CAN-DO’s Ground Report From Haiti - Feb 2010

HAITI: A Month After the Quake CAN-DO's Direct Actions From the Field

A month has passed since the January 12th earthquake, and while the cameras have packed up and moved on, Haiti has not. The reality on the ground is brutal: hundreds of thousands of people still sleeping under cardboard and bedsheets, newborns and the elderly exposed to the elements, and rain turning tent villages into mud-soaked chaos. Food and water remain scarce. Progress is nearly nonexistent.

But the CAN-DO team is here, and we’re moving fast. Here’s been happening from the field.

February 8 – Rue Égalité, Aquin: A Good Day in the Middle of Hell

At 9:45 p.m., we wrapped a successful drop in the village of Aquin for the Franciscan Missionaries, hands down the most organized group we’ve encountered in Haiti. Sister Martha Ann (Baton Rouge), Sister Marie Agnes, and Reverend Père Gousse Oremil have built a well-managed displacement camp for 250+ families, and the needs continue to grow as more survivors migrate in.

Anyone looking to support a project that makes an immediate, tangible impact — this is one of them. Until we get permission to share contact info, you can earmark donations through CAN-DO for “Franciscan Missionaries” and we’ll deliver every dollar directly.

Huge thanks to the CAN-DO coordination team back home. Today was a good day. — EK

February 9 – Aviation Camp / Dalmas #2 / Cité Soleil: Into the Fire

We moved into one of the most dangerous camps in the region, known for gang activity, to set up structured water drops. Because the camp is gated with a single entry/exit point, we’re working with community leaders to organize safe, efficient distribution.

First water. Then food.If we can prove this system works here, it can work anywhere.

More updates to come. — EK

February 12 – Assessments, Water Tanks, and a National Day of Mourning

We’ll be posting full updates from the week soon. Over the next two days, Haiti pauses for the National Day of Prayer and Mourning. Even so, we’re heading inland to assess untouched areas — camps and neighborhoods that still haven’t received a single aid drop since the quake.

We’ve also teamed up with an Israeli company to install 10,000–50,000 gallon water tanks at several locations this week. — EK

February 13 – Kimberly’s Story: From the USS Comfort to a New Home

You may have seen CNN’s report where Dr. Sanjay Gupta performed emergency brain surgery on a little girl named Kimberly aboard the USS Comfort, then accompanied her back to her destroyed home.

Today, we found a new home for Kimberly and her family.We’ll move them in tomorrow or Monday.

— EK

February 17 – Housing Families & Installing Mega Water Tanks

Big movement today.

We moved two families into a safe, upper-class home in Delmas — including the two young boys we pulled off the streets three weeks ago, and Kimberly and her family.

CNN will be covering the story tomorrow.

Meanwhile, four 50,000-gallon water tanks have been dropped and installed at the following camps:

• Aviation

• Delmas 2

• Heritage

• Eugene
  

These tanks are game-changers. — EK

February 18 – 4:15 a.m.: The First Real Rainfall… and a Hard Dose of Reality

It’s pouring. Has been for seven hours straight.I walked through one of the tent villages and it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.

A month after the quake, nothing has changed for most people. Actually, it’s gotten worse. No shelter. No tarps. No tents. Little to no food or water distribution. Miles of families soaked, sick, and exposed — newborns, elderly, recently discharged hospital patients… all of them sitting in the mud, cold rain pounding down.

I know a lot of people back home have moved on, but Haiti hasn’t. And the suffering here is beyond anything the cameras ever showed.

Not trying to be a downer — just telling the truth. Because if we stop talking about it, these people disappear. — EK