Emergency Services

After a nice ride to Port-au-Prince to drop Craig (one of our volunteers), I did all the driving around the city since it is a very different style than other countries. Although, Dustin was behind the wheel after we left the city on our way back to Leogane. When we saw a young man laying in the middle of the road… he was dead… He was standing in the back of a “Tap Tap”, which a common transportation in Haiti, when a truck the back of the Tap Tap. As we’re passing by, I could see other people covered with blood and looked desperate for help. It didn’t take us more than a second to decide to turn around the vehicle and get two of them, the worst one, in the car with the help on some local guys. Because the traffic was so bad, I had to keep honking as we were trying to pass other vehicle on the road. “No time to lose. It’s emergency time”. Dustin, in the back of the truck, did a perfect job to stop the bleedings and get them water. After twenty minutes of ride, we could finally get them to the hospital.
What a relief it was when we finally got into the hospital! The ER crew was right there waiting to rush them. I could say at that time, after a job well done, we did some good today. Saving life! There were the perfect strangers to Dustin and me but, as the Good Samaritan, we did exactly what the Lord would do.
Aren’t we here to support the Haitian people? How could we dare saying that while driving by someone who needs help and not helping out?
In Sustain Haiti, this is what we come to do and this is exactly what we’re doing. It is our common believes.
In fact, the difference between us and others NGOs around is our accessibility to the people in the city of Leogane. Every day you can notice a bunch of kids and young friends in front of our gate saying hi to us. They know and recognize most of our volunteers by names. Which I am proud of, and I can bet you won’t find such amongst others, even those working with kids and youth.
What a blessing we have to be able to serve the people in Haiti. We do not have any pride for our accomplishment rather, we feel humble in front of such great love. How grateful I am for being part of the Sustain Haiti group!

Eyes’ Witnesses and Doers of Haiti!

This post was published to Rony's Technical Blog at 7:42:23 PM 5/29/2010
Eyes’ Witnesses and Doers of Haiti!


Now a month since I’ve been back to Haiti, and the things I am a witness of give me a bittersweet feeling. One of the things I have the privilege to see every day is the resilience of the Haitian people. Whether most of them are sleeping under a simple sheet as shelter, they still can smile and very excited about life. Instead of tears, they transform their fear into sarcasm, instead of mourning, they are showing how grateful are they for being alive and worshiping according t their beliefs with faith and devotion. Amongst them, I count many friends and relatives.
Everything that is happening now in the country makes me feel humble.
Like my visit last week to town of Beaudin. Although close to Leogane and Jacmel, it is unbelievable to see the misery existing there. It takes one hour and forty five minutes be motorcycle to get to a place that could easily be doing in twenty five minutes because of the condition of the road. It is really hard to imagine such way of life. This is a place where what supposed to be normal or basic is a luxury. Even drinking water is not a right for those people. Most of them don’t even know if the word “ELECTRICITY” is even real. For all their life, they have not seen it at least once.
However, being around those poor individuals makes me humble. Everything they do is an expression of misery for me, whereas, they manage to turn everything to joy. I am mad hearing their stories about how far and how difficult was it to go get some water miles away down the cliff, but the smile they have by sharing such story make me feel stupid. How can someone has courage to keep going on with life? How can someone can be so happy when what it suppose to be a right or the basic of life becomes a luxury? Besides, they are on their own. And no one cares about their existence.
“I have a dream today” that one day people many areas of Haiti will be able to drink clean water to quench their thirsts, and eat to satisfy their hunger. I will not rest or die before it happens.

An orphange yard in Beaudin.

The source of water of the town.

On the way to the town of Beaudin

The road.

Haiti after a week

After spending one week on the streets of Port-au-Prince and Leogane, there isn’t enough words to describe the situation although it is three months now since the disaster happened. In order to have a better understanding urgency existing in the Haiti, I decided to take a walk around the city. Mostly, I could not believe that so many places that I use to know do not exist anymore. Besides, due to the condition of the road, it is extremely difficult to get around the city. It can take two to three hours just to travel one two miles. But if you the art of driving in Haiti, it can be a lot faster. As I walked down the street where my dear friend Luc died, I became to realize how tragic was January 12 for the population. I understand how hard it is for people who hard to be in Haiti during tragedy.

I decided to visit with some families who lost everything on January the 12 disaster. I scarcely can believe where the courage to smile comes from. As I was visited with Luc’s family, I had to be strong and hiding my tears from them. However, it was so sad to hear them telling how they slept when the rain came. Can you imagine a six-year old boy standing on corner of some piece of metal waiting for long hours before to be able to sleep at 11 in the evening? Not more than one hour after I left it started to rain. The worst part is the landlord asking them to move out of the property. Four people living in a space smaller than the kitchen they used to own is not fun at all. Unfortunately, this is the new way of live on the streets of Port-au-Prince: eat whatever you can find, drink whatever is giving, sleep wherever you find, and smile to as much as people you meet. However, we are so thrilled to be here between those humble people.