A Promise Made, A Promise Kept to a Haitian Father
03/05/2010
Father's love translates to giving up son he loves
March 5 A Promise Made, A Promise Kept
Feb. 23 Not Another Concrete Graveyard
Feb. 15 The Rainy Season Begins
Jan. 21 Actress Sienna Miller Gives Voice to Haitians
Jan. 19 From the Rubble, a Five-Year-Old Survives
Jan. 13 Hotel Turned Hospital
Donate to International Medical Corps' Work in Haiti
March 5
A Promise Made, a Promise Kept
By Crystal Wells
If I remember but one face of Haiti, it will be that of four year-old Ornesto, with his big eyes and a nose that crinkles when he laughs. He is small and delicate, with a frame more like a child half his age, and a warm, rambunctious personality.
Beyond his energy and spunk, Ornesto is a survivor. Buried alive in a rockslide, Ornesto was rescued, but at the cost of his left arm. His head is scabbed and wrapped in bandages and he lives in one of the pediatrics tents at University Hospital, where International Medical Corps has worked since Jan. 14.
I am not unique in my love for Ornesto. He's easily stolen the hearts of a hundred women who have walked through the pediatrics tents, but I am bound to share his remarkable story in order to fulfill a promise I made to his father before I left the country.
It is a wrenching tale.
Before the earthquake, Ornesto lived with others of his family in the mountains above a town called Leogane, west of Port-au-Prince. They are part of Haiti's rural poor. His father, 65, supported four children, including Ornesto, from the little money he made from farming and slaughtering livestock. He never learned to read or write - which I discovered only after he was asked to spell his name. He replied that he could not, so for lack of proficiency in French or Creole, I will spell his name as it was pronounced to my ear, Kesisan Claude.
Claude and Ornesto are rarely seen without each other. Where Ornesto is playing outside the pediatrics tent, Claude watches calmly and proudly in the shade. He sleeps on the floor beside his son's cot and makes sure the bandages are changed on time. "We have no tent or anywhere to go," Claude said from beneath the rim of his straw hat. "The earth crushed where we lived."
In the minutes before the earthquake, Ornesto and his cousin, 5, went down into a ravine near his house to use the toilet. They were in the ravine when the earthquake hit and were pinned by falling rocks. Claude thought his son was dead, but still dug for six hours with a dozen others before they found Ornesto with his dead cousin crushed on top of his left arm. His head was badly cut and his arm mangled, but he was alive.
Without a car to drive to the nearest hospital, Claude carried Ornesto to Carrefour on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, getting a ride when he could, before an American came and transferred them to the University Hospital. There Ornesto's left arm was amputated and there they have lived since Jan. 23. They are the only two members of their family living in Port-au-Prince. "His mother died," Claude said. "The other children have scattered and live in other houses with friends and family. We are the only ones here."
Claude worries about where they will go when Ornesto is discharged. He does not know how he will support his son after losing everything he had in the earthquake.
In sharing his tale, Claude exacted a promised: If I retold the story I must include that Ornesto, with his beautiful face and larger-than-life spirit, is up for adoption. Claude says he wants Ornesto to live a healthy life filled with opportunity and this is something that he is afraid that he cannot provide. Because of this, Claude hopes that someone will consider adopting Ornesto, even if that means giving up his son.
Please do not misunderstand me and think that I am advocating for Ornesto's adoption. I simply had to share his story to shed light on what parents all across Haiti are praying for and dreading at the same time. If anything, I believe the plight of these parents underscores a need not for more adoptions, but for livelihoods' programs that create new income-generating jobs so that Haitian parents, such as Claude, must never face such a heart-wrenching choice.
In all the promises I have broken and kept, this one had to be honored, even if I am one of a hundred women to do so.
Feb. 23
Not Another Concrete Graveyard
Sometimes the most memorable moments arrive wrapped in the mundane. For Luben, a frail man who seems older than his 47 years, it was watching an ant crawl across his kitchen table.
The image of that ant, clinging to the trembling table as the Jan 12th earthquake hit Haiti, was his last memory before the ceiling collapsed around him, pinning his body against the wall. For four days, Luben lay trapped on his side, cheek pressed against a wall, eyes closed for fear that he would die if he opened them. Then a man crawled through the wreckage of his home and dug him out.
Buried under the concrete slabs of his house, Luben dreamt that God gave him four pills - one for each day he was trapped - to sustain him until his rescue. "I pray everyday," he said.
