This morning Carwyn and I managed to speak to our friends at Coney Hill Baptist Church. It was a very early morning for us, but it was really great to speak to them and tell them up to date news! We were able to tell how the medical help we are now able to offere was already making a huge difference. It was very sad to have to tell people about an orphanage that was only 10 minutes from the main airport where the aid was coming in, but after all this time had seen no help and no food. They have now been helped, but there are hundreds of others like them who, even now, have not seen any aid.
Mrs C is posting this for me as I will not be near a computer for a while. We are on our way to Port au Prince (PAP) to deliver some more aid. I am in the back of a large, open lorry going over the bumpy roads. We have been in the back of it for 5 hours, and are very hot, dusty and
dirty! Rather than a long round trip in a day, this time we are possibly going to stay overnight. I think we are going to camp. This normally would be fun in the UK, but I am not sure what to expect; have to admit to being a bit worried.
We are aiming to deliver the food we bought, but also could be leaving the medics behind in PAP. It is very hard to plan in Haiti as everything changes by the second, and getting things done is much harder than at home. We are trying to publicise the fact that we have opened the operating theatre to the authorities, so that we can take the people that need operations, but for the moment, we are taking some of the medics to the people.
Hopefully we can show the people of Haiti that people still care, and when they receive all of the lovely things that people have so generously given (5 containers worth from all of the places across the country that helped!!!), they will know that we are still thinking of them. This is
especially important for them to know when the TV cameras have started to go home and it's problems start to disappear from our news. Haiti is going to take a long time to recover; thanks for to everyone who is enabling us to help them do this.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Steve's report of he trip to Port au Prince
here is Steve's account of the trip to Port au Prince
http://mfkhaiti.org/index.php/recent-news/
http://mfkhaiti.org/index.php/recent-news/
I think I am gettig the hang of this !!
I have finally managed to upload some pictures this evening :-)
Today Morgan and I were out buying loads of rice, beans, spaghettis and oil to take down to a contact of Carwyn's from Port au Prince, then I was at the bus station to meet the final member of the medical team who arrived from Santiago his evening. Here is a picture of Carwyn feedin g Grace on our return from Port au Prince.
Friday, 29 January 2010
Friday evening
We went to Port au Prince yesterday to deliver some food aid and some child malnutrition sachets with a chap called Steve from a charity that produces and distributes these here, we went to their depot which was next door to a school that had collapsed - it used to be 3 floors but had collapsed down to 2, I'm not sure what was in it still but it didn't smell too good. During the day we shifted nealy 3 tonnes of the stuff. Carwyn and Morgan went to deliver the food to another area of the city and we then headed back dropping more off at an orphanage. we left Cap at 4.30 in the morning and got back at 10.30pm, driving through Port au Prince was like being in the set of a film - collapsed buildings everywhere piles of rubble and squashed cars bu there were stalls all about selling things.
Today I was sent to rendezvous with the team of medical people coming in from the UK, due to a communication problem I spent 4 hours at the border waiting but they turned up so it turn out ok in the end.
Today the American surgeons were using the operating theatre and last night the first baby was born on the site so things are happening.
Today I was sent to rendezvous with the team of medical people coming in from the UK, due to a communication problem I spent 4 hours at the border waiting but they turned up so it turn out ok in the end.
Today the American surgeons were using the operating theatre and last night the first baby was born on the site so things are happening.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Live from haiti
as mentioned by Mrs C. the internet is a bit intermittent over here but we are currently on=line in a hotel in Cap Haitian. It's all go here !! we arrived yesterday in Cap Haitian and immediately were painting ! we now have the operating theatre ready to use and have met a team of American surgeons who look like they are going to use it.... Today a bus load of people came up from a little town between here and Port au Prince and left having all been seen - the clinic and hospital were throbbng with people, also the next phases f building are in full swing so the whole site is a buzz of activity. We have been out and bought 10 sacks of rice, some beans an other essentials and are off down to Port au Prince tomorrow (Thursday) to deliver them - this will an interesting day. Off to drive back to the site and get some sleep
Arrived at Hospital in Cap Hatien
Unfortunately I have not been able to get onto the internet yet, so I have not been able to add to my blog - hopefully this will bring you up to date (via Mrs C!).
The flight to The Dominican Republic left about half a hour late but was good. We (Morgan and I) flew into Puerto Plata on the North Coast of the island and then had to find out whether we were being picked up. Unfortunately there was no one available to meet us, so we had to try and arrange a bus trip to Santiago, which was the place where we needed to pick up the next bus from. By the time we tried to arrange the tickets everything had started to close!
Eventually we managed to get on the bus leaving at 7pm out time, and when we got to the other end, we had to find a hotel to stay for the night. Unfortunately, the border between The Dominican Republic and Haiti closes at 4pm every day, and even with the situation as it is, it closes. I am sure this has made it harder for suplies to come in by land.
We had to wait for midday the next day until our bus left for Cap Hatien. It was a good trip, and included lunch, which was Haitian chicken salad and rice. It was very tasty! I have taken lots of pictures as we have travelled, and was taking one of the border post when an ambulance screamed by with its siren going. This doesn't sound very unusual, but in Haiti, there are very few ambulances. I realised that this was our hospital's hospital and was obviously in a hurry to get to a patient. It was sad, but good to know that the ambulance was being put to good use. Becky, my daughter, will be able to tell Bishop Justus C of E School that the ambulance they helped to buy is making a real difference out here.
