Helping Hands for Haiti

On Saturday, January 30 Brian was able to go to the airport in Santiago with a few people from our school and a local church. They sorted donated food and supplies in a small warehouse in the cargo area at the airport. Throughout the day loads of the items were prepared to ship to Haiti. The volunteers loaded seven tons of supplies onto airplanes. A few of the planes made two trips that day. The group also loaded another three to four tons on carts that would be ready to take out to planes the following day. A mission organization with ties to the United States coordinated the incoming donations, preparations of shipments, and the destination points in Haiti

Private corportations donated the use of their planes and pilots to make these relief efforts possible. Some of the pilots were from Boston, Atlanta, Vancouver, and California. Many Dominican companies donated various supplies that were sent out that day. Some of the items had also been sent from different churches and organizations in the United States. It was incredible to think about all the efforts and generous donations it took to provide this much-needed aid. While just a small part of the overall relief efforts, it was a rewarding experience knowing that we were able to help bring some hope to desperate hurting people.

Brian and Marie Elva, the French teacher at Santiago Christian School. She, being Haitian, was particularly eager to volunteer. Sadly, two of Marie Elva's cousins died as a result of the earthquake. Several days after the quake Marie Elva traveled to Haiti, bringing some food and supplies to her family whose homes were destroyed like countless others.

This enormous cargo plane arrived with UN containers and modular portable offices that were quickly loaded on flatbed trucks bound for Haiti.

Our Experience with the Earthquake

We recently experienced the earthquake that caused so much destruction in Haiti. We had walked to the grocery store to pick up a few things after school. As we were walking home, the ground began to pitch and roll. Brian grabbed for a nearby metal gate. We didn't realize it was an earthquake at first. Brian mentioned that he felt dizzy. We stood there for a minute before we realized that it was an earthquake. We held on to the gate and watched the water in the puddles slosh back and forth. Above our heads, the electricity wires were swaying as if blown by a violent wind. However, the air was still during these eerie moments. Once the shaking subsided we walked the last block to our apartment building. Many of our neighbors were standing outside talking about what had happened. The math teacher from our school lives just three buildings down from us. He and his wife walked over, and we talked about whether or not it was safe to go back inside. During this time we were feeling some slight aftershocks. Eventually everyone started to go back inside, and we followed.

Nothing in our apartment was out of place or damaged. We later heard that the earthquake was about a 5.7 or a 5.9 here.

We haven't felt any more aftershocks, and there wasn't any damage in our city. We had school the next day and life settled back into its usual routine for us.