Chris in Haiti 2010

2010-02-14T01:47:00.000-08:00

Well I have been home now since Tuesday and was back at work on Wednesday - I have spoken to a church group and my son's year 6 at school. I have uploaded all my pictures to flickr the link is http://flickr.com/photos/16178584@N02/

Thanks for your interest in my trip - Chris

2010-02-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

I am now in Puerto Plata airport checked-in and not looking forward to the snow and cold - but I AM looking forward to hot water and a cup of tea ...............
bye for now

2010-02-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

This is hospital with patients, there is one chap in the operating room and 5 ladies in the other room, they are all victims of the earthquake from Port au Prince and will require long term care.

I leave Haiti tomorrow as I need to go to the Dominican Republic on one bus, mayvbe spend the night in a dubious hotel in Santiago then take another bus to Puerto Plata and the get to the airport for the flight home - so I am not sure when I wi next have internet access so we will see !

2010-02-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

These are some of the supplies in the working part of the hospital - the locked cupboards contain the medicines

2010-02-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

This is work roaring ahead on the next ward, the Architect thinks it will be finished in 2 weeks !!

2010-02-05T14:32:00.001-08:00

the bottom picture is the road further towards Cap Hatian and the other one is transport in Cap Haitian...
When we got back this afternoon Carwyn had 2 patients in the hospital with another 2 on the way and possibly more to follow, I will get some pictures of the hospital in action tomorrow, bye for now...

2010-02-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

the bottom 2 pictures are the Cathedral and then the Palace in Port au Prince, these pictures ere taken at dawn this morning as we left to return to Cap Haitian. The top picture is a market on the main road between Port au Prince and Cap Hatian - this is the M1 of Haiti !!

2010-02-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

these are some views from yesterday, bottom loaded and ready to go then a couple of views on the way.

Off to Port an Prince again

2010-02-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

Mrs C is posting this for me as I am doing another 48 hour round trip to Port au Prince and will not be near a computer for a while.

Earlier in the blog I mentioned the five hours we have been travelling, but in fact the whole journey lasted 9 hours!!! In the UK, you would stop off for services and even a snooze, but here the roads are just one bump after another with no break. If you look at the pictures, you can see that 9 hours in that lorry was not very comfortable. At 9pm today your time we had been going for six hours, with another three to go! At least this time we have two matresses in the back to bounce on; let's hope we don't bounce out of the back, as you can see there is not much to stop us!

Morgan, our Haitian driver, two mechanics and I have been let loose on our own to drive down to Port au Prince. We will stay overnight and come back tomorrow. I have videoed some of the journey so I will be able to share that with you when I return. We will deliver some aid and bring back two medics who will work with us at the hospital and clinic.

Carwyn has been getting good publicity for the hospital, so Mrs C tells me. On Tuesday (2/2/2010) the Sun newspaper had a picture of Carwyn holding a boy. Whilst the information printed in paper with is was mostly wrong, Mrs C tells me it was a good picture. If you remember, a bit further back in the blog I have got a picture of the point where the picture was taken. My chin is in the background apparently, as I have seen it, but Mrs C says the picture on the internet shows my face! Fame at last!!

We were also featured on London Tonight on Wednesday evening (o3/02/2010), with Carwyn doing a video diary of a typical day. It showed the ambulance being loaded at one stage, with me doing a bit of work! Again, I am relying on Mrs C for this information, as I have not seen it. Mrs C will try and post the links at the end of this to see if they can be picked up by viewers; maybe I will be able to get them too.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2834822/British-aid-angels-couple-drive-ambulance-in-Haiti.html

12:41 to 16:21 http://www.itv.com/london/fullprogramme/
and abbreviated at http://www.itv.com/london/haiti-video-diary15200/

Will catch up on my return - thanks for your support!

2010-02-03T18:44:00.001-08:00

Today I have been doing odds and ends, we understood that we were going to get some patients from another hospital in the area to relieve the pressure there, so this morning Morgan and I cleaned and set up 2 of our wards ready to receive them but at the moment 5pm they haven't arrived (it is now later please see post above) – communication here is good at the best of times so we shall see. This morning I was going into Cap to get the base for our 6 foot satellite dish but just as we got into town we were needed for and emergency transfer to hospital to back to the clinic and Jakelin took them in. Later in the day I cleaned out the ambulance and washed it as it has had a hard life recently so it looks much better now. Morgan has been out and about this afternoon trying to buy some more mattresses and sheets in preparation for more patients in the future and also more food to take on our next run to Port au Prince - he bought plenty of mattresses...

2010-02-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

here are the 2 wards ready for the children that were due to arrive today - something happened and they didn't turn up today - maybe tomorrow.

2010-02-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

the bottom picture is a tent camp that was being filmed by ITN as we passed, the middle one is Carwyn being photographed for the Sun then they came over to the lorry I was on and took more there - the other picture shows our nice big satellite dish - we now have internet on site -HURRAH !!!!

2010-02-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

more pictures of Port au Prince

2010-02-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

some pictures from Port au Prince - the bottom one is where we stayed the night, one of the translators - Donny has an uncle living in Port au Prince - he was building a new house on the outskirts of the city but thy have had to move in as their house in the city was destroyed by the earthquake.

2010-02-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

Today has been interesting, Morgan was out shopping for more aid to take down to Port au prince, and I was out trying to get some internet access - shopping in Haiti takes quite some time, we have to go to one chap for some parts for the satellite dish and then off the to other side of town, Gideon then negotiated for the best part of on hour and we ended uo with a 6 foot dish, mountings, cable and router for $1500 makes broadband at home seem cheap and easy. tomorrow someone will be coming to set it up - but in the middle of all of this we had a call to take the ambulance to the airport to collect casualties flown over by helicopter from PaP, 6 arrived and eventually taken off to hospitals in the area. In the distance of this picture you can see the US helicopter.

2010-02-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

Top is sunset o the way - the other are us delivering aid at Port au Prince.

2010-02-02T17:00:00.000-08:00

More views on route - in the bottom one you can see the road we had just traveled up, the top one is the city of Gonaives - this is still recovering from hurricane's a few years ago.

2010-02-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

here we are ready for the off - and then on the way - there is plenty of air in 3rd class !

An early morning and a bumpy ride

2010-01-31T15:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Steve's report of he trip to Port au Prince

2010-01-30T17:46:00.000-08:00

here is Steve's account of the trip to Port au Prince
http://mfkhaiti.org/index.php/recent-news/

I think I am gettig the hang of this !!

2010-01-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

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.

2010-01-30T17:30:00.000-08:00

this is the school next door to the Meds and Foods for Kids building in Port au Prince, Steve was the chap from the organisation who came down with us to Port au Prince.

2010-01-30T17:28:00.000-08:00

on the left the palace and on the right the ministry of health

2010-01-30T17:26:00.000-08:00

These are views of Port au Prince on the right is the main market.

2010-01-30T17:24:00.000-08:00

Laded up and on the way to Port au Prince on Thursday

2010-01-30T17:20:00.001-08:00

here is the operating theatre on wednesday night it was in use the next day

Friday evening

2010-01-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

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.

Live from haiti

2010-01-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-27T13:44:00.000-08:00

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

Almost ready to go

2010-01-24T17:38:00.001-08:00

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.