I eventually made it to the hospital with Morgan, a friend of Carwyn who was on the front of your News Shoppers last week in Bromley. He runs the charity work over here. I let the family know I had got there (about 9 pm your time) but once I had settled in, I had to do some painting! The hospital building that I had been helping to build in November had to open its doors before it was ready to provide safety and shelter to those around. Although the hospital is in the north of the island, it is near enough to have felt the earthquakes, but its buildings on the whole were not affected. It was good to see people being made well, but I was helping to paint another ward so that it could be opened up this week. Hopefully, the operating theatre will be opened for the first time tomorrow; this will increase the amount of help they can give.
Today I have been travelling round. It was very chaotic earlier when the one of the local churches brought two bus loads of people up to us for help. We will try and give them everything we can, as many of them have lost everything they owned, as well as family members. The country was very poor to start with, and so some of these people literally have nothing. It is very hard for us to understand, but it has made me very grateful for what I do have.
It is very busy here. One of my jobs is to try and keep Carwyn going, as his wife has come home to the UK for a few weeks. I am trying to take as many photographs and film as much as possible so that I can show what is actually happening; that way the charity can best decide how to use the money that is being donated to best help the people. I will also be trying to talk to people from the different organisations over here to get them to understand the need for supplies to go to the north of Haiti and not just the south where the earthquake hit. You may have seen on the news over there that people are moving out of Port au Prince to be safer; some are already beginning to come nearer to us. If we can get the aid to come here, we can help distribute it.
I could be going to Port au Prince tomorrow, to help distribute aid. I am sure that will be very sad, but everything that we can do helps. We are looking forward to receiving the crate full of your lovely donations. Thank you to everyone who has given anything that helps us make the people's lives here better.
Hopefully will be able to do this myself next time,
Chris
The flight to The Dominican Republic left about half a hour late but was good. We (Morgan and I) flew into Puerto Plata on the North Coast of the island and then had to find out whether we were being picked up. Unfortunately there was no one available to meet us, so we had to try and arrange a bus trip to Santiago, which was the place where we needed to pick up the next bus from. By the time we tried to arrange the tickets everything had started to close!
Eventually we managed to get on the bus leaving at 7pm out time, and when we got to the other end, we had to find a hotel to stay for the night. Unfortunately, the border between The Dominican Republic and Haiti closes at 4pm every day, and even with the situation as it is, it closes. I am sure this has made it harder for suplies to come in by land.
We had to wait for midday the next day until our bus left for Cap Hatien. It was a good trip, and included lunch, which was Haitian chicken salad and rice. It was very tasty! I have taken lots of pictures as we have travelled, and was taking one of the border post when an ambulance screamed by with its siren going. This doesn't sound very unusual, but in Haiti, there are very few ambulances. I realised that this was our hospital's hospital and was obviously in a hurry to get to a patient. It was sad, but good to know that the ambulance was being put to good use. Becky, my daughter, will be able to tell Bishop Justus C of E School that the ambulance they helped to buy is making a real difference out here.
I eventually made it to the hospital with Morgan, a friend of Carwyn who was on the front of your News Shoppers last week in Bromley. He runs the charity work over here. I let the family know I had got there (about 9 pm your time) but once I had settled in, I had to do some painting! The hospital building that I had been helping to build in November had to open its doors before it was ready to provide safety and shelter to those around. Although the hospital is in the north of the island, it is near enough to have felt the earthquakes, but its buildings on the whole were not affected. It was good to see people being made well, but I was helping to paint another ward so that it could be opened up this week. Hopefully, the operating theatre will be opened for the first time tomorrow; this will increase the amount of help they can give.
Today I have been travelling round. It was very chaotic earlier when the one of the local churches brought two bus loads of people up to us for help. We will try and give them everything we can, as many of them have lost everything they owned, as well as family members. The country was very poor to start with, and so some of these people literally have nothing. It is very hard for us to understand, but it has made me very grateful for what I do have.
It is very busy here. One of my jobs is to try and keep Carwyn going, as his wife has come home to the UK for a few weeks. I am trying to take as many photographs and film as much as possible so that I can show what is actually happening; that way the charity can best decide how to use the money that is being donated to best help the people. I will also be trying to talk to people from the different organisations over here to get them to understand the need for supplies to go to the north of Haiti and not just the south where the earthquake hit. You may have seen on the news over there that people are moving out of Port au Prince to be safer; some are already beginning to come nearer to us. If we can get the aid to come here, we can help distribute it.
I could be going to Port au Prince tomorrow, to help distribute aid. I am sure that will be very sad, but everything that we can do helps. We are looking forward to receiving the crate full of your lovely donations. Thank you to everyone who has given anything that helps us make the people's lives here better.
Hopefully will be able to do this myself next time,
Chris
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Almost ready to go
I think I am just about ready to go !
maybe a few hours sleep - maybe I'll be able to catch-up on it whilst on the plane.
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