Sunday, March 23, 2008

First Haiti Post....More to Come

I thought I would begin the blog-fest that I will be having in the next few days..hehe Once you come home from Haiti you need to take time to 'process' all you did, see, experienced before you can talk about it. Once I get going, my mind will race and I will have to spread out the posts or I will write a novel for you to read...so we begin

Sat. I flew to Seattle and met the Adoptive dad so we could fly to Miami and connect to Haiti. We took a 10:30pm red eye flight...not a 100% good idea...We had a drunk man behind us that seemed to holler every time I would actually being to doze off. I wish someone would have tasered him..he needed it.
We arrived in Miami without incident (and without sleep as well) to make our connecting flight to Haiti.

Sun: We arrived in Haiti by 12:30pm...a little late but with all the luggage making it thru...YEAH. We almost made it to the door of the airport before customs decided they wanted to see what I was bringing in the computer boxes. Lesson for this trip, next time you take computers, put them in a HUGE duffel bag so they can enter unnoticed. :-)
Customs decided that I needed to pay a 'Tax' on the items...I called Dr. B and he told me to leave the computers at the airport, only to change his mind once we had already begun leaving the airport with Samuel. We went back to the airport to barter with customs, and offer them about $75 than they asked for. After a lot of himming and hawing, they relented allowing me to take the computers out.
In the meantime, we had left the Dad, his son and another little boy in the car to wait. I think the dad was pretty freaked out even though I promised him he would be ok...scary for the first time visitor.
We got back into the car and I held the other little boy "L" as we we headed to the Guest House. Little L decided that he needed to Vomi....on me....so second time in Haiti and 2nd. time vomited on by a child that wasn't mine...hehe

We were headed up Delmas when we saw people running around screaming. We then saw a person laying in the road. I told Samuel, our driver/guard that I was going to go help. When I ran tot he scene, it was chaos. A little girl, about 8years old was laying in a pool of blood. Men were hollering for help, women were grabbing her arm and letting it flop to show her unconscious/deceased state and then yelling to the sky..I felt for a pulse and felt nothing. Her little eyes were open, her lips were blue and she was bleeding quite a bit. A man, I assume her father, came running asking if I had a car to take her in.
(side note) I have been to Haiti 4 times, I was still unsure of the ambulance system, but felt sure that the police would come and the girl would be transported correctly to the hospital...this was not the case.)
I was told by a man who was a Dr. on the scene, that an ambulance would take about 2-3 hours to get to her and get to the hospital...so much for the Golden hour of Emergency care.)
A man pulled up with a truck and the one I assume was family, picked the girl up and loaded her into he back of the truck to take her to help....trip, not off to a good start. I let a few tears go for the little girl I did not know, but who will probably pass due to lack of care in a 5th world country...so sad.
We get back in the car only to have it break down about 2 Miles from the accident scene....time to call in reinforcements....Samuel's dad to the rescue.
We made it to the Guest House fine after that, no worse for the wear, but with a possibl traumatized Adoptive dad...hehe

Monday: We had Visa appointment today. Arrived at Consulate only to have them tell us they were not sure we actually had an appointment.....good thing Adoptive Mom had put copy of email in the bag...Especially after I warned her that they could be difficult there. Visa appointment went well. We visited with the new Vice Counsel and her Assistant and waited to be told we were done and the Visa would be ready later in the day.
We met a mom who has been in the process of adopting for over 3 years now, has waited for her Visa since September 2007 and is undergoing a third Fraud investigation...meetings with Birth families etc. to assure the Consulate that the children were not being trafficked. What a nice gal, I felt so bad for her, being a single mom and going thru all of this alone...she is a strong gal. Her situation puts a lot of perspective on what adoption could be like....
By 2pm Visa was in Hand!!! Praise God he came thru again! We spent the rest of the afternoon in the office and at the orphanage/Pension with the kids.....

More tomorrow

3 comments:

Julie said...

LeAnne, I can't wait to hear all about your trip. I am glad to hear there are people getting visa appointments. With so many people waiting at this step... it is easy to believe that I will never go and get my kids.

Sherry said...

Wow, what a nightmare of activity. How very terrible for the little girl and her family. :(

Yay for the visas!

Angela said...

CRAZY! Heartbroken to read about the little girl. I can't help but look at our children and think of the pain it would be if it were one of them. So proud of you for getting out to see if you could help!!!