Mar 3, 2010
Dear Friends of Haitian Roots,
Isson has just returned from Haiti and is in Miami Beach. He is getting information to us as quickly as possible. The best news is that we did not lose a single child in the quake. Some of the first information we received indicated that we had, so we are thrilled to know that info was incorrect. We have information on each child. Several are now orphaned, most are in need of shelter and basic needs. No child has been untouched by the tragedy of the earthquake. But they are alive and we will continue to do all that we can to help them.
We thought you’d like to hear a little bit of Isson’s experience and feelings about the trip in his own words:
“I was excited to go to Haiti at the beginning but suddenly I experienced an agony of sadness that I felt I needed to cancel the trip, especially when I remembered that I won’t see some of my dear friends in this mortal life. But finally on Feb 19th at 4:05pm I landed to Port Au Prince with an empty soul. My mind and my soul seemed to be hit by an earthquake of greater magnitude than 7.0. My sister Huguette, one of our coordinators, picked me up from the Airport that day using a little tap tap. I felt that tap tap was a perfect fit for me, I mean it matched the situation. They started to explain what happened on January 12th with lot of evidences(a lot of houses, residences or business are down, smell of dead body). I understood that right away the reason why I had that mix feeling at the beginning, it seemed to be a forecast of the feeling that I will experience…
“I felt empathy for what happened in Haiti that I love and cherish. One thing I have to confess though. The empathy feeling will change into an upset feeling when I saw at the same time how many luxurious cars the UN and other organizations are using while the Haitian people are surrounding with dead bodies, thirsty, hungry for food and comfort, concerned, sad because of the brutal separation of love ones. I apologize but I was upset and I could not wait to meet the president of my country (Mr Preval) to express that concern…
“I met with my local coordinators to assess the situation of our children. I felt a relief in the eyes of our coordinators that afternoon. We went through each child one by one and I was impressed to see that they knew about each one of them. At the end of the meeting I felt way better when I realized that we did not lose even one child, although they are in critical condition.
On Saturday afternoon we held another meeting to plan the distribution of supplies. All our three coordinators were there and they brought great ideas. The only thing I missed was the rest of the HR team. I knew they would enjoy that meeting I felt their spirit and I stopped the discussion to explain to them how the rest of the board loves them and appreciates them for what they are doing. After the meeting I spent the rest of the afternoon making phone calls with some officials to have an idea of what direction they are heading…
“On Monday, I went to Petion Ville ward to receive the foods from Camtranfer company. The coordinators were with me and we started to prepare the kits right away. Good thing we did not plan the distribution that day because the company truck was late.
On Tuesday we did the distribution, we fed over 100 families for one week and I gave each child $ht50 to buy charcoal. In that kit, they received everything necessary to cook their meals and also a flash light, cough medicines, hygiene supplies, and masks. They were happy but I was happier because I had the opportunity to hug all the children and to all them I said “hang on”. Even though they were happy, you could read in the eyes of every child and parent the fear and concern of what the future will bring.”
Thank you all for your generous donations so that Isson could distribute supplies and hope to the children and their families in our program. We are still working on the container that we hope to send off this weekend. When it arrives in Haiti, Isson will return to Port au Prince to help our coordinators with the distribution.
We will post more information on the children and photos on our website very soon.
Sincerely,
The Haitian Roots Team
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