Update from Haiti (Day 9)

Jan. 21, 2010 11:30pm.

Please continue your prayers as I have faith that they are working! Yesterday I was up at 4am and headed straight to the airport in PAP. We coordinated a cargo plane to arrive with medical supplies. As we speak there are many planes all trying to land in PAP. Of course, our plane didn't land in time so we were playing somewhat of a dance with all the different planes waiting for ours to arrive. Fortunately, our plane did arrive.

Tomorrow we will have another plane arriving with more diapers, antibiotics and other medical supplies. Wednesday was a difficult day for our group because we lacked supplies but it's good that we have some coming in and will continue to need more supplies every day. When our supplies come in, I am the one at the airport who is accepting the supplies. Thursday our focus was getting supplies to areas who had none, these supplies included medical aid and food.

My days are crazy going from hospitals to neighborhoods to the airport, etc. I see that some areas have too much aid, for example one hospital set up had around 23 doctors and not that many patients and then some areas have no aid whatsoever. Things are pretty disorganized and there is no system. But being here a week now, at least I'm able to get a better handle on logistics and what works for our group.

To give you a better picture of what I see- yesterday at one hospital I saw tons of people who were getting different limbs amputated, arms and legs being removed. In the morgue and autopsy rooms, there are dead bodies stacked to the ceiling- it's like a freaky horror show. In the streets you see a lot of dead bodies just laying there and the youth looting...it's a zoo. I also heard that in one prison, the prisoners all escaped. In every neighborhood we talk to people and try to see how things could be better. Obviously everything is not planned and managed correctly but we are doing the best we can. Nonetheless my faith is strong and I cannot thank you all enough for your kind thoughts, donations and prayers...back to work!

God Bless,
Caleb Leconte