I last left everyone in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Well, I got on the bus to Cap Haïtien on January 29, and that began my last leg of my journey through Haiti. I did a lot of work on Saturday, including changing all of the filters and oil in my car and generator, buying food and water and stocking my car with everything I would need to live out of it for a few days, and then loading my car in such a way so that on top of all my supplies was a double sized mattress for me to sleep on. I went to bed real early on Saturday, and hit the road at a quarter ’til two, picking up the president of Kids Alive International, Al Lackey, along the way.

I enjoyed having the chance to get to know Al.  As the sun rose over Haiti, we got to see a lot of the damage from the last string of hurricanes that nailed Haiti in 2008. It wasn’t until we were about thirty or forty miles north of Port-au-Prince that earthquake damage started to show up, but it was a very low percentage of structures that had actually been affected.  We arrived at our destination fifteen miles north of Port at about 9:30 AM. We then jumped into Matt McCormick’s car and went into Port.

As we drove past the airport and up Delmas 31, we saw massive tent villages.  However, it seemed as if only one-in-nine buildings had actually suffered damage.  In conversing with missionaries living in Port as well as the family of my twin boys, who live in the slum called Cite Soleil, it became apparent that most of the people in these communities are not truly displaced at all, but they are 1) scared to live in their houses, 2) eager to receive free food, and 3) enjoying the free medical care available in the tent cities. It is difficult to discern who has true needs and who is faking it, as many will spin a good story in order to get whatever they can in this “boon time.”

There are many “orphans” who in fact are not orphans at all, but in typical Haitian style, the parents are trying to pawn them off to North Americans to relieve themselves of the responsibilities of being parents. One must understand that this kind of thing has been going on for years, even before the hurricanes and the quake.  We have several children in our homes whose parents could have taken care of them, but elected instead to make phony death certificates for themselves (something that costs money) to present their children to us as orphans in order to be free from their parental responsibilities.

Now, that being said, there are several real needs, as well.  Many structures did come down. The pattern seemed to have more to do with who cut corners in constructing their buildings rather than location. From the looks of some of the larger edifices that fell, they will be pulling out bodies, many in unrecognizable states, for months to come.

Back to the storyline, we made our way through Delmas and cut across to John Brown (Lalue) on Delmas 60. After several trips up and down Lalue, we found the Petionville Club, base of a division of the 82nd Airborne.  Jeff Fogel, who was on the soccer team at Moody with Matt, is the chaplain of the battalion occupying the hotel. The soldiers sleep on cots covered by mini-tents, which are basically covers to keep off mosquitoes and look like they would not fair all that well in the rain.  They are running a refugee camp, handling food distributions, and providing security in a tense situation.

While visiting Jeff, we learned that the 82nd was holding a meeting with NGO’s that night at 17:00, so we decided we would come back.  It seemed that they were coming across several orphans in the camp, and looking for how they should handle the situation.  This peaked Al’s interests, so we left to visit the Baptist Haiti Mission with a plan to come back for the meeting.

Before going to the BHM, we ate lunch at my favorite restaurant in Petionville, Epi d’ Or. After eating, we headed up the mountain. Once we arrived, we realized that we had left Matt’s bag at the restaurant, which contained $5000 and every important document and card he owned.  We had a quick conversation with Rob, Chris and Dave at the BHM.  They reiterated that our “oil pipeline” the first week after the quake saved lives, and that they were able to use that first shipment of over 1000 gallons of fuel to keep their own generators going, as well as to distribute it to other clinics and groups providing first responder services to keep everything up and running.  We told them about the meeting with the 82nd, and they planned to come, as well. Matt had told Jeff Fogel about the BHM earlier in the week, and the 82nd had been med-evacing a number of individuals to the hospital ever since, which somehow led to a relationship between the BHM and Samaritan’s Purse, which helped the hospital to receive a fresh crop of doctors and medical supplies going into the week after the quake. So, these contacts and relationships just had a snowball effect that led to many good things.

We went back to the restaurant, and of course the bag was history.  I was hoping that it would still be there, as the clientel at Epi d’ Or is not exactly your run-of-the-mill desperate Haitian, but someone got greedy and it was gone.  That meant that we needed to get to the Consulate, so I showed Matt the way.  When we got there, it was already closed, but they told us to come back the first thing on Saturday to see what they could do.

