Many people have re-located to the countryside to live with family in this time of caos & uncertainty
Tents in Haiti
A typical van in Port-au-Prince
Unsure of what tomorrow holds, the shelter of a tent will hold many over as they sort things out.
We have completed another trip to Haiti with relief supplies for the neighborhoods in Carrefour, Bethlehem, and Aztec.
This trip was made in the new (to us) Defender. With the full length roof rack and lots of storage room inside the vehicle we were able to get all of the relief supplies to the distribution site safely. We were escorted by the local authorities from these neighborhoods and 8 Haitian policeman that helped keep the order.
As before we encountered a huge number of people in line with tickets when we got there, and a lot more trying to get a ticket. The crowds are so aggressive that the police had to work real hard to keep the line under control and allow only a few people with tickets in the schoolyard where we were set-up for distribution of Tents, shampoo, baby formula, soap and a few other things. This event went extremely well! When we were at Aztec the last time it was extremely difficult and actually dangerous even with 4 local armed policemen. It was much better this time as we went well prepared with our donations well contained, enough police, and local organized govt. as well as a good location to distribute the supplies from. We were warned before going that a van full of Catholic Nuns went to Aztec a few days before to distribute food with some police and the people were so wild and desperate that the windshield of their van was broken, and several of the Nuns were roughed-up in the process of giving their supplies out.
Determined to not repeat this fiasco we went well prepared to a very secure location.
The main challenge was in the local traffic which seems to be getting worse instead of better...long lines, lots of big trucks full of shattered buildings and twisted rebar sticking-out everywhere...dropping huge pieces of broken buildings all over the place as they drive down the road. It is getting farther away where they have to go to dump their loads as there is so much broken material they are having a hard time finding a place to put it all.
Another concern is the border-crossing. There have reportedly been a lot of abuses going on in the weeks of open border from both directions...drugs coming into the Dominican by the truckloads being disguised as relief trucks returning, all kinds of commercial goods going into Haiti untaxed being sold for huge profit in Haiti, trafficking of people and children etc. as a result both nations have decided to close the border and get tough on taxing everything and checking every vehicle that goes through...this has made the line of vehicles waiting to cross in both directions a real nightmare reportedly. We had a relatively easy time crossing this time but that is changing according to folks crossing in the past few days. The taxing of relief supplies is probably the worst change...it is hard to feel good about paying tax on supplies you are bringing in just to give away...with these changes, and the shift in Disaster relief to Chile the great concern we have is for the health and well-being of the Haitian people most effected by the disaster...the Government seems to be getting the international help it is needing to re-build but the people on the street are still homeless, starving, and without employment...as the rainy season is beginning we are seeing a serious increase of disease, Malaria, Dengue, Cholera, Typhoid, Fevers and Diarrhea becoming a real problem.
Please keep these people in your prayers, and our mission team as well as we plan to keep making these relief supply trips as long as we have supplies to bring them that they critically need.
God Bless you and thank you for all your help in this effort!
In Christ, and for His sake!
Gary
GARY V. KLEIN
DIRECTOR CDMM
(809) 983-6640
