Day 5

So now I am officially the base manager...which means I am responsible for getting the new volunteers here, and basically making sure everything is flowing smoothly on the base. It is giving me cabin fever!!

I did take a motorbike ride with 2 Haitians on the back in search of tools...that was a deadly trip...rubble everywhere, big cracks in the road, crossing "rivers"....I even almost hit a giant pig!!

What I saw when driving through Leogane was devastating...life was put on halt here. Most of the buildings crashed to the ground and are now piles of rubble. In place of the houses they had, a lot of people posted up tin shelters in the road.....I wonder what they eat, how they make money, how they feed their families. I already know where they shower! Anywhere and everywhere! I've seen so many naked Haitians takin bucket showers in the road....but where do they poo?

Day 4

There was an aftershock today, and the stuff fell off my shelves so I got out of bed...some volunteers are getting really worried about the concrete roof that we sleep under, and they started sleeping in the roofless courtyard.

I went to the market today, and it was by far the hottest it's been since I've been here. About 30 degrees. By the time we got there, I believe I was suffering from heat exhaustion, because I stopped a girl so I could buy a popsicle (ice lolly) and gave her 100 goude for a popsicle that was 5 goude. Anyways, once she was giving me all my change, people started surrounding me, begging for money, and yelling for me to buy their products. It was scary and riot-like. One of the bla's (foreigner) we were with spoke Creole, so he got me out of it. I didn't even eat the stupid popsicle. It was gross.

In the afternoon, I was hauling rubble. It was so fun! We took down a big cement roof with some sledge hammers. What is the most fun thing about hauling rubble is the response from the community. All people want to do is help. So we let them use our equipment, and they are working harder than us on the job site; hammering away while barefoot...even the littlest kids want to help, which still freaks me out, because the tools we are using could kill a little kid. But the spirit of the community amazes me. They are so upbeat. These people had nothing before the earthquake. But now they've lost their families.

Joe's bar opened tonight..right next door to our night club. We have to walk through the camp to get there, and all the people living in the camp are watching us have a good time. It's a little disconcerting...I comfort myself with the fact that I'm contributing to the local economy...Joe hired 2 girls from the camp! And the bottle caps from our Heinikins were used as tin nails to build a transitional shelter. Bomb.

Day 3

So today I started helping out with Base Management duties. Which means half the time I'm here will be spent in an office. But I am happy to be helping out the HODR employees that were overwhelmed with work.

In the afternoon I helped take down a building that was half fallen, and clear rubble. What a good time! Wheel barrelin, shovelin, sawin, sledgehammerin...and a lot of the neighborhood kids were actively helping us. The whole neighborhood is relieved by our help. It is a great feeling to actually see the difference your making in the faces of the people watching you work. The lot we cleared today was what used to be a man's house, and we were able to salvage some of the materials. So with those, tomorrow we will build him a temporary shelter and he will no longer be homeless. Good deal.

We had four small aftershocks today. It's kind of cool actually...to think about the Earth settling under me. So me and the girl bunking across from me have a system...when a quake happens at night, if the stuff on our shelves falls, that is when we will know it's bad enough to get out of bed.

I also learned about Leptospirosis...which will be affecting the people of Haiti very soon...once the rain starts, the "poo rivers", as Patrick deemed them, will start flowing, and anyone who gets poo water into an open cut is susceptible. But it's actually from animal poo...I'm not worried about the volunteers at all, considering that we have awareness to stay away from water, and we have a living area thats not inherently muddy. I am worried about the camps of people. There is a camp of 60 families in our front yard that are directly next to the poo river on our street that's getting ready to overflow with 1 good day of rain....

Day 2

My day started at 5:30 this morning...with someone yelling "Quake!" because of an aftershock, which I did not feel. Probably because of the massive sleeping pill I took in an attempt to overcome my jet lag. When someone yelled, I sprung out of bed to get to a safe roofless area, and I failed to remember that I had a mosquito net tucked under my mattress, so I tumbled...along with my mosquito net and bed...I must have looked like a mosquito that was wrapped up by a spider!

The other volunteers seem like useful people...carpenters, contractors, engineers, firefighters, military personnel...they are very helpful and genuine people and I'm glad I have the chance to get to know them. The first lady I met was Chris. She must be in her 50's. She just came from opening a hospital for women and children in Nigeria. My role model...She was quite shocked that I didn't take malaria medication, and she gave me a large bottle of deet. Thanks Chris!

So I started work today...a lot of people were doing rubble clean up consisting of using sledge hammers to break it into liftable pieces, then haul it out in wheel barrels. I was late to sign up, and so I got to stay at the base and do infrastructure work: carpentry. I put together bunk beds for volunteers that will be arriving. I did chiseling, nailing, drilling. What a day. It was realllyyy great to get that bucket shower under the stars this evening..

Day 1

I arrived in Haiti today...

At the airport, while waiting for our ride, we witnessed hundreds of Hatians trying to beg us for help through the gates of the airport. Once we got out, several people followed us and one little boy pleaded "my sister is dead, my sister is dead"....

On our way through Port Au Prince, we saw many signs of devastation; sprawling tent yards that will be flooded in a few days time, the collapsed presidential palace, and hundreds of collapsed buildings...we saw UNICEF, the Red Cross, and Save the Children.

Once in Leogane, we were greeted by the Sri Lankan army. Brilliant. And also, the UN is here, which comforted me. When we arrived at our base (a partially built night club), everyone was at the Canadian Army base watching the hockey game. I guess it makes sense that they would be here in larger numbers than the American army because they aren't currently fighting any wars...

Everyone in Leogane has been entirely polite, from yielding to our car in the street to smiling and waving heartily as we stroll by. I have been able to speak French and be understood, but I am working on picking up some Creole.

Myself and the other volunteers are sleeping in a partially built night club on bunk beds. It's not as unpleasant as it sounds...there is a cool breeze that comes in through the window. I am happy here.

आईटी हस सोमेथिंग तो दो विथ थे उनिवेरसे

but i could be wrong

all these times and time just happened

alussions of illusions

holograms and presents

in these lil heads of ours we own it

but not not

until now, it hasn't been now,

cause it's... now

and now

now

i know

one thing at least:

"i don't know what it means- shittttt"

NYC Events

Ok so this is for those of you bored by my blog; a simple listing of all the celebs I have encountered since moving to Manhattan in January. Not in any particular order, just as they come to mind.

Oprah
Patti LaBelle
Colin Ferrel
Anne Hathaway
Ashley Olsen
Chloe Sevigny
Milla Jovovich
Gwen Stefani
Robert DeNiro
Adrien Brody
Patrick Dempsey
Ashlee Simpson
Mick Jagger
Cynthia Nixon
Sarah Jessica Parker
Matthew Broderick
Kristin Davis
Kim Cattral
Fergie
Jennifer Hudson
Owen Wilson
Woodie Harrelson
Tila Tequila

....and countless other designers, models, producers, reality stars, photographers, editors, stylists, etc. Love it.

I am not leaving Manhattan any time soon.

No adventure to S. Korea, where white ex pat women are inferior, and someone without knowledge of Korean is looked down upon...I would much rather stay in my own country, where currently I am thriving.