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"Carine Jocelyn, Executive
Director with some of the Centre Medico staff and their
children"
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Our lab technician is hard
at work.
The teachers from our
educational program with a student.
A group picture of our
staff at Centre Medico including Dr. Kesnel, Dumas
Alcius-Administrator and Esperanta Sainlus, Nurse
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Everyday is a new day!
Today my phone is
not ringing every 5 minutes- maybe every 15; the emails
are less and yet the work has just begun. My concern is
that as time goes on people will “get tired of
hearing/seeing Haiti”. I am hopeful…
I want to share with
you that your funds are helping:
- We have
collected enough to pay the staff their salaries for
the month of January
- We have used
funds to “resettle” three staff
- Our clinic is
up and running as of Monday, January 25th.
With the help of
partners on the ground we now have the ability to
provide basic medical care; begin to reconnect with our
patients and the children we serve. Our Doctor, Nurse,
Laboratory Technician and Administrator are back in Port
Au Prince and have coordinated among themselves to begin
providing services.
- I find out on
January 22 that our Nurse Esperanta and her baby are
ok, despite getting hurt during the earthquake. She
has lost her Mother.
- Celondieu our
outreach worker is ok- his wife did not make it.
- Our maintenance
person Rose, has lost her son in law.
The stories are
tragic and keep coming…overwhelming and yet I can’t
imagine what they are all going through. Philomene calls
again (she’s the one from my previous post – has 7
children). Her call comes in at 5:02 in the morning!
She is still in Tit Riviere but doesn’t feel comfortable
going back to Port Au Prince because of the aftershocks…
I understand… I tell her no problem- take care of
herself and the kids and call me next week to update me
on how they are doing. She also tells me there is a
rumor that Americans can come and take 4 people back to
the US with them. I have heard this rumor several times
over the past few days.
The most upsetting
is when I speak with folks in Haiti on the evening of
Wednesday, January 27 and they tell me they haven’t
received any water since “last week”. I am frustrated,
but being patient and trying to be respectful with the
larger organizations abilities to get the job done. I
am not a disaster relief specialist, I will leave that
to those with expertise. However my patience is
wearing thin and I do have some advice for them:
- Get the people
some water. It has been 14 days!!
- Food would
help.
- The medications
and supplies at the airport need to be transported
to various pockets in Port au Prince-PaP. The
airport is centrally located and not that far from
everything.
- Give the people
tents and sleeping bags – they are resourceful and
will set them up with little to no direction- if
know one is available to provide it.
- For those
organizations on the ground-ready, willing and able
to begin services- connect with us, coordinate with
us – we know the community best!
Thank you all again
for your support, guidance and generous donations.
Carine
PS- In New York the
impact of all of this is beginning to show. We are
reacting with precision. A free legal TPS application
clinic with Cardozo law school will start on Friday,
January 29 at our Church Avenue location; we are
coordinating a caregivers support group for Haitian
human services professionals with a licensed therapist
who is Creole speaking. Mr. Mayor send the nonprofit
organizations some money to support the impact of all of
this… we need more hands on deck and would like to be
able to pay them a salary.
Follow our Efforts and Updates on:
YOUR DOLLARS ARE
HARD AT WORK
Its 5:30 in the morning and
the phone is ringing at my house. Those early morning
calls are never good but this one is great. I hear from
Philomene from our staff. She is ok. Her 7 children are
with her. Her house is gone- She is in Ti Riviere (where
she is originally from) and they are hungry. She has
nothing- they have the clothes on their back. They need
money. I speak to her oldest daughter who gives me their
contact information… I send her cash through a
remittance company.
Call number two comes in at 6:15 it is Carline. She is
in Port Au Prince. She and Theo her son-“my adopted son”
is doing well. They start to sing Happy Birthday to me…
I have COMPLETELY forgotten what day it is. In all of
their misery (they are cold, are sleeping on the ground)
they are singing to me!
The priority for donated funds now is clear. Our
staff has nothing and they need money to get around, get
clothing—wherever and eat- feed their families to be
able to get back to work.
My Mother’s house in Port Au Prince is standing. The
structure both inside and out are ok. This is great
news. Some of the staff can stay there and our upcoming
rotating missions can also be housed there beginning in
April. My Mother tells me to let Carline and Philomene
know that there is some food in the house (rice, beans,
oatmeal, canned milk…) Of course, my Mother is also
anxious as it was her plan to be back in the warm sun of
Haiti this coming Friday.
Yesterday, I received the awful, heart breaking news
that one of our teachers, Alain Gourgue is confirmed
dead. I spent the evening crying wondering what
happened, how he died, where and where is his body.
Alain was about 25 years old, smart, handsome,
articulate- spoke French, Creole, English and Spanish. I
am always amazed by the young people in Haiti and their
ability to speak 4 languages. Alain was orphaned as a
teenager but managed to make something of himself—worked
hard, went to school and to see it end here is hard for
me to accept. I decide we will rename one of the
educational rooms in his honor. I will miss him and
remember that I had bought him a tie.
I was supposed to be leaving for Haiti on 1/14. All of
my gifts for friends and the staff at Centre Medico are
in my packed luggage at my front door- waiting.
I continue working focusing my efforts in
New York on fundraising and reopening the clinic as soon
as humanly possible.
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