Written night of Friday May 21, 2010

Short update

• Second highlight of the day today (the first being the trip to the two schools mentioned in the last blog post) was a story retold by Larry who was working on building a school. Classes are currently being taught in a tent right next to the new building. As Larry stopped to take a picture on his hi-tech disposable camera, one little girl was peaking through the fence. He asked her is that was going to be her new school. She responded very loudly, “YES THAT IS MY SCHOOL”.  It made me smile.
• Our team made much progress on rubbling today.  
• Of our group, Jerry and I are going back to the rubbling team and Larry is again building a new school. Carrie is gardening on the HODR site and playing with kids on site.
• The nightly meetings get long when there are so many volunteers. Today my phone went off. Given that only two people know the number I was really surprised and slightly embarrassed. Jerry knows the number and he was sitting next to me, and Wesley who bought the SIM card (but not yet the one needed for international?) and has been working with us clearing his house. He was calling to apologize that he had missed the afternoon's work and to share that his band (pre earthquake he was a college student and was paid occasionally to perform at local clubs). Partially at Kate's urging, the group had cut a new CD which he wants us to listen to.
• Thought we had the phone thing figured out, but not yet. (see above)
• Really bored at night. And night comes early here...gets dark at about 6:40...
• Very much untired. The combo of extra sleep and poor workouts have definitely countered the work and heat.
• Looking forward to a smoothie. I love beans and rice and probably not all that bad for you (could be worse). We often have salads but I am afraid to eat them.
• On our rubble crew today: a doctor to be from Texas, a chemistry professor (Jerry), a MBA (Carrie), a management grad from Texas A&M who just got admitted for an MBA at American University, two UNC students, a graduate from University of Florida, a history major from AZ, someone from South Africa, England, and Australia, oh and a FinanceProfessor.
• There should be signs everywhere in Haiti saying “It's the Economy Stupid” Jobs are the biggest need by several orders of magnitude. Without them, even if somehow all of the rubble somehow magically disappeared tomorrow, the majority of the people could still not afford to rebuild.
• Rained really hard tonight with more expected in the next few days.

These are the times that try one's souls.

Thomas Paine wrote those words at the nadir of the American Revolution when hope was almost lost. I do not know who the Thomas Paine is of Haiti, but I do think he would write that “these are the days that tried our souls, and we passed that test.”

I can not explain how bad it is here. And please understand that nothing I write is meant to make light of the suffering that people in the Gulf Coast went through, but only to try to give some perspective how challenging life is here.

Try to imagine life after Katrina with hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, infrastructure demolished, and many businesses forever put out of business with accompanying job losses and financial hardships. Once you get a mental picture of how bad that was, raise it to the tenth power and you have post Earthquake Haiti.

After Katrina it was horrible that people had to live in FEMA trailers; here the lucky ones have tents. After Katrina there were debris piles in the streets; here almost everyone burns their garbage in front of their tents. After Katrina it was months before some areas had electric; here there is no central electric in most cities and almost no one has a generator. After Katrina people had to use port-o-potties, here many go in the streets. After Katrina it was hot and many people had no air conditioning; here it is even hotter and people do not have refrigerators, fans, or running water. Add to that an unemployment rate which by some estimates is as high as seventy percent, and you have conditions that really can not be all that much worse.

So the Haitian people have every reason to be down and miserable. But you know what? They are not. They are upbeat and resilient.

Today's best example is from when Wesley (whose family house is where we have been rubbling) took Carrie, Jerry, and I to his former school to donate some pencils, crayons, and soccer balls. The school building was destroyed and classes are being held in open sided tents with a board at one end.

In the midst of a rudimentary English class, math lessons , and repeated reminders on the importance of education, pure and utter pandemonium broke out during recess as we ran, chanted, and Carrie led them in the Chicken Dance. I doubt I have ever seen so many kids laughing and jumping and high-fiving (ok, really pretty low-fiving as most were pretty small). If you had seen them you never would have guessed that their country is in ruins, their families economically ruined, and that many of them lost family members.

Yes, these are the times that try people's souls, and yes Haitians have passed that test.