First, we dropped by the home of Gary Downey, a friend and former Peace Corps Volunteer that had been living in Haiti for several years. Gary’s friends and family back in the U.S. had not yet heard from him, so I thought that I stop by and make sure that he and his family were doing O.K. When I arrived, I found that Gary was not around. His wife and children assured me that everyone was fine and told me that Gary was out working. Their house had some very minor damage, but it was still standing. That was great news.
Next, we drove up the hill to visit La Maison l’Arc-en-Ciel (MAEC) in the neighborhood of Boutiliers. MAEC is a key partner of Cross and one of the five sub-partners for the HIV/AIDS program that I have been working on. They have three key aspects to their program. One piece is the community outreach center which supports about 100 families that are affected by HIV/AIDS through services such as nutrition, health care, and psychosocial support. The second piece of it is a community mobilization program in which they educate, train, and support other community-based organizations, enabling them to better address medical and social issues surrounding HIV. Thirdly, the Penettes (the family that runs the program) provide a residence for 36 children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Over the past year, Cross International had been a major contributor to the construction of a new residence for those children. Construction was scheduled to finish before the end of this year.
In my visit to MAEC, I was hoping to find out about the safety of the children and staff, and also to learn about the extent of the damage at both the current residence and the construction site. When we arrived I found all of the children to be sitting outside in front of the house. Unfortunately I had missed the Penettes as they were downtown working from the Outreach Center.
The children’s spirits seemed high as they happily led me around the house to point out some of the small cracks left as a result of the earthquake. The house had only some minimal damage, but as a precaution the children were spending their time playing and sleeping outside within the compound. Thankfully, all of the children were safe, the Penettes and staff were safe, and while I was not able to go to see for myself, I was told that the construction site had very little damage as well.
On the way back down the hill we stopped into La Reserve, a Petionville hotel and restaurant where I was a regular guest. I had heard that the hotel had somehow made it through the earthquake with no damage, but I needed to see it for myself. This hotel was built on the side of a mountain and was four stories high, and I couldn’t believe that it would have been left without a scratch. Upon speaking with the owners I learned that it was true, the hotel and restaurant were virtually untouched. The more of the city I saw, the more confused I became. It would have been totally impossible to have predicted which building would withstand the earthquake versus which one would crumble. It was very common to see what seemed like a poorly built home standing with very little damage right next to a big beautiful home that had collapsed to the ground. It forced me to think about how lucky I was to have been in one of the few buildings that just happened not to have fallen…
The next place I wanted to visit was the Norwich Mission House. Haitian Ministries of the Diocese of Norwich was another long-time partner of Cross International. In addition, I have had some great friends work as director of the mission house over the years and had many wonderful memories from my frequent stays there. I had already heard reports that the house had fallen and that staff members had been rescued after having been trapped under the rubble. Part of my desire to go there was simply curiosity. It was hard to imagine that what was once such a beautiful house, a place I had spent a lot of time, was totally destroyed. I also wondered if any Norwich staff had been back since the house had been evacuated and if I might be doing them a favor by stopping by to check things out.
The extent of the damage became very real when I pulled up to the house and found that the front barrier was destroyed and had crumbled across the street. The security guard wasn’t there to greet me. I climbed up and over the wall and quickly noticed that the entire house had collapsed.
This had been a beautiful two story house and now it stood no more than a few feet from the ground. I circled around the back of the house noticed the remains of the second floor bedroom and bathroom that I had previously stayed in. 
As I recognized different pieces of art, pictures, and paperwork scattered around the edge of the house, I wondered if the Norwich Diocese staff would appreciate getting some of it back, or if it would only create more pain. I decided that if it was me that I would appreciate receiving it. I decided to collect what I could and planned to store it at our office until someone from their team was ready to pick it up.
On the way back to the office we decided to make one final stop by the Hotel Villa Creole. I had not yet been in touch with Ellen, my friend and colleague from Project Medishare, and I had a feeling she would be there. Project Medishare is another major partner of Cross International and one of the five partners working on our government grant. I walked into the hotel and found Ellen sharing a table with a bunch of reporters in the partially destroyed restaurant area. It was so great to see a familiar face and to catch up on events of the past week. We were both totally exhausted. I was surprised when Ellen informed me that the Project Medishare office had collapsed, and that the housekeeper had been caught inside. Thankfully, she was able to get out and find the treatment she needed. All of the rest of the Medishare staff was otherwise safe.
This report of the Medishare office falling really hit home again. When considering options for office space back in April of last year, Cross International had all but settled on leasing office space from Medishare. At the very last minute we decided that we were going to need more staff than originally planned and therefore would need more space than what was going to be available for us with Medishare. Needless to say, I’m glad that things worked out the way they did.
0 comments:
Post a Comment