We flew to the orphanage. It was nice by Haiti standards but still very sad. Father John who runs the orphanage was very glad to see us even though we only brought an R44 load of baby food. That will get them by for a few days, and we lined up an A-Star 350 that is going to sling-in I ton of food for them. We do a lot of networking for people. Father John out on the island of El la Viche has no idea how to get a substantial amount of food quickly. And that was the bigger goal we had, to make sure he was legit and there really was a need. Then we use our contacts to get them some serious food. So anyway I was talking about the extremes; we leave this sad but functioning orphanage and in 10 minutes we had landed on a secluded Caribbean beach and took 20 minutes to enjoy a swim. Then in another 40 minutes we are in the smoke, dust and grim of Port-Au-Prince. It feels unreal at times. And now I am sitting in the orphanage, which is a resort by Haiti standards, listening to a couple of doctors and nurses re-run the gruesome events of the day over dinner. Gangrene…infection…amputation…skin grafts…chest tubes…shunts…setting bones…re-breaking bones…crushed pelvis, foot, leg, arm, finger…burns…sutures…still born, it doesn’t seem to end.
I don’t know if I am getting used to the chaos or if things are really slowing down. I felt things settle-down a little about 5 days after I got here, but it is more noticeable now. We are on the downhill slide, which is bad for Haiti, because the needs here are probably going to increase. Hopefully people stay even though the photo-ops are decreasing. I am convinced that some people show up just to look, like it is some kind of a show. Thanks for the prayers. The machine has been running really good and Martin and I are getting it dialed-in. I feel like we are getting better (and more cautious) every day. Need to get going.
Love ya’ bro,
Z