5:15am bang bang bang came from the door. "Ghan en" (thank you with gratitude in Mandarin), I said to the Si Bro. It has been a routine of how I get ready in the mornings in Haiti. I start by unzipping my sleeping bag, crawling out of my mosquito net, change my PJs in exchange for Tzu Chi blue and white uniform. I then put on my slippers and head to the bathroom and sink to get ready by braiding my hair into two big braids, put on the Tzu Chi ribbons and the Tzu Chi hat. I head back to my room and start wiping insect repellent moist wipes all over my limbs, neck, and face. I then grab my Tzu Chi backpack, clip on my water bottle onto my belt, put my camera in my pocket, and grab the keys to lock the door. I walk about two minutes toward the commons area, which is in another building on the OECC compound, to sit there and listen/watch a video on Master Cheng Yen (the founder of Tzu Chi) on giving international relief news and efforts. After that we have breakfast at around 6:45am. Mmmmmm...rice porridge is my favorite. It really brings back childhood memories in Taiwan.
Today's distribution was scheduled for 10:30am, but since it was in Léogâne (the hardest hit city in the earthquake, we had to drive about an hour and a half to get there. Today we had four cars filled with Tzu Chi volunteers and then the big truck for the supplies we were handing out. Due to the slowest of six car troops, we planned on driving for about two hours, when in actuality it actually took us two and a half. Traffic was super bad today for some reason. We ended up leaving at 7:30am heading for Léogâne. I felt like the cracks on the roads got bigger after each of the aftershocks we've been having, but that could just be my imagination. Who knows??? When we got to the outskirts of Léogâne, only the men went into the town to assess the situation with the army and police, while the women and some guy volunteers stayed behind to wait for progress and update on the safety of the situation. While we were waiting, people had to use the restroom so we ended up using one of the local's bathrooms, which was quite nice. Usually it's a hole in the ground, but this one was actually raised, so you end up standing on top of like a box and there was a stall and a fully functioning door. I was super surprised at this, although other people didn't find it quite well like I did. The family had a working well, as well, which was important for their water supply. We also stopped by a breakfast booth, we saw them making these pancakes, which turned out to be corn/sweet potato grounded up into couscous based kind of base to make break/pancakes. It looked quite tasty.
Finally the men returned and took us into the camp site: K-Pity Camp to be exact. The Canadian army was suppose to be there assessing the situation and to provide us with safety measures, but they never showed up. Instead we had Chinese UN Police, Local Police force, and Spain UN Police. It was truly an UN event, too bad it wasn't enough security. We started to distribute all the waterproof tarps for the families with the voucher that was passed out couple days ago. Without the voucher you cannot get a tarp, that is the deal. So half of the people did not have a voucher for some reason, which made things worse. When people started getting anxious, a mob broke out. The police did not do anything. I mean absolutely nothing. They just stood there watching the whole chaos unfold. There is a definite difference between Army and Police. That was a huge lesson I learned today. People were grabbing my shirt demanding for things to give to them. We had to evacuate. ASAP. People were running all over the way and we all jumped into the trucks and took off. It was so sad, because half of the families did not get traps. It was just too chaotic and dangerous to stay behind to finish. I believe we all headed back to Port-au-Prince with some very heavy hearts today.
We returned to the compound at around 1pm. Not much later, a group of us went back to Simon's Center for Destitute Children Orphanage to pay them a visit. We brought toys, clothing, shoes, rice, flour, and corn starch for them. All 40 children, which use to be 56, but 16 of them passed away during the earthquake, were very happy to see us come. They remembered us well from days before when we arrived with candy for everyone. We had a lot of dancing and singing activities today and it was such a great time. No matter how tired I am or down, if I see children's smiling faces, it's like they give me energy and hope to keep working harder. Thank you children for making me a better person. We said our goodbyes to the orphans, but we will return soon in the near future.
I skipped dinner to go gather more information on the local volunteers here for Tzu Chi. The usual demographic information and picture routine, but I found out that most of our drivers for the compound have body guard/security guard/police training backgrounds. They all have weapons on them, as well. Just a gun tucked into their pants, makes me a little squeamish about the whole accidentally shoot yourself in the leg thing...yeah..not good. I said goodbye to the local volunteers when darkness fell upon us. At around 7:30pm we started to get ready for our daily three-way Skype meeting with Taiwan, L.A. US Tzu Chi Headquarters, and Dominican Republic Office. I was informed that I will be presenting the going-ons today at the Orphanage. I was super nervous, because this will be the first time that I get to talk to Master Cheng Yen live. I was preparing what I was going to say in Mandarin and finally when my time came, she was super surprised that a young person was in Haiti. The connection kept on going in and out and we had a black out during the calls, as well. But the experience was priceless.
It's almost midnight now and I need to get up at 4am for the distribution tomorrow morning for 800 families with adoptive children. I cannot wait. This is finally coming true for this site. Tomorrow the U.S. army will escort us, which we've had a tremendous record with so far on reliability issues. We do not have to worry about the US army not showing up like today's plans in Léogâne. I cannot wait for tomorrow morning. Many people are leaving us tomorrow to go back to the States. I wish them all a safe flight.
Praying that it will not rain tonight or tomorrow....let's cross our fingers and hope to have sunshine!
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