Moving Day

Kendra woke me up at 5:30am to organize our spreadsheet and to create an information sheet for each family. She knows chaos drives me nuts and we need to be as organized as possible for moving day. Created a document for each family, scanned info into the computer while the group got supplies ready for the day.

Worked for 2 hours, changed into nice clothes and had pear juice for breakfast.  Left the house at 8:30am and they took Carter and I to a training on the moving of IDPs (Internally Displaced People). The documents emailed to us before the meeting were in English and French, but the meeting was only in French and I was the only "blan" person there.  The topic was more about knowing your camp and what the health status is of each person.

Kendra picked us up as she, Xiomara, and Johnbern had already went to the IOM warehouse and MSC (the big hardware store by the UN Camp Charlie). To the land by 1:30pm. Then we called the families who were moving and told them to head over!

Put all the rain barrels, water jugs, and buckets in the shelters after marking the shelter number on each.

At 2:30pm, a crew of 8 UN security came out to the site. We asked them to come out...just in case. They will begin patrolling the area now that we have families. It's amazing how much help we can find as foreigners, and we realize a Haitian person could not get this type of support - even if their goals were similar to ours. Usually, we are even given a hard time when we visit the UN Log Base and Johnbern or Carter are in the car with us. At any rate, they all came from different countries, speaking different languages. There was one American officer from Florida who just finished a tour in Iraq. He is the first American police/military I've seen in all my trips here.

The families arrived at the village about 3pm - what a sight to see - a box truck with 14 families and all of their belongings. Out if the truck they came, singing a praise song in creole.

The 14 families arriving in one truck with all of their belongings.

Lifting their hands up, they all sang, then the Pastor read Psalms 133 and reminded the people that we were giving of our time to help them so they shouldn't fight or cause problems. Wow! The Pastor prayed, then Kendra gave a welcome, and I gave a tour of the site. It was exciting! We let people walk around and pick where they wanted to be, but before they even went they ALL gave Kendra and I a handshake or a hug - even the kids.

People got settled and began unpacking supplies from the truck. A few beds, "stoves", buckets, clothes. Kendra commented that even the families at her camp in Delmas had more than that.

Would all your stuff fit in this?

I stationed myself at the van for paperwork while Kendra and Carter signed the protocol with each family and Xiomara took pictures. It took some time to visit the families, but i'm glad we left we things organized in some fashion.

Back to the house to crash after another long but joyous day.

Sent from my iPod