Turlock Business Owner Angela Raeburn’s Blog on Volunteering in Haiti.

Turlocker Angela Raeburn at the HIH Orphanage in Port Au Prince with a 2 year old orphan named Merlene.

Angela Raeburn, owner of Rapid Refill in Turlock, has decided to sacrifice some time and money to go help out in Haiti.

Angela’s intense interest and care for Haiti came before the current day crisis that has brought the poverty stricken country to our nightly news for about one week last January. Angela wrote about Haiti, Democracy and Class Conflicts for her Master’s dissertation in 2007 while in graduate school in Belgium. Angela was the recipient of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship sponsored by Modesto Rotary Club which led her to graduate school in Belgium.

The culture and history of Haiti is what Angela wishes to raise awareness of as she announces her trip to the country. “Not only is Haiti the poorest country in the western hemisphere, the country’s history has never given the people who live there a chance to rise above their history that includes slavery, a bloody war of liberation against the French, a 20 year occupation by the USA, political corruption, social class conflicts, which must be included when any analysis is made of the reasons for Haiti’s abject poverty.” said Angela Raeburn.

So rather than send “just money,” Angela is going to Haiti by volunteering with an organization called Mercy League International. Mercy League International is a small grass roots humanitarian organization based in Oregon. “It is an opportunity to have an up close and personal view of what we see on the news and the chance to tell their stories.” I want to connect real people in Turlock with real people in Haiti and to build a bridge to share their stories”.

“It is a window into a world of opportunity for people who want to be involved in grass roots movements around the world,” states their website www.mercyleague.org.

The organization also makes clear that they do not claim to take responsibility for anyone’s personal welfare. The website says that “We all take a risk by working and volunteering in Haiti.”

Mercy League International charges $440 per week to feed, house, and transport volunteers such as Angela. A plane ticket of around $1,000 and other additional costs are borne by the volunteer.

Angela Raeburn will be involved in several aspects of relief and humanitarian work. She will be going to schools, caring for people who come to the organization’s field medical clinic, assisting with painting and rebuilding homes, and working with children who aren’t going to school. Her desire is to get support from her local Turlock community by way of donations in the form of money and/or supplies for children. The cost of supplies there makes it reasonable to gather items here such as pencils, paper, crayons, books, etc and take them over to Haiti with her.

Turlockers have a chance to personally contribute to an international cause by sending needed items with Angela before she leaves on March 22, 2010. Angela will blog through TurlockCityNews.com to share Haitian stories and how your contributions have helped the life of someone in that country.

BBVA Compus has opened a checking account under Angela Raeburn Haiti Project and is open for public viewing in an effort to be totally transparent in her efforts.

Questions about Haiti and about volunteering in this country can be addressed by calling Angela Raeburn at Rapid Refill at 668-2217 or her residence phone at 664-9962.

Angela Raeburn’s Blog From Haiti

03/31/10

The internet here is precarious at best so today was t first day that I could actually find a moment to write to you.

I decided not to start by telling about the utter and complete devastation that I have seen in Port Au Prince. This is what we see on the news. Yes, the earthquake caused damage but what I see in Haiti is far more complex than just the devastation of the buildings.

I arrived in Haiti last Thursday afternoon. As I went in search of the baggage claim , what ensued was just chaotic. There is no baggage carrousel – so men bring the bags into the area and people swarm the area in search of their bags. There is no rhyme or reason to this method but this is the way flights arrive in Haiti.

The method of transportation public includes a bus system but something more local would be the “tap tap:- a contraption where seats are put into the back of a pick up truck. So people jump on the back of these frightening vehicles and whiz around the city. The city is teaming with tents, from USAID, Oxfam, Red Cross. The tent idea was an immediate fix to the housing problem that may prove to have long term negative consequences. Every park or open space has tents. The temperatures hovers around 90 daily and the tents are hot. People are sleeping on the streets, cooking in the streets over coals and bathing.

On Saturday, I went to a tent city with the volunteers to find out about all the barefoot children playing in the rubble. When I left Turlock I had received 110 pairs of flip flops from Walnut School for children. I gave 50 pairs on this day. The streets are so devastated and there is so much rubble and rocks yet children play. I could not give some of the parents even though they walked barefoot as well. I met a little boy named Basil ( 10 years) who reminded me of my son . I asked him if I could give him a pair of slippers and he told me that I had to ask his mom. I went to his tent with him to ask her and she was gracious. I gave both Basil and his brother some slippers.

