Hello everyone…Buck and I want to update you on what has transpired for 1000Jobs/Haiti since the quake . On January 12 the role of1000Jobs/Haiti switched from one of job creation to one of relief. Buck was in Haiti on that Tuesday and has returned twice, entering and exiting via the Dominican Republic (as the PAP airport was not open to commercial traffic), renting vans to transport food, water, meds, tents etc to Port au Prince. Since the airport reopened, I have recommenced my monthly visits. The following are impressions from my two trips since the quake.
On February 22 as I looked out the window of the airplane, the impact to the areas immediately surrounding the airport were not very evident …..a regrettable testament to how bad things were before the quake. It was not until we were on approach and touchdown, that I processed the massive relief and aid efforts that were underway… many tents with foreign flags, cargo planes, fork lifts, boots on the ground…. ACTION…and plenty of it. It was a very emotional moment for me and it made me cry. I was met at the airport by our driver, Dieuseul, who greeted me with a big smile, in spite of the fact that he had lost the house that he had built over 5 years, and that he and his family were (and are) living on a slab of concrete in an infernally hot tent. With the usual onslaught of “assistance”, we walked to the car where the first very first thing I heard on the radio was the Haitian relief version of We Are the World…no lie... and thus commenced crying jag #2 for one who has been called “100 lbs of twisted steel”. Dieuseul drove me up the mountain to Mirebalais where we passed hundreds of people walking with relief boxes balanced on their heads.
As I conducted my duties in Hinche, Cange and Mirebalais, the only noticeable difference was that there were more people due to migration, so my 1000jobs duties continued at fairly normal clip. Later that week when I returned to Port au Prince, Dieuseul asked me if I wanted a “tour”, about which I felt conflicted, but relented. To this point, I had believed (or perhaps hoped ) that at a huge cost obviously, Haiti would emerge stronger and more vital due to the fact that it was at long last getting the attention it had lacked for decades. But Dieseul’s tour brought home the enormity of the tragedy and made me wonder if the world community had the staying power to help the Haitian people accomplish real, sustainable change. That night I slept in my bed (with one eye open-in anticipation of aftershocks) as the orphans and nuns slept under the stars at the Maison Provinciale, a convent/orphanage of the Salesian order. It was noticeably quiet, which is very unusual for Haiti….even the ever present dogs and roosters seemed to be worn down by the tragedy.
A month later when I returned, I again peered out the window to see what I might glean. My heart sank, as the absence of The Comfort, the medical aid ship, was unsettling and I hoped not foreshadowing of a larger exodus. There was still plenty going on at the airport, but the rubble removal in town appeared to have abated. And while sadly there was the realization that much of the immediate emergency aid and relief efforts had lessened, I was filled with the knowledge and resolve that now the time had come for the 1000 Jobs team (Jacky, Frednel, Amelie, Buck and I) to continue with the job creation work that is our mission in Haiti. It has never been more important. Fortunately there was still present an enormous amount of energy….but this time it was generated by the unquestioned spirit and resilience of the Haitian people.
"We came into existence for the sole purpose of facilitating the creation of fair and decent jobs in Haiti. This is our passion, and will remain the force that drives us! "
1000Jobs/Haiti journal entry
