ARCHIVES

ARCHIVES

‘You cannot believe what we are seeing’

By Staff

Kim Joos of Santa Ynez is due to return this week from Haiti, where she has spent nearly two weeks in support of a medical team from the Haiti Endowment Fund, based in Temecula.

Since leaving town on Friday, Jan. 22, for the HEF compound in Hinche, on Haiti’s central plateau, she has found scraps of time to send journal entries about her experiences among the victims of the earthquake that devastated the island Jan. 12. These are edited excerpts.

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It’s a good thing I began the day with a hearty breakfast, as the balance of the day was spent running from one airline connection to another: LAX to Dallas-Fort Worth to Ft. Lauderdale. Little time to use the restroom and certainly no time to eat. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale just before midnight.

Two men camped out with the over 2.25 tons of medical supplies in the Lynx terminal. The rest of us found what seemed to be the only hotel with vacancy in Ft. Lauderdale.

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We arrived at Lynx Air to discover our flight to Cap Haitien was moved back a couple of hours. It seems the charter had flown through the night to deliver several wounded Haitian babies to American soil. Now the pilots were required by FAA regulation to sleep for a certain amount of hours before they could fly again.

Our team was split with the majority leaving on one charter. Two other teams, one with our lead doctor, was left to take the next charter out, three hours behind us. All our medical supplies were to travel by the same charter company but on a cargo plane.

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This morning we traveled to the Cap Haitien airport to wait for the balance of team. They arrived, but our medical supplies still had not. We had arrangements with the U.N. to provide a security detail for us to Hinche. They had been very patient with the delays, but we felt we couldn’t push their good will any longer.

Our security detail included two UN troop transports, one at the lead and one picking up the rear. Our three 4-wheel-drive trucks were sandwiched between.

Each transport had six men in Kevlar and handling a M-14. It might have been over-kill, but this show would keep any of the looting and opportunistic bad guys at bay.

We began our 3.5 hour journey on the most heinous road. At the half-way point, the UN contingent handed us over to another UN contingent. We lost our two impressive transports for two SUVs, but after meeting Klaus, our UN captain from Australia, any misgivings I might have had were quickly dispelled.

We arrived at our compound with no issues and began to unpack what few items we had. We quickly got the team fed and our lead doctor went to the hospital to understand their needs. Tomorrow morning at 6 they will go participate in a hospital meeting. I’m guessing that means I will need to get up at 4:30 am to get breakfast served, so I will close out this day with a sigh of relief that we are here and can finally be a helpful part of the emergency relief operation.

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You cannot believe what we are seeing and the stories we are hearing. The hospital is full of fractured femurs and hips. So many children who have lost their parents.

There was one baby girl who was brought in by her aunt. The baby’s mother was crushed and killed along side her baby. The father is unaccounted for. The aunt brought the baby from Port-au-Prince to Hinche along with the baby’s four other sisters. I have no idea how she will care for them.

The Haitians are in shock. Many have the vacant stare of some one who has seen too much. I met a man today who fell down 8 steps when the earthquake occurred. He told us he had lost his wife and daughter. The brokenness of his face could not compare to the pain I saw in his eyes.

I witnessed a pastor’s wife that I work with often and usually stoic, remove herself to another room as she broke down and cried. The burden she is carrying is great.

I saw a truck come to our compound with a woman lying prostate in the bed of the truck. She had a compound fracture and had not been seen by a doctor since the earthquake. The pain she must have suffered from the bouncing truck on the savage roads of Haiti is incomprehensible.

Among the multitudes of wounded, I saw a woman about to give birth. It made me realize that even in the midst of unfathomable tragedy, life still goes on.

Our doctors are warriors — warriors without guns. The grueling schedule they are keeping is, quite frankly, super human. I know you already know this, but Americans are some of the most giving people in the world. I am proud to be an American.

Pray for Haiti.

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I’ve wanted to continue journaling, but time is so limited. Yeah, that’s right, there’s only 24 hours in a day and I seem to be busy for 20 of them.

After we arrived at our compound in Hinche, the doctors got over to the Hinche Hospital. Those who have never experienced a third world country were completely shocked.

The surgeons had to be creative. Our surgeon had a team member bring the Makita drill to the hospital. It was used in surgery. They saved many lives.

There were many amputations that had to occur. The people that had been pinned under rubble for so long had necrotic legs. There were so many broken femurs, and compound breaks. The only breaks you saw were from the waist and below. Those who were crushed above the waist died.

I was at the hospital one day and saw a group of our military. They wanted to know where we were staying.

They were Special Ops, getting intel to determine the best locations for food and supply drops and for delivery systems. They were very interested in our compound and what we were doing.

During the visit they discreetly took pictures of every one of us.

“Just in case something happens, Ma’am. We’ll have photo identification.” So if you see my picture on a milk carton, you’ll know my trip went south.

Running out of time, and others want to use the computer, so I’ll say good night for now. I’ll write tomorrow if I get the chance. I’m safe. Marines are pulling into Hinche. They’ll be here for awhile. The UN told us today that President Preval and Bill Clinton will be in Hinche tomorrow. I’m sure it will only be a photo op.

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The demographics of Haiti have changed. Maybe not forever, but for a couple generations, I believe. Those that survived the earthquake came back to villages they had come from. The city of Hinche was tripled in size. This in itself poses incredible problems, let alone the need for food and medical needs.

Another interesting fact that is happening here involves the 4,000 escaped prisoners from the Port-au-Prince jail. These are very, very bad guys. Many have found their way to Hinche.

The people of Hinche do not trust the local police, as they are corrupt. So they have developed what is called “Haitian Justice.” When the Hinche people discover one of these bad guys and know their history, they are killing them with machetes and then dousing them with gasoline and setting them ablaze.

Klaus, our UN escort, says there have been many of these ‘Haitian Justice’ killings. He states that if he sees one about to occur, he must step in to stop it. He has stopped three thus far.

Enough for now, will write later as time permits.