Collapsed church tent at Camp Hope being dried & folded

Collapsed church tent at Camp Hope being dried & folded

Dear Friends and Family,

Yesterday afternoon, there was a large storm in Haiti. Over 1/3 of the tents at Camp Hope have been completely destroyed and people are being displaced one again. There are no tents or plastic to replace the destroyed tents. LAC and ARC are both working towards getting the things the people in the camp need, but the needs are so great and the infrastructure so screwed up already that it will take days if not weeks to get replacement items.

The storm came without any warning. We were just finishing up PT at Camp Hope and all of a sudden the wind came out of nowhere. We took shelter in our car, but after several minutes of watching people suffer, we got out of the car to help. People were huddled in the PT tent screaming and crying. When the wind ripped the roof off the PT tent, we all ran out to look for other shelter. I was holding 3-4 children at the same time, trying to take them to some sort of safe place, but there was not where to go. You could only see about 15 feet in front of you. We led about 25 people away from the camp to get them away from flying debris. We just huddled on the ground for 15 minutes or so, before I left the group to go find some of my friends with amputations. I found 6 significantly disabled people (4 amputees and 2 people who walk with walkers) sitting under a tent with their children screaming for help. When they saw me, they started screaming my name. As I got closer, I realized that I would not be able to help all of them, so I had to leave them to get help. The screams I heard as I was running away will haunt me forever. When I returned with other volunteers, the amputees shoved their children into our arms and refused to go. After several minutes of arguing in my broken kreyol, I was able to get them to move toward the safety of a larger tent. After about 40 minutes, the storm stopped. We then ran through the camp looking for injured people. We only found 2…one had passed out (probably hyperventilated) and one got hit on the head with something (no major damage). Then we started the process of trying to figure out what to do. We weren’t able to do much yesterday because it was late in the day and there were no supplies to provide new shelters. We walked around and helped try to salvage a few tents before heading back to LAC.

Today, we spent the day trying to get tents repaired as best as possible even though we know it will not be a long term fix. I do not know how long it will take for replacement tents to arrive. We had duct tape, dental floss (for sewing up the tents), and zip ties…we couldn’t do a lot, but we were able to help quite a few get their tent sleepable for the night. If there is …rain or wind, they will not hold up. Even so, many people continue to be left without a tent or personal space. The public spaces (clinics, schools, etc) have been mostly repaired giving them a place of shelter for the night. With supplies from Love A Child and man power from ARC, the roof of the medical clinic was successfully replaced (with foreman Betsy – quite a frustrating job with my limited Kreyol). The large red and white striped tent used for the church has collapsed, so church will be held in the medical clinic tomorrow. It is difficult to determine the spirits of the camp residents. Some seem happy and grateful to be safe and alive; some seem sad and frustrated that their possessions have been destroyed; some seem scared and are suffering from PTSD; some are angry with the situation; and most have some combination of the emotions described above.

We are thankful that we are safe and that our friends at Camp Hope are safe. There is a lot of work to be done.

This week we will continue to try and stay focused on our goals of closing the PT tent, but I suspect we will be distracted by these other issues. It will be a hard week.

Betsy