Email from Haiti Relief Team 01.24.10 PM Report

01.24.10 PM REPORT
Hey sorry to have missed a day but you will understand in a minute.

So we got up yesterday around 515 to get Dimas and I together with Carla's (our interpreter) husband to drive to Sanford Domingo to pick up more supplies, most notably water as we had largely consumed our provision and had given out the 600 pounds of water we brought in the first time, and to pick up One Life/Infinity Church Team Two scheduled to arrive in two batches between 3:30pm and 4:20pm. Scott and Al stayed in Port au Prince to keep working the camps.

Well the drive took 6 hours instead of 4-5 and then the Infinity team members, Randy, Heather and Richie (videographer) had a significant flight delay. So we were somewhat disappointed as the game plan had been to fetch supplies, fetch the team and a slew of medical supplies and haul straight back to Port au Prince arriving around 11 pm. We bought around 800 pounds more water and some food supplies for ourselves, Team Two and the family of our interpreter plus a couple hundred pounds of rice, beans etc for serving hot cooked meals to a few camps.

We headed to the airport to meet our new friend Steve Burgher, an Emergency Room doctor in Texas and friend of the Chapmans, who has come to Haiti for a week of medical mission work with One Life. I will confess I was getting agitated and impatient as the New York team members flight kept getting pushed back and to top it off one of the pick-up trucks and it's driver fell through at the last minute.

So now Dimas and I are in Santo Domingo with three people now scheduled to arrive at 1030pm and short a vehicle! Yes agitation was setting in, but as usual God was at work.

First a man named Juan who works at Dollar car rental at the SD airport called me on my cell to say he had a van for me. Actually he had found one at a competitor and arranged it for me. I kid you not it was the only van for rent in the city as all the charity news and aid orgs have rented everything. The lady at the Rental counter was Haitian. Juan had told her what we were up to. She said "Sir, people have been calling me all day asking for vans and for some reason I kept telling them I didn't have one. God saved it for you!". Problem one solved.

Then it got fun. While waiting for the New York flight I had my first coffee in the last week. Then as I am standing around the airport a woman from the Israeli search and rescue team walks up to ask if I know of any hotels in SD. Their flight had been delayed so they missed their military transport into Haiti and had to wait until AM but had no hotel. So we called American Express Intl travel and found them 6 rooms for the night.

Then two people in orange jumpers from the Mexico search and rescue team walked up. They were stranded in SD. Their flights had been a mess so these two missed the rest of their team who had already gone into Haiti and they had no way to get there. We told them if and I do mean IF we have room after the team and all the boxes and bags they could hop a ride and get in the next day. Then the airlines informed Steve his 5 boxes of medical supplies didn't make the second flight out if Miami so they wouldn't be in until next day. All of a sudden we had room for the two Mexico SAR members.

Finally the New York flight arrived around 1030, only 6 hours late, and we loaded the vehicles, including the Mexico two. THEN, a guy walks up to Dimas and in short story version says “My name is John. I live in California, but I lived in Haiti for 12 years and 5 of us are driving to Haiti but I don't know the way from here. Can you help us?

So finally at 12:15 in the AM we left Santo Domingo with Randy, Heather, Richie, Steve, Dimas and myself, plus a new van, two Mexico SAR members and a carload of Americans tagging on our convoy.

Well, we drove to Barahona arriving at and finding the hotel, Thank God. We got there at 3am and slept gratefully until 6am when the wagon train moved on to Haiti and to another day of serving the camps.

It was fun to have real Doctors! We spent a couple hours at one camp where we set up shop on a basketball court up on a crazy hillside. There were the usual cuts and scrapes however many of the kids are starting to show some signs of dehydration, night fevers, etc. We were able to provide water and mixed rehydration solution.

Then Dimas and Scott delivered 125 meals fully prepped rice beans and chicken to one camp and another 100 meals to the first camp we attended the first day. Meanwhile I took Randy and Steve to one of the hospitals where we have spent a lot of time this week. Randy immediately stepped into a shift on the ER while Steve took a quick nap, had some dinner and a shower. I dropped Steve off around 8:30PM at the hospital where he had volunteered to do the overnight shift in the ER.