2010-2015

The internet was down last night so I was unable to blog. It sounds like air traffic is increasing—helicopters, big planes, little planes, all day and perhaps through the night. Haiti used to be receive such infrequent air traffic, all I heard was song, voices, birds, drumming, breezes, dogs and roosters. I drove through the city today and the destruction is unfathomable. Strange, eerie, surreal images of a once poor but bustling city—-a bust and a random office chair still standing in front of a crumbled Ministry of Justice. A person searching through papers scattered in the dust of a former office building, looking for????? Maybe someone he loved worked there; perhaps there is a trace. I met a friend of many years today and she is almost transparent with shock and grief. Both her parents and in laws lost everything; 3 family members died, many friends and colleagues gone, …

Today I met with several local NGO’s here, who have the responsibility (with little resource) to coordinate the health and mental health responses in Haiti. Without a government, without buildings and infrastructure, with ongoing after shocks and an exodus of Haiti’s people, these local programs are heavily burdened and poorly supported. While the response and support of the international community is needed and important, it will not go on long enough. It never does. Each player, each NGO or government or country, chooses their territory and even with the best intentions, the agendas that often direct the work do not reflect the hearts, needs and spirit of the people. Haiti’s future must be directed by the Haitian people. Yes, they will benefit from funds, training, expertise, and the support of the rest of the world, but the restoration of their home has to be their own work. Each story I …

Today, many many requests came in for “counseling” or “psychological” help. Organizations, individuals, friends of friends, colleagues co-workers. This is not a common request in Haiti–this is a measure of how deep the loss drives into hearts and minds here One example–a woman who lost her husband and 2 of 3 children and is self-described as “grieving intensely” and “trying to comprehend”—and is looking for counseling for a young man who was mentored by her husband because he spent 15 hours buried in rubble and “heard the screams and last words of my husband and children.” Comprehend? Its impossible. I spend each moment riding a wave that alternates its crest at despair and hope. Each drive to and from a place shows me yet more concrete that has suffocated the life out of more people than will ever be known. My gut guess–1/2 million gone. And, we’ll never know, nor …

After one of the more challenging travel days in my life (a delayed flight and a re-route, a cancelled flight and a re-route that I barely made, an aborted landing to avoid another plane on the runaway, a very late arrival, no bags and no-one to meet me due to all the travel changes) –I’m here. Port au Prince, a city I consider a home-away-from-home, has crumbled in so many places. We were not able to drive through the most devastated areas of the city, because those roads are still blocked–so we were spared some of the shocking horror that the news has shown. The effect on me to see so many familiar buildings mangled and fallen, and tent cities dotting the way from the UN compound to Petionville, is heavy—-a heaviness that fills my heart in a very new and unknown way. As I spend more time here I’m …

Thank you to all of you who are reaching out in support of Haiti. I am in regular communication with my friends and family there, although accurate information is still difficult. Many of you have asked what you can do to help; as soon as I can make a recommendation based on on-the-ground information, I will post it here and on my website. As many of you know, I work with many local humanitarian, human rights, psycho-social, educational and health organizations in Haiti. They will most likely be involved in the immediate disaster relief and crisis responses, and eventually, longer term care, support and rehabilitation. As soon as I can suggest the best and most direct and efficient organization(s) to send contributions to, I will post it, right here. My 501c3, Trauma Resources International, is also partnered with several organizations there and once we are clear what our response and …