July 8, 2010
Port Au Prince, Haiti
Please forgive me if this update is a little scattered. I am on my final day of treatment for Malaria, it is 4:30 am, and I can see my key board with the aid of a miners head lamp. I know what you are thinking what the heck is he doing up at 4:30 in the morning writing an update to supporters? Well the short answer is the 4:00 am wrong number, a very annoying rooster, and a mosquito that got under my net. For any of you that think “what can I do?” “I’m insignificant” think how small a mosquito is and the effect he has on a dark room while you are trying to sleep.
I have been here now for 43 days. In that time I had a number of projects to arrange and complete. The Reason I came here on May 25th was that King’s Kids Worldwide with the Help of Seeds Of Hope Children’s Ministries and Sauble Beach Christian Fellowship , sent a 40 foot shipping container full of medical supplies, tents, tarps, building supplies and other essential materials. I was told it arrived in Port Au Prince on April 25th and would take about a month to clear customs. I knew I had to be here to receive the container, because I was the only person that knew what and who everything was for. Fast forward to June 18th. I receive an email informing me that the container is not actually in Port Au Prince, It is In Freeport, Bahamas, But they assured me that it was pre cleared , would arrive at the Port on June 25th and would be cleared with-in the week. Hmmmmmm….. that was 13 days ago and I have yet to here one word as to where the container is. It is not only happening to us, I have spoken to multiple aid organizations that are getting the same treatment.
I helped Dorothy from Faith Hope and Love Infant Rescue, purchase a brand new Tata, Xenon Diesel Pick-up Truck. The reason I picked this truck was that it owned by Range Rover and they Had Just received a shipment of 6 of them, arriving in the port that day(May 27). I had been looking for a new vehicle for her and all makes were on back order until the end of July. I made the deposit , and 2 days later paid the full amount owing, including over $9000 in Taxes and duties. I was told that it would be a quick process for me because I was paying all the duty, and not bringing it in under Non-taxable status. “You will have it by the end of next week” It is now 41 days later, all the paperwork has been done filed and approved, but customs wont release the vehicle, and to make matters worse are charging the dealership $50 US a day “because it has been in the port more than 15 days”
Needless to say, working I Haiti is frustrating, it certainly teaches you patience. It is not all bad, The people here are friendly and giving. They are hardworking and content with far less than any human should have to be content with. There are still may thousands of people living in makeshift tent cities with little or no sanitation. Recently to make matters worse for some of these people, some of the people, that own the land the camps were made on are forcibly evicting the residents of the camps with groups of armed men.
On a brighter note, we were able to welcome a new boy to the Tytoo Gardens Family. His name is Reginald Moise Ashley. Up until the day before he came to us, he didn’t even have a name. His name was given to him by the Judge. He was what is referred to as a Restavik or child shave. He had showing up at the nearby Samaritans Purse Compound, naked a looking for food. He started coming daily and made friends with a medical team there. They soon found out that he was severely abused and had machete scars to prove it. One of the men on the team made it his personal mission to save this boy. He went and saw a judge, who told him that if he could find an Orphanage to accept him, he would remove the child from his “caregivers” We told them that we would take him, and 24 hours later, he arrived. He has been a joy to have around, he has a constant smile on his face, he wants to help me when ever I’m working outside, and he would eat until he explodes. In the week he has been here, he has learned to ride a bicycle, play basket ball and watched television for the very first time. I know he is only one child, but we have made a profound difference in his life. He now has a future and potential, before his future was abject poverty and possible starvation. He will now get an education, grow up in a loving environment and actually belong somewhere. He is no longer owned by anyone.
This is what makes what we do worthwhile! What is the life of a child worth?
Frank King RN
President
Port Au Prince, Haiti,
June 15, 2010
Things are starting to mount up. We have over 40 children in the Infant Rescue House and the Chicken Pox has hit. In most situations this is an inconvenience to be dealt with. Here it can be far more serious. A number of these children have HIV, suppressing their tiny immune systems, making far more susceptible to the Chicken pox virus (Herpes Zoster) It not only makes them break out is more lesions, it also makes them more prone to some side effects that you wouldn’t normally see in healthy children; blindness, severe infections and sometimes death.
Jessica is a nurse from Alberta and is currently overseeing the Infant Rescue House. She is highly skilled, but only one person. She is also the head nurse of a hospital in Port Au Prince that looks after people that were injured in the Quake and are still requiring care. They also look after women with hi risk pregnancies, and have a labour and delivery room. Jessica works in this hospital when she can, often doing the night shift that is difficult to find staff for. Yesterday, she came back to the rescue house, after doing 3-12 hour night shifts, to then spent the morning and most of the afternoon getting supplies and treating the many children that have developed Chicken pox. This is on top of supervising the many staff and overseeing the budget. To make matters worse, both refrigerators at the house stopped working. Having no fridge is a significant dilemma, when many of the medications these children require need to be refrigerated.
We also found out yesterday that the 1992 Isuzu Trooper that is relied on to bring children to their appointments and pick up supplies, requires $1500 worth of repairs to make it reliable. The rescue house has been given a new pick-up truck, but it is still in customs and we are not sure when we will get it.
I know I am sounding like I’m complaining too much, but that isn’t true. These are the issues that have to be dealt with on a day to day basis in Haiti. In Canada, they would be difficult to manage, here they are monumental. 80% of the infrastructure in Haiti has been damaged or ruined. Things that should only take an hour to do, often take a day or more. Because roads have been damaged, traffic jams are the norm. It took me over 3 hours yesterday to travel lees than 2 miles, we finally had to turn around, never reaching our destination. There are also shortages of medicines, fuel and some other essential items., often driving the costs up to incredible prices.
Please remember, that just because you are not seeing the devastation on the nightly news any more, does not mean that the needs have gone away. The needs are greater now than they were immediately after the quake. Many organizations that were helping with the relief effort have left the country. This leaves the rest of us having to work harder to even try to keep up with the needs. There are still 10’s of thousands of people living in makeshift shelters and tents. The unemployment rate is staggering and people are desperate just to survive. Please do not forget Haiti, the healing process is long and hard, requiring the help of people like you.
King’s Kids is currently overseeing the Faith, Hope and Love Infant Rescue, Tytoo Gardens Orphanage and our Teen Transition House project. We are also doing outreach to neighboring communities, supplying food and shelter to the truly needy. We can not possibly continue this without your support.
If you have any questions or wish to help, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely
Frank King RN
President
King's Kids Worldwide
