Wasn't Our Original Plan... But We Made A Difference

Day 2 Port Au Prince, Haiti:
We are up by 5AM and wake up to sounds of crying from children. I can’t figure out where it is coming from. Then generator is turned on, drowning out all the noise of the children and animals. Fellow teammates are coming out of tents and suiting up for the day. Medical teams are getting their supplies together. At 6AM sharp, it is like a switch has been turned on! You can hear a number of helicopters and planes and trucks.


First thing this morning, I visited Children's House of Haiti, the orphanage I'm helping, to meet up with Director Sam Sook. She would accompany our team to our first UN briefing as she has great relationships with the other NGOs and OCHA. The children in the orphanage are absolutely amazing. These kids are bright and joyful. They want to help so much and are so happy to see other people. They are very well adjusted and talk about the earthquake openly, a very good sign that they will not suffer from PTSD (more on this in an upcoming blog post, if I have time).

ALL of the children speak English, French Creole, and Korean! In addition to Haitian games, they play Korean games, sing Korean children’s songs, and can read and write in Korean too. I thought I would have a difficult time working in Haiti because I do not speak Creole, but as it turns out, not being fluent in Korean may be the sticking point ;) The environment is so loving and warm. It is a total family atmosphere.


After the orphanage, I went to a UN briefing for organizations working with children.
At the briefing, we were approached by U.S. military members that have been working to distribute tarp tents to large communities (tent cities) where people are living without any type of shelter. They told us of how dangerous those communities were and that they were even attacked by groups when going into these large places. These communities also have hundreds of children running around, all without parents.

They tried to bring in a children’s aid group the week before but the Haitians would not let this group in. The group told the soldiers about the director of this orphanage that was said to be well known in the area and respected and said that she would be trusted to go in and assess the needs of the children in that community.

Their concern was not just the children but the fact that these communities were starving and most food NGO's would not distribute there understandable because of the risk. The had

They asked the Director if she would go in with them – they would provide protection. They wanted our help to go into these communities and work with the community leaders to get figures on what the needs are. They explained that they had a difficult time getting supplies into Delmas because they get swarmed. The Director Sam Sook asked my father and me to accompany her because we would need to talk to so many people in such a short time period. The idea was that because my father and I are both Korean (Asian looking) the people in these communities would be more comfortable. The locals call her “Old Asia Mother”. Within an hour, we contacted 4 other Koreans we knew to be working in Haiti (each one with a different organization). We had soon created a new team made up of Asians!

We all met up at the orphanage where she quickly made Korean ramen, which the soldiers loved, while we all studied our strategy and discussed what the dangers and concerns were. The soldiers showed us the maps of Delmas, which noted that there were no food distribution centers there, unlike most other areas. They also helped us with an exit strategy. At this time, I didn't take them seriously. I thought, "How bad could it be. We're not in a war zone!"



We suited up and left our original team (including the UN troops), and left with the U.S. military. They took us deep into Delmas.

It is amazing what happened next. The military dropped us at the gates. We WALKED into the community and right away someone recognized Director Sam Sook! She asked him who was the acting leader of the community and he took us to the group. She spoke with them in Creole and I'm not sure what was said but 'everything was a go'. wow. They agreed that they would be orderly and that tomorrow they would allow our Linking the World team to come in and work with the children in the camps.

What we saw in the camps was horrendous – sewage everywhere, tents that ere not really tents, just pieces of fabric and sticks. So crowded and hot. The air there is heavy and pungent. It is hard to breathe because of the dust and the ground the people live in is muddy and filed to the knees with trash and bile.

The military helped us organize everyone into a line at the entrance of the community (this particular community had a stone wall around it with a main pedestrian gate). The people would come in through one door, receive their food distribution and go right back into the community. This way they wouldn't overtake the trucks and us along with it.

The food NGO Global Assistance Partners (One of the Koreans in our new team was the group leader for Haiti) called in their food trucks and as they were pulling up, we saw what looked like hundreds of people running towards us as they saw aid trucks were coming in. I have to say, I was scared for my life. Soldiers came around me while other troops created a barrier between the trucks and the people. It's something about mob of people running towards you that is unnerving. To me, this was worse than any war zone I've seen on TV... :/





The people in the community did what they said they would do. They were quick and orderly, coming in one door and and going right back in. It was crazy to see how many people were coming out to receive assistance with babies in their arms. The people on the other side of the troops on the other hand were angry and frustrated. They wanted to know why they were not being helped. They pushed kids towards the front yelling that the kids were hungry. It was heartbreaking that we couldn't help them.


First, we didn't have any food. Second, allowing trucks into a crowd like that was a sure to create problems.

The mission was a success. Our original plan for today was to start registering orphans in the nearby communities, but what actually happened was even better. We partnered with some GREAT NGOs apart from the medical team we were already working with and built trust with the community leader we will work with tomorrow. The community got shelter boxes, food for a few days and tomorrow the kids will be registered.




Tonight we are moving camp to the orphanage. I am so inspired by Director Sam Sook and she's agreed to show me her Haiti and why she has dedicated her life to the children.

See photos from this day at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052128&id=1379850505&l=31b9cdb436