Wave 1 of the Haiti Marycare team in the Dominican Republic getting ready to leave for the bus this morning. In the photo: In back, Sherman Malone, Jean Eric Massena (Papito), Mary Lou Larkin and Megan Cavanaugh. In front, Jim Morgan and Kristine Beckman.
Jean Eric Massena and his wife Rhodie.
We arrived together in the Dominican Republic last night. Our flight was smooth up until the end when as we came in over the DR mountains we started descending FAST and bumpy, dropping suddenly several times. I am not nervous about flying, but when the old man man next to me started praying in Spanish - even I recognize the word Dios - and I realized a lot of other people were too- I was not exactly calm.
We landed safe and the whole airplane applauded, a custom I see the the people of the Dominican Republic share with Haiti. And so the adventure begins.
We cleared customs with no problems. The customs agent asked if I had Facebook and I was stunned that he KNEW what Facebook was. They waved our tourist fees because we are going to work in Haiti. It is nice to see some support here in the DR, since there has not always been a friendly relationship between the two countries that make up the island of hispaniola.
Our friend and Haiti Marycare team member, Eric Jean Messena, aka Papito, picked us and our tons of luggage at the airport with a taxi. We met Papitos wife, Rhodie, a gracious hostess. On our ride to their house we all expressed our amazement at how much more developed the DR is in comparison to almost any section of Haiti. How is this the same island?! We hauled all the luggage inside and were greeted by Papito and Rhodies 14 month daughter, Alieva. What a smile!
While we sat and drank some cold water Papito shared his story about traveling from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince in the days after the quake to search for his family members in the area of Carrefour, Port-au-Prince. He told us of the unbelievable destruction and that things were worse than even what he has seen on tv. He told us of climbing over houses that had collapsed together into what was once a street. How he couldn't find any family members. How he slept outside on the cement with others and how you could hear people buried deep in the rubble crying out to be saved or for water. I can't imagine this. He tells us more about his trip, and what to expect in Port-au-Prince- complete destruction. This is not something I can imagine either so I know it won't hit me until I get there.
We call Abner Romelus, the director of the school Haiti marycare supports in Cite Soleil and La Plaine - a slum of Port-au-Prince - to find out what supplies of all that we brought he thinks we will need most. He just says yes to everything- wounds, diarrhea, pneumonia, expect it all. We will be conducting our clinic in Port-au-Prince inside the courtyard of the school. The walls will offer some privacy and hopefully a little protection in case a crowd amasses. The school building is standing, but unsafe to occupy.
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