The Reality In Haiti

In my lifetime I have never seen many things including war, assassinations, riots and more recently 9-11, the tsunami and hurricanes such as Katrina.  The impact and devastation to Haiti is worse that anything I have ever seen.

The reality of Haiti:

In my lifetime I have seen many things including war, assassinations, riots and more recently 9 -11, the tsunami and hurricanes such as Katrina. The impact and devastation to Haiti is worse than anything I have ever seen. They are reporting over 225,000 lost and, with infection and disease and starvation, many more will be lost in the coming months.

I was in Haiti the week before the earthquake and the week after. I went to Jacmel with two doctors from Atlanta and a nurse. Jacmel has lost about one in four buildings. Of those that still stand I would guess about half should be torn down. This  can be overwhelming but it is also an opportunity for all of us to work together to help the children of Haiti.

Bruce Goddard and I are headed to Haiti to work on three projects that were already in the works. Bruce will be evaluating buildings to determine if they are safe and or can be saved. We will also determine if the storage building where we have been given a place to store materials is structurally sound and if it will be secure to store supplies. We are taking a shipping container with water, two water filtration systems, a cistern, tents, two motorcycles, and many medical supplies, crutches and many other items. There have been many broken bones and amputations and the crutches will be very useful. We will also visit  an orphanage where the children are having to sleep out in the open. I traded emails with the founder of the orphanage and he said the children were all well but that food was a luxury right now.

Also traveling with Ted and Bruce is Manuel Lluberas who is  a HERO board member. Manuel does malaria control around the world and is going to do a preliminary look at mosquitoes and malaria which he has been told is growing rapidly with everyone sleeping outside.

There are over two million people in Haiti that are now homeless. Many have lost their businesses, family members and really everything they own. It is going to take years to rebuild Haiti and a concerted effort by many countries and organizations to make a difference. I am very grateful for the generous donations including money, water filtration systems, many cases of bottled water and motorcycles, crutches and many many medical supplies including pharmaceuticals such as much needed antibiotics. Please pray for the people of Haiti. Ted Waldbart

Link to Mark Coughlin’s Video    http://vimeo.com/9121347