New York – I Traveled to Haiti with a friend of mine, Safiyya Sarkin, the Executive Director of “Women Beyond Survival,” a non-profit American organization that is involved in rebuilding and revitalizing communities ravaged by natural disaster and warfare. We stayed in Santo Domingo overnight.
Since American Airlines has not yet resumed its flights to Haiti since the January 12, 2010 earthquake that devastated most of the Caribbean nation, we had to fly from JFK airport to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. We stayed in Santo Domingo overnight, and early in the morning, we took the Caribe Tour bus on a nine hours drive for Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The only way I can describe the situation in Haiti is “TOTAL CHAOS.” All the three million residents of Port-au-Prince have been sleeping in the streets since the ravaging earthquake. We were no exception.
“Women Beyond Survival” brought medical supplies for the doctors and the earthquake victims and survivors. In addition to Port-au-Prince, we went to some of the most devastated areas, such as Carrefour, Lamentin, Leogane. We administered first aid and topical care to the people in the communities that we visited. We even brought a little bit of joy to a community in Lamentin that we visited. We organized soccer/football game for the boys and the girls. To the best of our ability, we documented the missing and the dead people in the communities that we visited. We also documented the survivors. Each one had a story to tell, and we listen emphatically. Dead and decomposed bodies are still trapped under the rubble. The smell of death is everywhere. We even visited the morgue of Hopital General, the main Haitian Hospital in Port-au-prince. Miraculously the hospital is still standing. In the morgue, the crushed lifeless bodies of the earthquake victims piled up on top of one another. It looks more like a nightmarish dream than reality.
We encouraged a young Haitian Rap group by the name of “ROZO” to compose inspiring songs that can help the Haitian people to carry on with life with the same resilience that they have been demonstrating throughout their existence. A resilience that dates back to 1503 when the first enslaved Africans arrived in the island. The Haitians are not receiving any therapeutic care. No psychiatrist or psychologist. A people totally traumatized, but resilient and determined to live on. The group composed the song “Ayiti Pap Peri” (Haiti Will Not Perish). You can savor part of the song by clicking on the Youtube video link below. The song is at the end of the Youtube video.
Even though the distribution of donated food, medical supplies and other stuff is lousy, the Haitian people are grateful to the whole world for coming to their assistance. Congressman Charles Rangel was eloquent in his statement “Haiti, when she could, was helping America with its revolution, now Haiti is in this predicament. She needs your help,” said the Congressman.
Please visit: www.RediscoverHaiti.com and www.WomenBeyondSurvival.org
Click on the link below to watch a video related to this article:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLazwdSOWhs
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