Luben was taken to an outdoor clinic hastily set up near the crumbled remains of Church of St. Louis Roi de France near downtown Port-au-Prince, where he still is recovering. An extraordinary Haitian physician named Joseline Marhone has provided medical care there in a shaded courtyard since the day after the earthquake.
In normal times, Dr. Mahrone serves as the Director of the Coordination Unit of National Food and Nutrition in Haiti's Ministry of Health. But these are not normal times and with her home and office both destroyed, she decided to make the church grounds a place of healing. Here, amid the debris, she lives and works. The nearby church collapsed with the priest and nine others inside. International Medical Corps supports the St. Louis clinic with staffing and medicines, enabling Dr. Marhone and other Haitian doctors and nurses to see as many people as possible.
I came to St. Louis on a Sunday morning with one of our doctors to deliver supplies. Expecting chaos and suffering, instead I found rival. A crowd clapped and sang beneath the wood frame of a simple outdoor chapel. Blue balloons decorated a line of pews that spilled into the courtyard. The sick, some in chairs, some lying on mattresses, lined the side of the chapel like a bow, each one close enough to hear the sermon. Haiti was on its way back.
Luben's spot is just to the side of the pews. On days he's not well enough to sit through the service - like the day I met him - he follows along from his mattress beneath a tarp. His mother lives at St. Louis too. She never leaves his side. She lost her home and all her other children in the earthquake. She will not lose Luben.
When Luben was admitted, he was malnourished and dehydrated, but he is recovering day by day. "I still cannot sleep because I am in pain," he said. "But every day I feel better."
Luben is one of hundreds healing in the heaps of rubble and broken glass that could have been just another concrete graveyard in Port-au-Prince, but instead was dusted off and filled with hope, song, and unforgettable moments that undoubtedly show how far human compassion and strength can go, especially in the face of tragedy.
- Crystal Wells
Feb. 15, 2010
The Rainy Season Begins
The rain fell a few nights ago for the first time. It started off slowly, around five in the morning or so and then came down hard enough to wake me up. The first thought I had were the thousands of people living in tent cities beneath ragged bed sheets. Even a light rain could wipe out their small shelter and this one was just a small preview of what will inevitably come.
My translator arrived at my hotel about an hour later soaked. "This is nothing, boss," he said. "In Haiti, it rains dogs and donkeys."
Looking at the toppled buildings, mile-long food lines, and families crouched beneath nothing more than cloth and sticks, it is hard to imagine that Mother Nature will compound the already widespread suffering in the months ahead.
The rainy season in Haiti usually begins in April or May and hurricane season quickly follows between July and November. This mid-February rainfall could be the first hint of an early season, which would be a very unwelcome twist to the recovery efforts underway here.
I traveled out to Petit Goave, a coastal area of roughly 80,000 people 68 km west of Port-au-Prince, where our water and sanitation expert, John Akudago, is working to build latrines and clean water systems. Some of the first latrines will be in Beatrice, where approximately 2,500 people have resettled in some six camps that scatter the hillsides above the sea.
His first step: making sure that women are involved in the construction, from when the first shovel hits the dirt to the final product. "Women are integral to the success of water and sanitation systems," says Akudago. "In each community, I tell the men that the women have to be included for this to begin."
And included they were. In the camp that we visited in Beatrice, women stood alongside the men, digging the trenches for men's and women's latrines and received hygiene messages, like hand washing, to share with their community.
I spoke with one woman living in the camp who had eight children, ages eight to 20 years old. It did not rain like it had in Port-au-Prince, but she worries about when the rain will come. "But only God knows when," she said.
To collect water, she must travel about 30 minutes roundtrip to a spring and back, but it is not potable, so it must be treated. The community, she described, is so happy and thankful for the latrines, made possible by the work of Akudago with International Medical Corps.
Back near Port-au-Prince at a camp in Carrefour, where International Medical Corps is providing health care alongside the local organization Hope for Haiti, some families were rebuilding their makeshift tents that were wiped out by the early morning rain. One young couple was lining the perimeter of their tent with cement blocks with the hope that it will keep the runoff out when the next rain comes.
Another woman, who lives with her daughter and grandchildren in the camp, worried that the babies would fall sick during the rainy season because they will often be wet and cold. "We have no toiletries and it is also hard to stay clean," she continued, picking up her smallest grandchild from the muddy ground.
Akudago also dreads the rainy season for the hundreds of thousands of homeless. "Sanitation is a big problem, especially in Port-au-Prince, and when it rains, the human waste will spread," Akudago explains. "I fear that there will be an outbreak of disease when the rainy season starts."