So, we headed to the meeting with the 82nd. It was a very neat experience. The tables were set up in a U with everyone looking at a screen that had the meeting agenda on it.  Down the left and bottom side of the U were officers and NCO’s of the 82nd, each with a laptop and each with a report to give.  The commanding officer was in the middle of the bottom of the U, and all of the others reported to him.  Down the right side of the U were representatives from a number of NGO’s, including Al for Kids Alive, Chris and Dave from BHM, and individuals from the Claudio Reyna Foundation, the International Red Cross and the Catholic Relief Services. They were each allotted time to make a presentation once the military was finished.

The meeting was not at all like the military the US media depicts. Al described them as “power under control.” I would describe them as calm and intelligent. Sunday was the first day that massive food distributions were happening all over the city of Port-au-Prince, and they had been assigned to provide security for a number of these distributions. The NCO’s were free to offer their input in the meeting, and the commanding officer welcomed the thoughts and opinions of all gathered around the table. It was clear where authority resided, and yet the authority was used gently in order to not stifle good ideas that could lead to better actions. I was proud to have this example set before the nationally diverse group gathered in that meeting. The officers complimented the security forces of other nations, considered the NGO’s input as vital to the success of their operations, and were just generally impressive in their demeanors.

A highlight of the meeting was when the commanding officer told his men not to put up with corruption from the Haitian police at the distributions. Jeff had told us a story earlier of how a greedy customs agent was trying to hold up a cargo of lifesaving supplies that Samaritan’s Purse was importing, and how a commanding officer of the US Army ordered his men to step between the customs official and the supplies, to back him off, and to let the supplies flow. Police and customs really care less about the suffering of their people at this time, but want to cash in on all of the supplies coming into the country. I believe that this kind of response from the US military is very appropriate.

After Al talked about how Kids Alive is ready to take orphans out of the camps to put them in temporary housing in safe areas, it was clear that they Army was not ready to release the orphans to just anyone, which makes sense given the possibilities of child trafficking and whatnot.  Still, we made some good connections and were able to get a grasp on the situation in Port, which was very important.  We went back to our camp that night with a plan for the next day, which included getting Matt to the Consulate early in the morning, finding the meeting place of the UN cluster group on child protection, and getting together with Justin’s extended family in Cite Soleil to give them money, pictures of their children who were now living in the US, and just to show them they were not forgotten.

I slept in my car in the midst of a lot of fuel containers, bags of rice and beans, and a number of other supplies.  We got up and left the next morning at around 7AM, and when we got to the Consulate, there was a line a quarter mile long for the American Citizen’s Services. Matt couldn’t afford to wait in this line to get a passport, so he took a bunch of the guys working with us on the supply line up north to Fort Liberty, and they crossed the border on Tuesday.  He got a passport at the US Consulate in Santo Domingo the following day.

Al and I found the meeting place for the cluster group, but there were a few hours before it started.  Therefore, I took Al to the Haitian Immigration office to see if I could get my Residency Visa. Much to my delight, the structure still stood.  However, there were a sea of individuals trying to get in. Although I could have bypassed them all in order to get my visa (different office than where they were all heading), the apparent injustice of it all didn’t set well with me, so I took Al on a tour of the historic downtown district of Port-au-Prince.

Here, where the buildings were much older, a lot of destruction was evident.  The Palace of Justice, which would have been more apply named the “Den of Bribery,” was completely leveled, as were the Ministry of the Interior, the Haitian version of the IRS (called DGI), and a number of other government buildings. Many buildings in the “old town” were flattened, as well. Some churches, most likely built by American teams who had the best intentions, were similarly destroyed, along with the big Catholic cathedral. I did not make it to my old neighborhood, Carrefour, but I heard that it was in bad shape.  The epicenter was actually in Carrefour, not Leogane, as I had thought. I’ve heard it said that whole blocks have been flattened. It saddens me to hear this.

We decided to go down by the main port to see if we could check on a container Kids Alive had coming in. As with Haitian Immigration, the port was totally swamped, so we decided to go to Cite Soleil and see Justin’s mom, aunts, cousins, and grandparents. I gave them all gifts that had been sent by adoptive families in the US, including the images of their children who are currently living in the States, and they enthusiastically chattered about their little ones, evidently proud of who they were becoming. What saddens me is that one of Justin’s aunts, who currently has two or three children in the US, has had three more babies since.  It’s just a vicious cycle.  When we Americans go into the adoption process, we all think we are getting orphans.  Later we discover that in reality our children still have parents, and those parents are having more and more babies.  We have relieved them of their responsibilities for parenting, so they feel like they can just keep right on having babies.  It does not make us love our little ones any less, but it makes us wonder why adoption orphanages in Haiti don’t use better practices. These individuals don’t need relief of their duties.  Rather, they need discipleship, and biblical counsel on getting their acts together. This generational practice of having children and then putting them in orphanages is killing Haitian society.  All of Justin’s aunts spent time in orphanages as a kid, so it’s all they know.  Someone needs to demand better of them.  A little relationship and discipleship goes a long way.  That’s my rant, and now I’ll get back to the story.

