PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – This morning we had a long 2-hour drive to the bridge that crosses over to St. Marc. The bridge is weak and therefore no vehicles were allowed to cross. It was chaotic on both sides of the bridge, people were everywhere.

Once we reached the other side, we met Mathias with our German partner Humedica and piled into the back of a pickup truck with their medical team, headed for St. Marc. It was scorching hot, the road was bumpy, and it was very humid – making for a long 1-hour ride. By the time we got to the Humedica headquarters, we were exhausted.

Mathias explained the situation in the town of L’estere where Humedica and Operation Blessing will be distributing food items and conducting a medical clinic. Together with UN security, we will be traveling to shelters to provide food for those who have lost their homes and everything due to the storms that have ravaged the country.

Because of the damaged bridge, no relief trucks have been coming across, so there is a shortage of food and people are hungry. I saw several women today who put their hands over their stomach to say that they have not had food for some time. We will be working with local leaders to distribute emergency food to 5,000 people.

Another critical relief need is water. Yesterday, we met a representative with World Concern and discussed the placement of a 10,000 gallon-per-day water purification system. He has found a location about 3 hours from Port-au-Prince. The city official has asked that we put the water system there since the main water system is contaminated; however people are still drinking the contaminated water since there is no other clean water available. Local authorities are working to aid these communities and will provide a truck filled with clean water to distribute to the surrounding villages. Our main goal is to quickly get the water system out of customs as soon as it arrives.

After our meetings, our OB team went to some of the nearby villages to see the situation firsthand. Haiti is indeed a beautiful place with green mountains, rice fields and beautiful beaches. But with all this beautiful creation, poverty is still prevalent in these locations. Improved living conditions, health care and education is not something the government is making a priority or able to provide. I was told that by the end of the year, 1 million children will not receive an education. That is because 90 percent of the schools are private and too expensive for Haitians to afford. Children are begging, working in the streets, and have no future. I am sure that at a certain level we can make a difference for these children.

We came back to the hotel exhausted and dirty, riding in the back of the pickup truck once again. Tomorrow, we look forward to another day of blessing the people in Haiti.

Tags: Caribbean, clean water, Contaminated Water, Disaster Relief, Food Distribution, Haiti, Humedica, Hurricane Relief, Kumar Periasamy, L'Estere, Medical Aid, medical clinic, OBI, Operation Blessing, Port-au-Prince, Relief, Relief Aid, St. Marc, UN, Water Purification, Water Purification System, World Concern

This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Caribbean, Clean water projects, Haiti, Hurricane Relief, Kumar Periasamy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.