The rain is inevitable, but its first appearance in Port-au-Prince in mid-February could mean that it is coming early, giving very little time for the homeless to find relief before their next drubbing from Mother Nature.
But is it?
Only God knows.
- Crystal Wells
Jan. 21, 2010
Sienna Miller Gives Voice to Haitians
Sienna Miller, global ambassador for International Medical Corps, makes a passionate call to action in a PSA to assist survivors of the 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti last Tuesday.
"The need left by this earthquake is enormous," says Sienna Miller. "Thousands need medical services and time is of the essence. If the injured do not receive medical care quickly, treatable ailments like fractures and open wounds can become life-threatening. The more people who come together and offer their support, the more lives we will be able to save."
International Medical Corps was on the ground in Haiti providing emergency medical care just 23 hours after the earthquake struck. "They are working around the clock to save as many lives as possible," says Miller. "I hope this PSA will shed light on the incredible work they are doing in Haiti and encourage others to support it."
In Port-au-Prince, International Medical Corps is working at the Hopital de l'Universite d'Etat d'Haiti, a 700-bed hospital, as well as supporting small health clinics throughout the city. An International Medical Corps mobile medical unit is also in Leogane, the epicenter of Tuesday's earthquake, providing emergency medical care.
Funds raised through the PSA will directly support International Medical Corps' emergency response in Haiti and save lives by helping acquire what is desperately needed on the ground, including medicines, medical equipment, food, clean water, and other emergency relief items.
From the Rubble, a Five-Year-Old Survives
Jan. 19, 2010
Megine resting at the hospital after being rescued from the rubble. Photo by Margaret Aguirre
While in Haiti, I have seen hundreds dead, piled up on the sides of the streets or mass graves, often covered in a sheet as a modest form of respect. But in the death and rubble, I have witnessed remarkable stories of survival, one of which was a little five-year-old girl, Megine.
I met Megine at the General Hospital where our team has worked around the clock to save as many lives as we can. She was carried in by her father, her right hand hanging on by a thread.
She and her mother were in their home when the earthquake hit and did not get out in time before the building collapsed around them. Her mother, Marie, made it out from under the rubble and to the General Hospital, but they could not find Megine. "I was sick to my stomach the whole time," says Marie.
Two days went by before Megine was pulled from the rubble. Her uncle discovered her and managed to get her out alive.
"I was so happy to see my daughter alive," says Marie.
Marie and her husband brought Megine to the General Hospital. Sadly, her right hand needed to be amputated, but she made it through surgery, united with her parents, and alive to share her story.
The Hotel Turned Hospital
Jan. 13, 2010, late in the evening
Photo by Margaret Aguirre/International Medical Corps
We arrived in Port-au-Prince this afternoon. The airport is so full of people trying to evacuate that it is difficult to find transportation into the city.
We traveled about 35 minutes by car to a hotel called Villa Creole. It is complete devastation here. Most of the city does not have electricity. Crowds of people are standing in the streets, taking care not to get too close to shaky buildings. Many in the crowds are injured, and dead bodies are lined along the roadside. Injured people are sleeping next to people who are dead. The streets are littered with cables from downed power lines, as well as cars and buses that crashed or were abandoned when the earthquake and aftershocks hit.
The hotel here has been turned into a small makeshift hospital. About 90-100 people were standing in the hotel driveway, waiting for help. We instantly began conducting triage and treating patients alongside a Haitian doctor from Hope for Haiti.
Medical supplies - such as IVs, pain medicines, and bandages - are extremely limited. Most patients that we have seen so far are suffering from broken bones, fractures and ruptures. Some are in more critical condition, but there is no hospital we can refer them to. Our team will sleep outside tonight. Like everyone else, we are afraid to sleep inside a building. The aftershocks are still coming.
International Medical Corps in Haiti
International Medical Corps has sent an emergency response team and supplies to Haiti. The team is providing medical care outside the general hospital near the Presidential Palace where hundreds of people have congregated for help. Other members of the Emergency Response Team are conducting a rapid needs assessment and visiting hospitals around the city to explore their condition. Monetary donations will go toward bringing much-needed medical personnel, supplies and equipment to the earthquake-ravaged area. Text "Haiti" to 85944 to donate $10 to IMC's relief efforts.
Margaret Aguirre is director of global communications at the International Medical Corps.
I’d just like to say thank you to International Medical Corps and Margaret Aguirre for all their life saving work. I texted “haiti” to 85944 and gave my $10 and encourage others to do the same!
— Sarah Jones on 2010-01-17