Sorrow and Hope - My Return from Haiti

"Sak vid pa kanpe." An empty sack doesn't stand up. (A hungry person cannot do anything.) - Haitian Proverb

"Papa, ki kote ou rete, sonje mwen. Ki sa ou fe, mwen pral remen ou toujou." Daddy, where ever you are, remember me. In what ever you do, I will always love you. - Boy to his lost father

I recently returned from Haiti on February 8, 2010, and now wish to tell you my story of what we together accomplished in Haiti at Life For The World with your help and what is currently happening in Haiti on the ground. I have also attached a slide show of over 270 pictures with our work we just did in Haiti which you can view. Believe me, it is with the deepest, most heartfelt gratitude and thanks to you that I write. My words cannot express to you how much of a difference you have made in the lives of thousands of people with your thoughts, prayers, work and financial support of our work among the poor in Haiti and at Maranatha Orphanage and School in Source Matelas, Haiti. Simply put, without you it would have not been possible to have come this far, and without you it will not be possible to continue. I went and the rest of the people who went with me, were merely an extension of your prayers, financial support, work and thoughts. We still need your continued support, work and prayers. Children and adults here in the States have demonstrated incredible generosity and compassion which has amazed me and left me utterly speechless. Together, and only together, young and old alike, we will continue to make a difference. It has been wisely said that it is not the years in our lives that matter, but the life in our years. We have an opportunity before us to make a real difference in the world while we have the time and energy, and we can do it together! Many people are already starting to forget Haiti and the real problems of hunger and starvation, homelessess, joblessness and disease are just beginning.

I cannot go on without recognizing the generosity and work you all have done in the last month and over the years for our Haitian brothers and sisters and children at Maranatha Orphanage and School who are suffering. My deepest thanks and gratitude go out to the compassionate and generous students, parents and staff of Andrean High School in Gary, IN for their support and recent concert to benefit our work in Haiti; my thanks go to the generosity and work of the Haitian Americans and Brooklyn, NYC group that came to Haiti with me after the earthquake led by Richard and Johanna Laurent; to Hans and Savoir Faire of Brooklyn for their love for the Haitian poor; to the incredibly generous work and dedication of the people of Glen Ellyn, Illinois including Lynda and Rick Jones, Doug and Beth Merlo, Bob and Linda Loro and the rest of the unseen heros of Glen Ellyn; to the people in N.W. Indiana including Dr. Chris McIntire who tirelessly and generously works for the poor in Haiti; to Wadsworth Elementary School for “penny wars” that produced substantial donations from the children; to Michelle O’Day and Lisa Hanenburg for their compassion and work for the poor; to Cottage Grove Church, Ed Van Drunen and Vera Vander Zee for their work and love to the poor; to Suburban Bible Sunday School class for their prayers and generosity; to my friend Phillip Weiss for his tireless generosity; to Richard and Jackie Kincaid and the rest of the Because Foundation for their compassion and generosity toward the poor in Haiti and around the world; to Connie Wilkenson and the women of N.W. Indiana for their fundraising efforts; to The Wellspring in S.C.; to Dan and Andrea Quick and people in N.W. Indiana for their years of generosity; to Gene Fedele and people in Florida for their generosity; to Theresa Weakland and the Munster Junior Women’s Group for their compassion and generosity; to my high school classmates from Harrison, N.Y. for their generosity and continued support, and to the rest of those people who work unseen and unrecognized by most, I want you to know that I appreciate all that you have done on behalf of the poor and LFTW in Haiti. Your work will not go unrewarded. You have done and continue to do great things, and please know for sure that your support, no matter how small, matters to our work with the children of Maranatha Orphanage and School and the rest of the poor we help in Haiti.

We were able to do some amazing things in Haiti with your help. And, in the midst of chaos, hunger and homelessness, we impacted the lives of thousands of people on the ground and gave food, set up tents, organized a 13 helicopter Navy food drop in Source Matelas, relocated the orphans of Maranatha, performed three other food distributions with food purchased in Haiti, purchased and collected food for Maranatha School and the people of Source Matelas, and gave hope to thousands to let them know that they have not been forgotten.

I arrived in Haiti through the Dominican Republic on January, 27th and was graciously flown to Haiti by an ERA helicopter for free, which normally I was told would have cost about $8,500 a day. ERA is a subsidiary of Seacor. I had to travel through the Dominican Republic because it is still difficult to get to Haiti through the PAP airport. I was dropped near the old Club Med called Club Indigo about 40 miles North of Port au Prince. This place is where many of the doctors and nurses from the USA were staying because of the nice facilities, one of the few nice places outside PAP not hit by the earthquake. The helicopter team of ERA dropped some food for the poor with us also, for which we were grateful. Simon, my friend and longtime worker for LFTW, picked me up and drove me back to a place called Latan, the place where I live when in Haiti. Before I arrived, however, we drove to Maranatha Orphanage and School to see the children. When I arrived they were so happy to see me. They were living under tents and tarp and the buildings, schoolrooms and dorms were either completely demolished or damaged and I could see it was very dangerous for the kids to be living under tents so close to damaged buildings. When I arrived at the house in Latan I was greeted by Bryan Hutchinson, a man from Glen Ellyn, Illinois who accompanied me to help with the relief effort. We had been split up in the Dominican Republic but now brought back together.

