Apologies

OK ok ok…> I am sorry, I am lazy…slow…forgetful…can you forgive me? I know I have been neglecting you. No, I have not been asleep at the keyboard. Honestly life has been a bit tempest lately. We have been very busy still with our work in Haiti and will soon have access to the world at large via WWW. Till then we will drop nuggets of memories and adventures when we can and where we can. Currently we find our rabbit hole in an Internet café. Yes, I did say Internet café. It is located in a gas station in Cayes and for an over whelming fee of  $0.69 USD per hour. For now all I can offer is my regret and this sad apology.

 

Cheers,

 

T&M

MMMM…….Now That’s Good Water

Today we successfully completed open heart surgery on a water purification system. The system is located in a small rural area call Passab. It had been installed a few months earlier but had suddenly stopped leaving the community to drink contaminated water. We started out early in the morning with the local priest, Fr Gousse , who over sees this region. With in only a few miles we hit our first stumbling block of the day. You guessed it -TIH- the truck broke down. Good thing we had all the tools with us and after a few minutes, a little ingenuity, and a prayer we were up and running. We drove down a long muddy backcountry road littered with goats, cows, and chickens running free. As we passed the local houses, little chants of excitement from children echoed through the community signaling our arrival. We pulled up to the church that doubles for a school during the week and now as a water station. Fr. Gousse introduced us to the community leaders who were in charge of the system, all women, and after exchanging greetings in what little creole we knew we got down to business. We started off by checking all the usual suspects like the batteries, external wires, and solar panels. No luck there. We had bad news; we were going to have to operate. This meant we were going to open up the main electrical box. After some discussion with our helpers, the local kids that were transfixed with interest, we popped her open and found a few problems. First a hornet had mad a nest. The second the timing mechanism had snapped in half. This forced us to reroute the power to restore life. After taking a few photos to make sure we could put everything back together we took her apart. The surgery went flawless. After putting everything back in place and priming the system we hit the switch and she came back to life. Kids all ran for buckets and we sighed in relief that we had been successful. We explained the adjustments that had been made to the community leaders as they began to organize the filling of the cisterns. We ran some tests to check the chemical level of the water and double checked the rest of the system to make sure it was all in good condition. We packed our gear and headed back to the mission… another beautiful and successful day in paradise.

TIH

M & T

TIH # 1

This Is Haiti….This is what the local Grey Hound bus looks like. For a few guards this big truck packed to the gills and then some will let you jump on top. It hurdles you down the only semi paved high way around tight mountainous curves and over mildly deep river crossings. They are always a site to see as they are painted up with fantastic images but you must look quickly as these are not slow moving. The speed limit is set as fast as you can go until you crash or break down. It doesn’t come with a meal and they don’t offer drinks but if you need to use the head crawl to the back of the truck, wave the car behind you off, and drop trou…

TIH

M&T

TIH # 2

This Is Haiti….I think we have officially come to the conclusion that no cars work in Haiti and if they do they are being held together with spare parts and lose bolts. Everything is in need of repair and in order to get anywhere one must cross their toes, close one eye, say a prayer, and keep a good tool set in the back. Mikey has become Haiti’s non-official car mechanic, plumber, and carpenter …and I have been learning new things along the way…like how to fix an axle and a leaky sink…thank you Haiti

TIH

M & T

TIH # 3

This Is Haiti…The people are who you fall in love with when in Haiti and like most places, it is always the children who capture your heart. The smiles here are incredibly special and have the ability to transform the sadness, pain, poverty, and frustration into joy. Mikey took this wonderful picture of a pre-schooler from St. Helene Primary School just outside of Aquin. These are the pictures we love to see and what encourage Hope for Haiti to keep working.

TIH

M&T

Wahoo Beach

Wahoo Beach w/ Sisters: We were asked by the sisters here in Tabarre (Sr. Marcello and Kristina) to accompany them to the beach with a group of 13 six year olds from Warf Jeremie, one of the worst slums in Port Au Prince. In the afternoon, we made the 1hour drive North to the beach to meet with them and to play with the kids. This was the first time for these children to see the beach or to play in the ocean. We had a wonderful time – really uplifting and enjoyable – something that was needed and comforting after an emotional week. A very different day, burying kids in the sand rather than 6 ft under. Whip-lash just doesn't quite do it.

Walking with the dead...

Today, Mikey and I accompanied Father Rick to the General Hospital to pick up the poor and destitute bodies from the morgue. Every Thursday Father Rick takes 3 cars full of coffins and a staff to the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. We arrived to the morgue with 15 coffins and 5 body bags. As we stood outside the gate of the back entrance to the hospital, we could smell the dead already. Father Rick passed out menthol cigarettes to smoke and vicks vapor rub to put in our noses to block some of the smell. When we were let into the morgue, we first went into each of the three refrigerators to say a prayer and bless all who have died. We cannot even provide a number of adults and children who were in each refrigerator. The bodies were on top of one another – some thrown on the floor, others falling off of the shelves, and even more laying outside of the refrigerator doors. The bodies were left in the condition, as they were when they had died. One man still had the rope wrapped around his neck from when he was hung, his body tossed to the floor like access baggage. Some had decomposed to a level where we assume they have been left for longer than 6 months. With the refrigerators the bodies still decay but more dry out and the skin and tissue tear back off the bone. The general hospital does not always receive power – therefore the refrigerators cannot work – and these bodies are left to rot. There were stacks of babies – literally baby thrown on top of baby – ages ranging from pre-birth to toddler. The site is something that no one would wish upon anyone – it is something that will haunt us when we sleep and when we are awake – the faces, the mutilated bodies, the decomposition, the broken and dismembered limbs, and of course the smell. We were not allowed to take pictures (could be harmful to Haiti’s reputation – ironic), and although we wanted to document this epitome of inhumanity – perhaps these pictures would destroy the ability for Father Rick to do what he is doing, adding a sense of hope and humanity – what the government is refusing to do.

After we blessed each room, the morgue staff proceeded to pile the bodies of babies and children onto a stretcher first. Many of them would throw the bodies in the air and play with them as if they were footballs or bags of trash. As they rolled the stretcher towards the coffin – some bodies would fall or be dragged along the blood and dirt soiled cement floor, the sound of the semi frozen skulls cracking as they hit the floor. Then we started to fill the coffins with as many bodies as it could handle averaging 20 children in each depending on the size or what was left. Mikey lifted them as gently as possible so that they would not tear in his hands. Some bodies were so decayed that his fingers would push through what tissue was still there only to be stopped by the frozen bones of the dead child. Ten coffins were filled with children, while the remaining 5 coffins and 5 body bags were filled with selected adults. The selection process is unknown and it almost feels futile since we are only making a small dent in the number of dead bodies remaining in the morgue. It is unknown what will happen to the remaining – perhaps they will lay there until next Thursday or another 6 months.

After loading up the three trucks, we proceeded to drive through Cite de Soliel to National 1 North – passing through a UN checkpoint that didn’t even look up as over 200 dead bodies passed them. We took a dirt road back onto a plain of land about ¼ mile from the main road. Upon arrival we confirmed that this land was indeed Gina’s property (a Haitian American friend of ours from the States). Father Rick pointed out the mass burials that the General Hospital/Government had been doing for the past 2-3 years (this including executions) along the way – all on Gina’s property. We brought the coffins to a burial site that Father Rick created only a few weeks ago. The gravediggers had already dug sites for 20 coffins/bags and were working on more. Each grave costs $100 Haitian ($13 US). Father provided another blessing before we carried each coffin/bag to its’ grave site. Riding home we didn’t talk – there were just no words.





TIH....





M&T