A Haitian Dream

The first person I spoke to, as I left the airport to enter the cacophony of Port-au-Prince, was a woman seeking to offer me taxi service. While we were driving I asked her the natural questions about "l'événement" (the event) as Haitians discretely refer to the earthquake, seeking to put it behind them by using a non-specific word.

She told me she had lost her husband and that her dream was to own a tent where she and her new-born could live. A simple enough dream, but a huge challenge amidst the desperation of two million homeless seeking shelter.

As the car negotiated the mountain of rubble that is today's Port-au-Prince I found myself wondering what her dreams had been before the earthquake when her husband, alive and hopeful, cradled their new daughter in his warm arms.

Joseph Mutti
AAI Administration

People who never miss an opportunity to show affection for others

On my way to one of the orphanages I met Michael Brewer. He lost three homes and two kids in the earthquake. Here he is pictured with Richard, a very loving child who lost a leg under a collapsed wall. Michael has already arranged a prosthetic replacement for him.

Mike's a quiet man with few words who has been living in Haiti the last 10 years helping abandoned street kids with his organization "Haiti Street Kids Inc". He took us to Solino, a section of Port-au-Prince that houses the poorest of the poor. What immediately surprised me was that amidst the dirt and wretchedness people seemed genuinely happy. I guess when you have nothing, you have nothing to worry about. The search for material things in life seems to bring nothing but stress and unsought responsibility.

It was in Solino that I met Benjy Salomon. Mike had found him begging in the streets as a 6 year old and took him in. Benjy is now 21 and is always there to help me and watch my back whenever I'm Haiti. On my last visit he picked me up at the airport and gave me a big hug just resting his head on my chest for about 2 mins. He lives in a tent that is pristine and clean with twigs shaped into shelves to accommodate the little stuffed animals I have given him. He is one of the many street kids that Michael has given a chance to build a future for themselves.

Michael has done wonderful things in Haiti. He has been the victim of vicious slurs because he doesn't insert himself into the norm, simply getting down to the work at hand ignoring the pettiness and jealousies of some of the international community in Port-au-Prince.

It is thanks to Mike and his deep humanity that I have come to love the people of Haiti who, like him, never miss an opportunity to show affection for another human being.

Ruth Matranga
AAI Volunteer

Learning to make better judgements...

The Belinda Stronach Foundation continues to provide Airline Ambassadors with a weekly flight of 70,000lbs of aid on aircraft from Toronto to Port-au-Prince.

On two occasions, as I've opened the newly arrived cargo, I've wondered: "What on earth am I going to do with 1,000 dolls in this post-earthquake devastation that demands so much higher priorities?" or "Good to get flashlights, but so many thousands of them?"

Well, out of the unlikeliest gift comes salvation.

The dolls, it turns out, are very good physio-therapeutic devices for children who have lost limbs or been otherwise injured. They've been a godsend for hospitals, clinics and orphanages tending to such kids.

And I'm told by grassroots women's organizations that flooding the tent encampments with flashlights has made it very difficult for prowlers to grab women in the dark and rape them.

So, I now reserve judgment on what comes in on these flights from the wonderful folks at Belinda Stronach Foundation and thank them from the bottom of my heart for what they continue to do for the people of Haiti in the unlikeliest of ways.

Dave Rivard
AAI Board Member

Further to the unfounded rumors of violence against foreigners in Haiti

We tell all of our relief workers to come to Haiti first as trusting humanitarians and secondly as a volunteers seeking to put that humanitarianism into practice.

Engage the people on the street and spend your money lavishly. Haiti’s future economic condition will determine if this whole effort is a success or not.

According to the US Southern Command, the countryside of Haiti has hardly ever had an incident in which a visitor has been harmed. Port-au-Prince is obviously different, but has now changed as everyone seeks to help each other. Now is the time to wholly experience a unique culture that is possibly the most spiritual, and poorest, on earth.

Dave Rivard
AAI Board Member

What made me cry today...

Every day here in Haiti I see utterly destitute people looking the best they can under the circumstances

Today I met a young man by the name of Nixon pulling himself up the broken streets past the rubble of his school which collapsed and killed 4 of the teachers and 150 of his school-mates. Using a broken old walker and dragging his legs behind, he had a triumphant smile on his face.

I also saw graffitI on a wall downtown amid the ruins of everything: "MICHELLE OBAMA!"

Daniel Susott

AAI Medical Director

A Response to Issues of Safety

I would like to address the stories coming out of Haiti regarding safety concerns.

Three weeks ago I made the trek from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. I felt much safer in the Haitian countryside on the journey than I did when I got into the DR.

Some of it was fear, but much of it is because I believe all people are inherently good and it is only their inner strength that will prevent the soul from being corrupted or made evil by the outside world. In Haiti, because of the greater rate of poverty and a class system where people are perceived and treated as lower caste in comparison to those in the DR, often their soul is much stronger because at that point even if they don't have money - and now often not their homes - they have their dignity.

I remember stopping for gas with my motorcycle and getting a soda pop - the Haitians were all so nice, children and adults so engaging that my friend and I couldn't help but to give them money and my last Power Bar.

Daniel Sheth
AAI Board Member

Petionville, Haiti

Today the maid came home. She lost her left leg and broke her right arm in the earthquake. Her eldest son and husband are dead. We loaded her up with stuff including Marian Edey's back pillow (left at a meeting in Sausalito), a blanket borrowed from an airline, and lots of food. She may be moving to an "orphanage" with her sons (twins David and Daniel - pictured with their mother) to recover.

One of our friends known for his work with street youth has been given a large hunk of land for 75 kids, supported by UNICEF, where we hope to set up a dome factory. Both Pacific Domes (www.pacificdomes.com) and Ashoka fellow Helen Samuels (www.greendomeprojects.org) are looking to set up dome-production facilities here in Haiti and we are working with both.

Pacific Domes has been making domes for 40 years (go Asha Deliverance!) and has already donated 30 domes for various sites around Haiti.

I am sponsoring one 60-foot dome to house the government (30 people and desks) while they get back on their feet. I am doing this out of my home-equity loan, and am grateful for whatever assistance people can provide by donating to Airline Ambassadors at www.airlineamb.org.

We have established a volunteer base here where Ashoka fellows from around the globe can come and donate their expertise.

Daniel Susott
AAI Medical Director