PORT-AU-PRINCE – The rain came down so hard it woke me up in the night. It’s 5 a.m. and I hear water gurgling in the downspout and splattering on the concrete slab outside my door. (more…)

We are in the new house now, and can finally get a full night’s sleep without interruption from street noise, mosquitos or a generator that growls all night like an angry bear. (more…)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Dadadou is a tent city in Port-au-Prince where about 7,000 quake victims are living in tents set up on a sun-scalded AstroTurf soccer field. (more…)

I’m up at 4:20 a.m. The guest house was still quiet except for the steady purr of the diesel generator in the darkened courtyard.  (more…)

We started the day meeting with two lead doctors at Partners in Health’s (PIH) temporary headquarters. They told us about a PIH clinic at a camp called Dadadou. They explained that there was no well or source of water for the 3,000 or so people in the camp – only “a large tank” that needed to be filled regularly with truckloads of water. (more…)

This morning, David, Kumar, Joe, Jon, Pradel and I drove to our rented OBI warehouse across the street from the Port-au-Prince airport. Our local team of 12 Haitian workers and drivers were there, all wearing OBI T-shirts. (more…)

Port-au-Prince, Haiti –  I’ve been awake since 4 a.m. The rest of the Operation Blessing team is still sleeping, but a life-long habit of rising early along with some raucous roosters have me wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. (more…)

HAITI – Port-au-Prince’s General Hospital is a 700 bed facility that treats around 3,300 patients a week. It’s a very busy place with an emergency room open 24/7 and where patients line up at the gate at 6 a.m. to wait for an 8 a.m. opening. (more…)

Beijing, China – Yesterday we unveiled a dramatic photo exhibit – near Beijing’s Tiananmen Square – depicting the recovery of Yao Jin village following the Great Sichuan Quake. The event is part of the 1-year anniversary celebration recognizing the incredible courage of Yao Jin’s villagers and their journey of recovery over the last 12 months. It was a huge success among government dignitaries, a U.S. embassy delegate and around corporate sponsors of OB China including Nokia, UPS and the International School of Beijing. (more…)

Italy – As I approached the rubble of a 700-year-old church in Villa Sant’Angelo, Italy, a small, historic village that was devastated by the April 5 quake, I noticed that time had stopped. According to the local mayor, the quake struck at 3:32 a.m., however the clock continued ticking for nearly 15 minutes after the quake. Minutes later, the church bells began to ring as if nothing had happened. (more…)

YAO JIN, China – This morning while driving to the village, I spotted the yellow crane towering above the trees from about a mile away. In such a peaceful rural setting, the crane looked out of place in the same way that a summer carnival’s ferris wheel looks odd in the middle of a farmer’s field. (more…)

YAO JIN VILLAGE, China – Having spent most of my life in the contracting and construction business, I am all too aware of the countless factors that can upset the “best laid plans of mice and men.” There are many moving parts in a construction project, and any one of them can delay progress of an entire job. Thursday started out looking like “one of those days.” (more…)