"La Vie n'est pas importante ici..."

Went to sleep at around 2:30am and got up at around 4am.....it was definitely a good nap in the middle of the night. So today's distribution was something that has been on everyone's mind. It has been a huge stressor for all of us, due to the negative experience before with the city hall people in Léogâne. So the Canadian Military Police came with their cameos this morning at around 4am to OECC to help us escort all the cars. We all got into the vans (including the four new Si Guos that came in yesterday from the Dominican Republic). Everyone pretty much was a sleep or in a huge daze the way down to Léogâne. The car ride just somehow puts you into a trance after a while. I was super cold the whole way, I think that I was just way too tired due to a lack of sleep. When we finally got to the Soccer stadium, there were so many people all around that it was pretty crazy. People were climbing all over the gates and it was literally people in all directions. The police finally cleared a way for us to enter. Tension was super high all around. We arrived only to find that half of the military have not arrived yet. It was super stressful. People were throwing rocks over the fences and it was definitely an angry mob. I was the only person from Tzu Chi that could speak to the people in their own language, so I was escorted by 3 Canadian military personnel to go to the top of the stadium to speak with the people. It was pretty intense. I was walking with people all around me, pushing and shoving, and the military formed a triangle to protect me. I felt like the president or something. Eventually we got up to the top of the stadium and there were a couple of people completely naked taking showers. Due to lack of livable housing in Haiti after the earthquake, most people can be seen taking showers in public areas. They will be completely nude in front of everyone and still look at you and make a conversation while profusely scrubbing themselves. It was quite an experience. The three military men formed a line to block my view, which was a lot of help. I started to speak with the people and they were so angry. I could understand exactly why, if I was them, I would be made as well.

So the situation was this: There are two camp sites within the Soccer stadium area and those were our priority distribution places due to their status and also because we were using the open area between the two camps. It only made sense to include them. So we gave the vouchers to the mayor and apparently he did not distribute them to the right camps. The two camps were not included in the 2,000 families that were promised a vouchers. That was problem number one. Then we heard a rumor (which later was proven to be true by our driver), that the camp site coordinator was selling the vouchers to the families. The vouchers are free to the families. I was trying to find the coordinator to ask him to reassure the families who are not receiving the aid today, but he was no where to be found. No one knew where he was. That was the first red flag that something was wrong. He was suppose to be the one that would control the whole situation. Anyways, so it was decided that the 650 families would be given aide next week by Tzu Chi. People were so mad and not understandable. So eventually we calmed the people down to a manageable level and started the distribution. All the military arrived and set up barbed wires around the perimeter. It completely looked like a war zone. It was like a movie set that day. But instead of screaming fans there were rock throwing and spitting angry Haitians. We decided not to do the ceremony part of the distribution and just immediately started the giving out goods part. There were three sessions set up: first station = waterproof tarps, second station = blankets, and third station = a bucket filled with corn starch and flour. It was a really fast distribution, 2,000 families in one and a half hour, wow that must be a record. I was running all over the place coordinating everything, because all the head people went to meet the Haitian president. I was there in spirit because all the documents I had translated into French the night before......all 5 hours of it. We safely left the distribution site and overall, other than the families not receiving vouchers, it was a pretty successful distribution.

On the way back to Port-au-Prince I saw an car accident between a small girl and a fast car. It was horrifying. The other day I was just talking to one of our local drivers about there must be a lot of people who get hit by cars everyday. It was so surreal. The car was driving in the opposite lane on the road due to cracked roads and giant holes on the ground. This is a normal occurrence, but he was driving super fast and swirling all over the road. We saw him from a mile away and slowed down to anticipate his wild driving. Then out of no where a little girl, probably about 12 years old, just came running into the street. She was hit from the side and completely flew into the ditch next to the road. The driver kept on going and the little girl laid there motionless in the ditch, all limbs spread apart, back arched, and mouth opened. Her eyes were wide open looking up. I said we needed to stop and help her, but the driver told me that it was not a safe area to stop at, so we drove on. There was no one to help that little girl....she laid there in pain...life slowly leaving her fragile body. I will never get that sight out of my head. Then, later tonight we were heading to the UN compound and we saw another car accident in front of us. It was right in front of the U.S. compound, there was a huge truck on the side of the road and an American tank cameo. We saw debris and car parts fly up in front of us, then screams. I saw a foot twitching on the ground under the car and realized that a person was hit by the cameo. People picked him up to the sidewalk and the troops all got down from the cameo in a panic. We passed the car and then a horrifying image of a twisted up motorcycle crashed underneath a giant military tank cameo flashed before my eyes. The person wasn't moving at all and blood splat all over. We passed the scene and continued on our way. All that was going through my head was, "The Americans hit him, so it is a guarantee that he will be escorted to the hospital." The driver was silent, just shaking his head. After a moment of collecting himself, he said to me "La vie n'est pas importante ici (Life is not valued here)."

After an emotional day, we finally got back to the OECC compound. I couldn't eat lunch when we got back. I sat by myself and looked outside to the traffic passing by. The images and the words....replayed itself over and over again in my head. After a while later, we headed out the door to the UN compound to go talk with U3 (which is all the military from different countries that is coordinated by the UN, except the U.S. army). We went to talk to them about the two distributions tomorrow morning. We were told that we will be working with Côté d'Ivoire's military troops, but when we got there it was actually the Argentina military troops. (U3 is infamous for changing plans at the last minute). We arranged the site re-com (re-confirmation of details) for both sites immediately after our meeting. We went through the orphanage site and the church sites very fast. On our way back to the UN compound there was massive traffic and the Argentina military was like on active duty or something. They were directing the driver to go in the opposite lane and to honk his horns if cars come. So there we went, driving down the wrong side of the road with the horn blaring. We finally trucked through till the next huge intersection and everyone came to a dead stop, forming an X shape. Just when I thought I could not be surprised of anything, the Argentina's soldiers yelled out from the back, "We will get out and cleared the roads for you. Follow my lead." WHAT??? DID HE JUST SAY THAT??? Before I knew it, the solider were in the middle of a busy intersection stopping cars and making a way for us to get to the other side. They were running ahead, while we followed super close by. We went on the curb when the cars came from the opposite direction and cut through traffic like it was a piece of tofu....everyone in the car was like..."are they going to run all the way home? and if so, why are we following them????" They literally ran home. It was quite funny.

Okay, getting ready for a 5am distribution tomorrow morning again. Let's hope it doesn't rain...the people of Haiti are in my thoughts...forever and always.