update # 4, Trip 2 -’Everybody Needs Everything’

Yesterday was flat out awesome! It’s so great to have such a big stockpile of filters to work with. In the morning, Paula (from David Belle’s network in Jacmel), came with a huge truck and picked up the 1500 filters I promised to the Crose Network. It feels so good to follow through on my word. Paula is a dread-headed Rasta woman with honest eyes and a calming presence. When I was coordinating with her on the phone she told me she was a little surprised to hear from me again so soon. Paula was there for my filter workshop in Jacmel a couple weeks ago and heard that I had flown back to the states. Now, when she heard from me again so soon, she said to me on the phone (while chuckling) “yes I, back so soon… What are you doing? You crazy mon!”. I guess since this is a place where every one is trying their hardest to leave, she was shocked to see me returning to the front lines.

But here I am handing off thousands of filters to Paula – and have already received an email from her telling me about her amazing distribution process and the clean water it’s providing. Already I am filthy dirty, and smiling. I know we will be working with this group for a long time to come.

After Paula left, I went to a meeting with Sean and Oscar (operations guy at our camp), to see the pastor who helps govern the tent camp we have directly below us – now at 50k in population. Since I first arrived on the scene, I’ve been trying to find a way to distribute filters in this camp, but can’t come up with a civil and just way to decide who gets what. Everybody needs everything and they all deserve it, but because we have a limited amount, it has to be planned out or riots will erupt. Our strategy meeting went well. I could see that the pastor really does care about his people and wants to work out a fair protocol to distribute our filters through the camp.

Later in the day I ventured out with enough materials for 30 systems to a district of 3-4 tent camps in an area called Delmas 31. This area is where Sylla’s family is now living. I wanted to use the camp with his family as a test-run for the area. I had no real distribution plan other than letting Sylla coordinate once we got there. Plus this particular camp only has about 50 people in it so it would be more manageable. Just Sylla and I on this outing, so if things got out of hand we could be in real trouble…very fast.

It was awesome… as grass roots as it gets. I did a demonstration at the entrance to the camp with about 30 people. Men women and children all crowded around. They watched with curious eyes and as soon as they GOT IT, things went from casual, to everyone wanting one. We were able to manage it but I don’t have to speak creole to know that there were some bad f%#@ing words being thrown back and forth. We were able to give the stock to the camp organizer so he could get a list of names and pass them out the next day. If you don’t have some kind of order, then people on the street will rock up and crash lines and start grabbing stuff, because they see the crowd.

By days end, I felt damn good about our efforts. This whole thing feels like I’m constantly swimming upstream… and that’s to be expected. But days like yesterday make the currents feel less strong… and made of beer. Why not?
Adios!  Jon.

Thursday in Haiti

Update # 5 -  Jon Rose on the front lines in Haiti.

The lack of sleep is starting to take its toll. Plenty of time to sleep when I get home though. Another incredibly productive day yesterday. I went to Jacmel with David Belle to demonstrate our program to his network. The leader of this group used to be the Minister of Agriculture and has a lot of influence within the communities. He runs a network, called KROS, that helps manage all sorts of humanitarian aid projects. He is the guy!

On the way to Jacmel, we stopped by the town of Leoganne – epicenter of the quake. David had been working for a few days on getting a young girl transported from the makeshift tent hospital there to a proper one in the states. She needed urgent care due to a completely shattered pelvis. She had been laying on a funky mattress in the medic tents, which have been enduring 100 degree temperatures for two weeks now.

We found some Israeli medics in P-A-P that agreed to take her, so we had them follow us to Leoganne. When we got there the local medics in charge said we couldn’t take any of their stretchers…making it awfully difficult to transport someone with a shattered pelvis. The Israeli medic and I had to carry the girl in a blanket to the bed of a small pickup truck. Though we had to keep the tailgate down, we were able to place a crusty old mattress in the truck-bed. I fastened some rope around the end of the mattress and secured the bed so she wouldn’t slide out on the bumpy 2 hr long drive back to P-A-P. She was in immense pain because there were very few pain meds left in Leoganne. The Israeli medic gave her some morphine so she could handle the long ride.

When she left we all felt good about our efforts, but that brief highlight was quickly overshadowed with thoughts of all the people in the camp we couldn’t help — a reality that makes it very hard to ever feel satisfied. In 30 minutes I saw the human life cycle in its simplest form. Case in point – just after we moved our girl to the truck I witnessed an elderly women start throwing up blood and cry out her last cry. Her body lay motionless and peaceful. Right now, everything happening here is on a very concentrated level. Like I said, in just a half hour we saved one life, just to watch another pass. Intense!

In Jacmel I gave a very organized demonstration of our water program to the leaders of KROS. After I was done they asked two things. “How many are you giving us?” I said, “3000!”. They answered with, “Can we get 10,000?” That was a great sign that my demonstration was well-received. I answered, “Yes! Over time, with the help of the American people, we will get you 10,000!”.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support. It IS making a difference.

Cheers!   Jon,   Sent from my iPhone

Tuesday in Haiti

Update # 3  - Jon Rose on the front lines in Haiti.

Wow… Lots of progress in one day. Still awaiting the next shipment of filters but have tapped into another great local network via David Belle. He is from NY but lives here part time and is the founder of a film school in the southern part of Haiti called Jacmel*.  He has a very strong and established team down here that he’s worked with for over a decade. With the help of  the David Belle and Scott Bonnell teams we should be able to spread our program across the entire country.

Today I traveled with the mobile medical team to assist them in the field. They setup a station next to a tent city and a paramedic and I set out through the tents to do basic wound redressing and to look for people in serious trouble that couldn’t walk over to our temp. medical station. We went with a translator who would call out for people in need as we walked through the aisles. The smells were intense!

The first woman we came across was sitting on the ground of her tent with her family around her. She had a big bandage on her foot that obviously needed to be changed. We unwrapped it and found that the entire top of her foot was gone. You could see every bone and tendon in her foot. It was now infected and she said that she was affraid to go to the medical station because she didn’t want to be told she was losing her foot. But she didn’t realize that if untreated, the infection would surely move up her leg and probably kill her. We talked her into it and carried her over to our station to wait for transport to a hospital.

We then treated more people throughout the crowded tent city and when we got back to base, once again, I felt incredibly humbled and inspired by the experience.

Thank you for your continued support.
Jon    Sent from my iPhone

*Jacmel Film School | Haiti earthquake: Jacmel film students document city’s desperation