My good friends here with me in Indonesia knew before I did that I would be heading to Haiti instead of Pakistan… I just didn’t believe them at the time. Well I have just proven them right by booking one of the most ridiculous set of plane trips I have ever taken: Kuala Lumpur – London – New York – Haiti – Cape Town with a couple of side trips to Glasgow and home to Canada for 10 days each. Sorry about the carbon footprint thing.
In the end I guess I couldn’t resist the pull to head back to Haiti and help out. My motivations for previous volunteering stints have always been a bit suspect but this time around I really feel a responsibility to help out, even if just a little bit. This will be a tough one emotionally, I think. With the earthquake claiming more than 200,000 lives in such a small area, I am bound to come across endless stories of lost loved ones and grief. I’m not sure how I will cope with the whole thing but I will never know if I don’t go.
Strangely, my parents are dead set against me going back to Haiti, although somehow they were ok with Pakistan. I haven’t had a TV for months so haven’t seen any coverage of the quake and the only news reports I am getting are in print. It seems like, according to the Canadian media at least, things over there are bad with reports of rape and looting and fears of disease as the rainy season rolls in. From my personal experience I know that the media tends to make everything sound scarier than it actually is but in this case I’m not sure what to think.
I do have plenty of friends over there working in different capacities and all are safe and sounds and getting on with the work at hand. Several have been working with Medishare putting in 20 hour days in some very trying circumstances. The need for volunteers in support roles at their trauma hospital is huge and a couple of friends of mine have put out a plea for interested people to contact them. If you want their contact details, email me and I will pass them along, internet connection willing.
I will be working with Hands On for a fourth time and this time around things will be a bit different. They have already received over 5,000 inquiries about volunteering in Haiti (as a comparison, the Indonesian project I’m currently on has only received about 400 inquiries over the course of the project) and, as a result of the expected influx of volunteers they will have a capacity of 100 people at a time. If you want to volunteer with them you will have to submit your first and second choice for dates along with an application-style form. The project is due to run for a minimum of six months, check out their information page for more details. I’m locked in for March 15th until the end of May… maybe see you there?
I’m looking especially forward to seeing some of my Haitian friends from Gonaives as I imagine some of them will come up to volunteer for awhile. I’m a bit apprehensive of what I’m getting myself into but at the same time, I can’t wait to get there.
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