established an emergency children's shelter.

In addition to buying food (rice & beans), we have purchased used carpet (to put on ground or concrete for beds), sheets, deodorant, soap, toothbrushes, clothes, and laundry detergent - remember they hand wash clothes here.

We really need to put together a container on a ship for supplies like clothing and shoes, rice, beans, batteries,... if anyone in the U.S. can help with this, everyone would be extremely grateful.

Our first team provided the U.S. Army with the GPS location of our 3 shelter camps and hopefully additional aid will arrive. Other mission groups have donated medicine - so in addition to what we brought, we have a lot and that does not seem to be the most needed import at present.

We have a Haitian medic - Dr. Rigaud - examining patients at the shelter camps daily. He has diagnosed several people with life-threatening ailments - such as a 3 yr. old boy with an abnormally enlarged stomach - seemed like the usual case of worms (this is common in Haiti, without shoes children are at risk) but Dr. Rigaud insisted on taking him to a pediatrician in St. Marc. The pediatrician requested an x-ray -- which was surprisingly easy at the hospital. The diagnosis to the best of my understanding is that the boy has eaten a lot of dirt and rocks and his intestines aren't working. He also has worms. The plan is to continue medication and weekly doctor visits - but he might need surgery to live.

Another case .. a 10 year old boy who's mother abandoned him, father is dead, and the boy is staying with a friend of the mother. His eyes are completely yellow. The diagnosis is Hepatitis A or something else I can't remember. He's now staying at the hospital on IV's. They were not sure if he will live but we are doing everything possible to help him.

The list of the sick goes on and on. The hospital is a very, very sad place to be. While waiting with the Hepatitis boy, I saw a teenage girl die right in front of me. Many, many people are lying around sick and have been diagnosed, but they have no money to buy the necessary medication.

Dr. Rigaud and I have bought medicine at nearby pharmacies for many patients in dire condition. Others on our team have also helped get healthcare for specific cases - like a girl with a horrible ear infection.

I have seen a few American teams of doctors. They are doing the best they can to examine the most critical cases at different locations in the area. We were in Port au Prince - which is completely chaotic- yesterday and saw many medical teams there as well. But I am sure they are overwhelmed and spread very thin with far more needing help than they can possibly get to.

The other members of our first relief team returned to the U.S. on Friday 2/5/2010 via U.S. military plane. American aid workers can get a free-ride back to Miami on the returning & empty supply transports.

Help Haiti Now has rented a large house to serve as a children's shelter. I will stay another week to continue getting everything set up to provide the basic needs

There has always been a problem for parents not being able to feed and take care of their children here in Haiti. Now, in addition to that, there are many kids at our camps who have no parents or have been abandoned. We are going to try to help them - hopefully only temporary until family can get them - or, for some with no parents, on a long-term basis.

Now, I need to go to St. Marc to buy more beans, rice, oil, fish, and carpet for the people at the church camp. Ba's nieces are cleaning our rented house/new shelter. They will also cook and do laundry for the children. We need to buy mattresses, plates, pans, a barrel for water until we get running water fixed, the needs go on and on....

And, there is no break from the sun - it is very hot and dirty - like always.

Thank you everyone for all of your support!!!!!
God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rachel
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E-MAIL UPDATE FROM RACHEL: Monday 2/8/2010

Hello. This will probably be my last chance to write until I return to the U.S. We are moving into the rental house that will be our childrens' shelter tonight (Monday 2/8). It will be a very full house because we are taking some women and children from Port Au Prince who have nothing and fathers died. The good news is that our Haitian ground coordinator, Chilet ("Ba") Joseph, has family and friends lined up as volunteers for our new emergency shelter. They will be busy with cooking, cleaning, and general child care.

Today we went to St. Marc to take some sick people to the hospital and check on our patients. The hospital was completely packed with people lying everywhere waiting. The hospital was more crowded with sick people than I've ever seen before.

And just when I had thought I had seen every sad, desperate case -- we walked into a patient room looking for a woman that our Dr. Rigaud took 2 nights ago for emergency care. I don't know how to express the sadness and sickness. One woman by the door who especially broke our hearts was very thin but her stomach was 3 times the size of a pregnant woman about to deliver. She was not pregnant. We talked to her for a while. She has no family, but a woman was with her praying the rosary over her. We all prayed in length for her. We found a doctor who explained that there was nothing that could be done to help her situation. She has ovarian tumors which have caused her other organs to start shutting down. Surgery was not an option - they can only give her pain medicine and try to make her comfortable. It was the most heartbreaking situation. The doctor said I could give her some money for diapers - and I did.

There are so many people everywhere sitting around doing nothing. Not only sick people - but everyone - young and old. There's nothing to do! And they have no money for even the basics. I just can't imagine the boredom of everyday life for people here. And it is so hot! and dirty. It's just a horrible situation and although I have been here many times, it still really bothers me that people have to live like this.

We continue to help and are so thankful for your support to make it possible for us to try to improve life for as many as we can. When people tell me thank-you I tell them I am just the middleman for wonderful people in the world who care and want to help and have made Help Haiti Now possible.

I travel back to the U.S. on Wednesday 2/10 and look forward to updating the web-site and answering all the e-mail.

love,
rachel
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