When I got to our house in Latan I ate something and went to bed because of being so tired from the trip. I thought about the ability I have to eat food while hundreds of thousands around me are hungry, and it made me sad and grateful at the same time. The next day we went to assess the damage at Maranatha Orphanage more fully and take pictures of the damage and spend time with the kids. The kids were happy and seemed to be doing well. We spent the day in Source Matelas where the orphanage is and walked among the people of Source Matelas, talked with them, and listed to their problems. Many of the huts and homes in Source Matelas were destroyed and some people were living under tents made of bed sheets or tents set up by the Brooklyn, NYC group on their visit in January right after the earthquake. The next day we travelled to the market and purchased some rice, dry spaghetti and beans for the people in the village of Source Matelas. We distributed food to over 500 people in Source Matelas that day and made many hungry people happy. They said “Nou tre kontan Michael paske ou et zamni ou pote nou manje nou konen ou pa bliye nou.” We are so happy because you and your friends brought us food Michael we know you did not forget us.” I told them that the people in the United States who supported us with the money to buy the food should be thanked. We also visited several other orphanages and organizations including Samaritan’s Purse where they donated more food and oil to give to the poor and for Maranatha, for which we were grateful.

Bryan and I spent a couple of days at the PAP airport where all of the NGOs like UNICEF, Red Cross, World Food Program and others have set up their “headquarters”. I attended some meetings and met with many people and registered with them to get food and supplies for our orphanage and the people of the Source Matelas village. All in all, we provided food, money and supplies to over 500 children and their families in Sources Matelas on several occasions, as well as the teachers of Maranatha School. Many of the children we suppplied with food in Source Matelas attend the school which is now not operating because of the damaged schoolrooms.

On Sunday, January 30, something amazing happened! Really, a miracle. Lynda Jones from Glen Ellyn had coordinated a food drop with the Navy stationed off the coast of Haiti at the aircraft carrier SS Carl Vinson, the largest aircraft carrier in the world. This food was to supply Maranatha Orphanage and School only. However, when we arrived, two Navy helicopters were on the ground waiting for us to give us food and water. The In-charge commander told me that they would not drop any food until all of the people were out of the field where they were going to drop food and we had only 20 minutes to do it. I told him I wanted to feed these other hungry people with the food from one helicopter, and the food and water from the other helicopter we would take to Maranatha School. He said they wouldn’t do it until all of the people were outside the field. I then gathered up about 20 Haitian men that we have given food and money to through the years, and they were very willing to help me and Bryan get the crowd outside. We successfully got the crowd outside, and by now there were thousands of people from several different villages waiting outside for food and water.

We then allowed the people to come back into the field and successfully got the people organized into lines, and I really didn’t know if we would be able to pull that off but we did, thanks to the Navy, my relationships with the people, knowing Creole, Bryan’s help and the help of 20+ other Haitian men to assist in the organization effort we did it.

When the field was clear the Navy commander gave the go ahead to drop the food and water on the ground and start passing out the food. We passed out food and water to ten people at a time and there were several thousand hungry people. Some people said to me in Creole, “Nou pa genyen manje pou anpil jou”, which means “we haven’t eaten for many days”! Now, here’s the really amazing thing. Once the Navy saw that this was organized, they sent in eleven more helicopters with food and water to this field, and we fed thousands of people. It was amazing! The XO of the SS Carl Vinson came in one of the helicopters and also handed out food to the poor. He said to me this was very organized and was one of the largest food drops they had done thus far in Haiti, and he was happy to do it. Many times people just bull rush the food, but we were able to keep the people organized even though they were very hungry. There was also a video cameraman from a station in NYC who interviewed me while I was in the field.

The next day the satellite group of LFTW from Brooklyn, NYC arrived and we set up tents for homeless Haitians in Sources Matelas, Bon Repos and Shada. We also did a food distribution in Bon Repos, which I know Rose, one of the members of the Satellite group from Brooklyn, will never forget.

Rose was taking video for the Brooklyn group. Up to this point Rose had not seen the desperation due to hunger. I told her in the morning to make sure her video camera was ready because I was going to take her to a place to see something she would never forget. We took bags of rice and beans and put them in the back of our truck. I asked Simon, who was driving the truck, to stop at Bon Repos in the tent village where thousands of people were living under bed sheets held up by sticks. When we arrived the people were crowding around us. Richard and I pulled out some bags of rice and beans and began scouping out rice and beans to people from the bags. People pressed in on us and were desperately trying to get a scoup of rice. Rose was stunned and in shock. She said she couldn’t take what she was seeing and it was too painful for her to see this chaos and desperation. The crowd of about three hundred people asked me, “Michael, please give us food we are hungry.” I told them I would come back with police to help us distribute the food. I told them they had to be more gentle if they wanted us to give them food. They were in tears as they saw us leave because the situation was too dangerous for us to stay in. I asked Simon to leave immediately. My heart was broken for these people who were so hungry and I saw Rose crying and saying out loud “I can’t take this”. “It’s too much.” “I can’t bear to see this anymore”. I said, “Rose, we can’t close our eyes to the pain like the rest of the world does. If we really want to make a difference we must feel the sorrow and look into their eyes and see the pain and desperation.” When we allow ourselves to see the pain and sorrow we can feel the compassion to do something about it. When we close our eyes we shut out the ability to do something for these people in misery. We cannot close our eyes to the hurt, even though it’s easier for us if we shut our eyes.

The NYC group also set up tents in Source Matelas for a number of people displaced and homeless. They also organized food distributions in Source Matelas and fed over 500 people. I was very happy to see how organized everything was. Alex, Hans, Rose and Richie organized the food distributions in Source Matelas without me and it was very rewarding for me to see that.

One of the very sad things we saw almost everywhere were tent villages of 500 - 5000 people. They try to live under bed sheets and clothes with sticks to hold up the tents. These people have no job, no food and no home. They are already dying from hunger, but if they make it to the rainy season coming they will surely be in trouble if something is not done for them.

Please do not forget your brothers and sisters in Haiti. They need us now more than ever. Once again we I appreciate your love and support, and together we have made a huge difference and, with God helping us, we will continue to help give life for the world.