On Monday, I walked 4 miles up a mountain with another volunteer to see a school that we hope to rebuild. Look at the photos of what they call a school. All the way up this mountain is a cement room that is a school for 100 children whose parents are in the farming community. The building did not hold up well during the quake so we went there to see if we could repair it or would it have to be demolished. It needs to be demolished as it is unsafe. So the unpaid director of the school told me that she had been seeking a tent to hold school. In Haiti there are a lot of NGO’s but honestly I am no sure exactly how they function. For example, Madam Christine, the director wrote a letter to all the NGO’s asking if she could get a tent for school. She has not received a response. The school is rural and after I walked 4 miles up a mountain to get there trust me when I say it is extremely difficult to get there.

Many schools in Haiti has been closed since the earthquake. The buildings completely collapsed. The government says that they will reopen on Monday April 5. If this happens it will be a big surprise to everyone in this country as they have not even begun digging up the rubble.

So I am living with a Haitian family- the warmest people that I have ever met. They smile in the face of odds that are systematically against every thing they do. Haiti is a country designed to humiliate and reduce a person to a level where they understand their place in the society. Those who have – about 20% and those have NOTHING about 80%. Haiti is a country where 50% of the population is illiterate. Yet, the children have been out of school since the quake. The impetus to get the schools back on line has been very slow.

Here are some of my observations …

To enter into the bank- one must be searched. Standing next to the guard who searches your bag is a man with a semi-automatic weapon.

Haitians cannot enter into the offices of the NGO’s in Haiti. They must speak to the guard out front but they themselves do not enter. Another volunteer from Canada and I have decided to test this to see if we will be allowed to enter the NGO office to ask for help regarding the tent for the rural school.

So…I will let you all know about this when I go there this afternoon.

Angela

04/01/10

It is raining in Port of Prince Haiti, torrential rains that has not subsided for about the last hour. As it rains, I have to bring your attention to those living in tents. At this time, almost one quarter of the city’s residents are living in tents. This tent cannot shield them nor their families from the rains. Not to mention the wet ground which they will sleep on tonight. All of this coupled with the mounds of garbage that stinks to high heaven.

The tents were sent by aid organizations but as usual with a short term vision. Yes tents were needed in the immediate aftermath of the quake so that those people without shelter could sleep bbut everyone knew that the massive rains were coming. It was as though people just stood around saying that the rains were coming..well they are here.

This country is in an indescribable shape. So today I spent my day attempting to negotiate a tent with UNICEF. We arrived at UNICEF which is on the UN compound which is a huge space that houses all the UN agencies and the other international NGO’s. Yesterday I said that Haitians are not allowed to enter in this compound. Let me clarify- Haitians who work on the compound are allowed to enter however, Haitians who do not work for the international community cannot go to the UN office or other international organizations on the compound.

I arrived with a Canadian volunteer- we figured that we would be able to show our passports

and go into the UNICEF office to negotiate a tent for the school in the mountain. The guard gave me a white piece of paper with my passport information which I was able to use to get onto the compound.

The UN and its international offices have created a UN compound housed with all that is required – tractors, buses, vans, jeeps, a UN store which by the way we were unable to buy a soda in the store since we were not UN employees. , As you enter into the compound it is a little surreal- it is as though you stepped out of the misery of Haiti into an oasis of efficiency and all that the US has to offer. I was struck by the tractors which occurred to me that they were yet unused. As you walk in the compound- there are lots of very busy looking people, talking on cell phones, or driving new SUV type cars, up and down. One had the impession that they were really busy but I was unsure what they did. I guarantee that if you ask the average Haitian who is living on $2 per day – they might say the international community does nothing. They might acknowledge that there was lots of talk of aid but they have not seen it.

I walked amidst all the tents and the temporary housing that has miraculously sprung up to house UN personnel ( yet these same homes could not be manufactured to provide temporary housing to Haitians) and I finally found the UNICEF tent. My objective was to find a tent – the type that is given out by UNICEF which has the hanging blackboards. The school in the mountain has been destroyed and there is no way that it will be rebuilt – at least not in the near future. So we need a tent since school will supposedly start on Monday.