Justin’s grandparents’ house partially fell, but no one had been hurt.  Still, they wanted me to take pictures of them in the fallen structure to send to the Americans who had adopted their family members to try to get them to send more money. That’s just the reality of Haiti. Everyone wants to get tied to Americans somehow to be able to live on support.  I had just handed their family a total of $400, more than what your typical Haitian makes in a year, and yet they wanted more.  My standard counsel to North Americans is that right now is an extreme situation, so don’t be afraid to give generously to meet pressing needs.  However, don’t even think about getting into a pattern of sending support.  It dehumanizes, leads to total dependency, and insures that the individuals on the receiving end will spend the rest of their lives in misery.

After spending time with everyone, dealing out hugs and smiles, playing with Justin’s cousins, and taking pictures and video, Al and I jumped back in the car and headed to the noon cluster meeting. UNICEF was in charge of the meeting, and unfortunately they have made the mistake of deferring cases of orphans in camps to Haitian Social Services, a very political corrupt entity that in my opinion could care less about the children in the camps. Maybe when the situation gets more critical, as children are being abused in the camps on a regular basis, UNICEF will see the need to follow in the footsteps of the Army’s policy of removing corrupt officials from the scene, but as of right now they are heading down a path that will inevitably lead to the abuse of children.  They almost seem to recognize this, as they are trying to figure out how to bring “post-rape counselors” into the camps. I wish that instead of focusing attention here, they would 1) do background checks on NGO’s in Haiti who are able to provide temporary care for children, 2) make a catalog of unaccompanied children that included photos and any known information about each child, including where they are being temporarily housed, and 3) would get the children out of these camps and into safe places, at least until the situation in Port calms down a little.  Political correctness and red tape could lead to a lot of suffering, but a simple plan like the one I’ve proposed above could have significantly better outcomes.

Disheartened from our meeting with UNICEF, we headed to Troy Livesay’s house not far from the airport. He works with Heartline Ministries, which has been running a clinic during the relief effort but usually focuses more on their adoption orphanage.  They got all but three of their children out of the country recently, but as with all legitimate organizations wanting to house recently orphaned children, cannot get any new orphans to fill the empty beds.

It was great talking to Troy.  They have been through so much, and I’m glad we were able to help keep supplies flowing to them during the crazy two weeks after the quake.  I wish that all of us missionaries in Haiti could have had an even stronger network before this tragedy, something to really work towards in the months to come.

We left Port and came back to our drop-off point in Titanyen.  One of our Dominican trucks was there.  Having offloaded it’s fuel, it had tried to head back to Santiago, only it would not start.  The driver had spent all day working on it, but it was evident that the fuel pump had gone out.  I talked to the driver in broken Spanish, and communicated with a Haitian mechanic, who set out to get the part.  However, it was evident that these guys were going to need to spend the night.  They slept in tents in our little camp, and I heard that they made it off the next morning when the Haitian returned with the replacement pump.  Al and I were already on our way back to Cap Haïtien at that point, however.

I really enjoyed my time with Al.  We got to spend hours conversing.  He got to learn all about the supply line that we had created, and I got to learn all about Kids Alive and his vision for the future of Kids Alive Haiti.  We made one more stop on the way up to Cap.  I dropped off a few sacs of rice and a few sacs of beans with House of Bread Ministries in Mont Rouis.  I enjoyed getting to know the Durhams, who run the ministry, in the process.  Somehow I lost my phone in Mont Rouis, but oh well…

This little load was just a drop in the bucket compared to all of the supplies that we moved in the last two weeks.  Current estimates are that we supplied Haiti with $240,000 worth of relief supplies, including fuel, water, food, meds, and other necessities.  These supplies fed thousands, kept Samaritan’s purses helicopters flying, kept several generator’s going allowing clinics to provide 24/7 services to earthquake victims, and just generally saved lives.  It was evident on Sunday that our services were not so much needed, as the big organizations were becoming more well established in Haiti and were meeting supply needs.  Still, we filled a crucial void for about two weeks.

I will post more of my insights on what all went on, as well as thanks to all who made this possible, at a later time.  Right now, I’m in Kansas with my family, and they need their daddy.  This is the coldest I’ve been in years, and I have a pretty bad cold to boot, but I’m loving every minute of it!