I met a very efficient woman who spoke to me in French. I explained what I needed and she expained to me that I needed to provide information about the school and where it was located. I asked her why we were still discussing sending out tents when the government has already announced that school will start so why have the tents not gone out as yet. She basically told me that there a list – yes the dreaded list – that all the tent requests will go through before a tent can be issued. So, the students at the mountain school will probably not start school.

Here are my thoughts for this day- April 1, about Haiti.

This country has more aid workers than perhaps most countries. This country never improves. The Aid workers are here- they are the ones driving the cars, frequenting the posh nightclubs (yes there are those in this city) shopping at the boutiques whose prices will rival Nordstroms. Aid will not solve this country’s problem.

The UN and other organizations have taken away any semblance of respect that the Haitian people might have felt for their government. The people know their government is dependent and unable to do anything for them. The UN and the other Aid groups run the country. The aid is organized through the UN groups.

As I left the compound this afternoon – very annoyed that the UN store – funded by the governments of people like me – taxpayers would not sell a soda to us since we did not work there. Incidentally, the UN store was stocked with everything that you will find in SafeWay, or Raleys and even BevMo. I wondered about these people whose offices were housed right down the street from desperately poor people. There is something about this system that has to be changed.

The high note of the day was that we were able to organizae a medical clinic – of traveling doctors mostly American who will take a team up the mountain to see the people in the farming community.

Tomorrow everything is closed in Haiti. It is Good Friday so I am signing off. Monday I will buy $460 of school supplies utilizing the money raised in Turlock. The internet is very slow so I have been unable to even download pictures but I will try again next week.

Angela

04/16

Greetings:

I said in the last update that the rains had come to Haiti. Last Saturday night, it rained so heavily that it washed our driveway completely away. I wondered about the people sleeping in the tents.

I wanted to comment on the successes and the failures that our volunteer group had to deal with this last week. We took all the school supplies that were donated from kind people who have supported me in Turlock. I felt during my school supply shopping spree that the items were too expensive but we went ahead. I bought paper, notebooks, pens, crayons, colored pencils, geometry kits and a big classroom sharpener. Lorraine (the Canadian volunteer) and I went up the mountain to deliver the supplies to the class. I was struck by the good behavior of the children who sat quietly as the teacher explained who we were and what we had done for their class. Honestly, I did not feel like I had done anything as I knew that we were not making even a ripple.

I had also brought the remaining balance of the flip flops donated to me by Walnut Elementary School children and families. As were matching children to the flip flops I handed a pair of silver sandals to a 6 year old girl who was one of a triplet sibling group in the classroom. She looked at the sandals and said to me- ” je n’avais pas des sandales. Merci Dieu”.( I did not have any sandals -Thank you God.) Then I thought we had made a ripple in this child’s life and I reminded myself to keep things in perspective.

As we descended the mountain I thought about the vast and somewhat hopeless situation that we were facing in this country. Haitians themselves however, are not hopeless and continue to wake up everyday with some purpose. I think this is what I like most about this country. Even though they have nothing they continue. I contrasted this with the hatefulness of life in America today and I realized that our abundance has made some of us less charitable and angry.

I was disappointed that a mis-communication with the doctors prevented the medical team from going up the mountain on Monday. This incident reinforced what I already knew – everything in Haiti is work and nothing is ever accomplished until it is actually accomplished. I was determined to reschedule this meeting so we went back to the medical offices to get on the schedule again. The doctors are confirmed for Monday April 19. 2010. I will email on Monday night to actually confirm the event.

I have not spent all the money that was donated to me. My thought was to find someone who could build some benches to replace the really shoddy ones in the classroom. So, I received a “bid” which was just a carpenter giving me some estimates about the materials and the labor. I think that I will add more funds to it and have him build some benches.

On the last day, we went to downtown Port of Prince where all the national buildings including the palace had collapsed. As I stood looking at the Palace – which incidentally has a very large tent city opposite its grounds- it struck me that the fallen Palace was emblematic of the ills of this island nation. I wondered about how we in America would react to a fallen White House. The Palace in ruins, the Supreme Court, the Treasury – all laying in a pile of debris. However, Haitians have already reconstructed their lives around the rubble. Three months after the earthquake all the rubble remains, the garbage remains, the tent cities remain and now they are normal and many would say – the tent cities will become permanent fixtures.

Last night I packed my bags and I wondered what I missed most about life in the US. I think that I missed running water and ice.

Best

Angela