On the Border
Trip Start
Aug 19, 2008
1
32
41
Trip End
Oct 29, 2010
La Ciénaga, Barahona, Dominican Republic
Friday, January 22, 2010
In a town called Jimani (hee-man-ee) in the Dominican Republic, only minutes away from the Dominican/Haitian border, there was an influx of traffic. Not only were there many injured Haitians coming from Port-au-Prince, but there were people from all over the world - aid organizations from Costa Rica, Canada, and Hungry, the Tawainese Search & Rescue Team, the Red Cross, and many Dominican volunteers from their Defensa Civil and military.
Peace Corps sent another volunteer, Jonathan, and I to investigate how things were at the border and to fulfill any needs at the moment from USAID (and in general). We arrived to Jimani in the late afternoon on Friday. The first thing I remember seeing was the amount of people standing in front of the main hospital in town, a hospital as we later found out was definitely not equiped to handle this much work. We arrived at the World Vision office where Josue, the USAID representative, spoke with employees there about the current situation at the border. His main job was, in addition to understand the immediate state of things, to find space to put truck loads of water that his organization purchased.
The setting was an interesting one since at points it seemed so chaotic and others not at all. Parts of the town were functioning as normal whereas the military fortress that lay on top of a hill was constantly receiving military personnel, helicopters taking patients to Santo Domingo, and the many incoming aid organizations and news journalists. There were tents everywhere by the fortress that were mainly for the soldiers, although in some they were offering tetnus vaccinations and had developed a very low functioning "Centro de Informacion" (Information Center). Another fascinating point is that the Dominican Republic is itself a developing country so it was not ready to reveive the kind of patients that have been arriving. Nor does it structurally make the grade to house patients, their family members, and even international aid workers who had to drive as far as 80 miles away to find a place to stay (even we stayed about 30 miles away in a town called Duverge).
On the second day, Jonathan and I worked with World Vision, an international NGO that has an office in Jimani, to unload the water from the trucks that arrived the night before into their giant werehouse that they had rented out. Moreover, we helped paint large World Vision signs for the werehouse, at which point we felt pretty useless. To be honest, we thought we would be going into Haiti, even though it is not permitted by Peace Corps (even before the earthquake occurred it was prohibited). But because of the circumstances we just assumed that this would be something different, something adventurous, something tragic, and that maybe, just maybe, we could do something to benefit the people in dire need of help. That afternoon we spoke to representatives from the Red Cross and other institutions to see how Peace Corps could possibly fit into the relief effort, but it was not entirely successful. At this point, a lot of people want to volunteer and these institutions are continuously organizing themselves and utlizing the resources that they have, however big or small. After that, we went inside the hospital to see what we could do and amongst all the chaos we tried to be helpful but founds oursevles in the way. The day was somewhat disappointing to be honest, although it was still nice to be "in it," seeing the movement in this small, Dominican town.
The following day was more exciting because our friend from USAID, Josue, had to go into Haiti to check out a werehouse to store more water that arrived. He told us that one of us would be able to go with him but upon speaking with his boss (and then ours) we found out that we were still not able to cross the border. It was a blow to the adventure since we had hoped to pass through, but we ended up doing needed work on the Dominican side. For the entire day we worked in the public hospital and fortunately it seemed to calm down in the late afternoon. We took it upon ourselves to organize the medical station that was in complete disarray - medical supplies everywhere, nurses coming in spending more time searching for medication than with patients, etc. It was an organizational disaster. Jonathan and I cleaned it up for about 2 hours and then helped fellow volunteers physically pick up the stable patients and transport them to another location for rehibiliation. Luckily for the Jimani Hospital (or clinic, rather, it was entirely too small for the capacity of patients that were in and out), there were two newely constructed clinics that had never been used before this devastating event standing on the other side of town. The problem was transportation and road quality. We pleaded with organizations that had available vehicles to take outgoing patients to the other location, but most just made up excuses and were completely apathetic. It was very frustrating but fortunately we ended up having more and more trucks arrive for these transportation purposes. It is kind of cliche, but I felt like I was actually doing a service to the people of Haiti when I physically carried a young boy from his crowded room to the where the trucks awaited. It was a powerful moment.
Being in the hospital was hard at times, seeing people with severed arms and legs because of the destruction of the earthquake. There were family members starring off into the distance with a clouded mind of thoughts and emotions. Others that shouted for doctors or rather anyone that could help their loved one. I saw a Haitian man step outside when I was taking a rest to hold onto the door to breakdown and cry. The hospital was so full that patients had to be treated on matresses that were placed on the floor in the hallways because all of the beds were full, sometimes even on cardboard. Their was such a complete lack of organization that at one point, Jonathan and I went around changing salene solutions to IV drips for certain patients because no one else was doing it.
It was exciting being in the mix of what was happening at the border and also hearing about plans from huge NGOs, like World Vision, and governmental organizations like USAID. In addition, we had the opportunity to speak with many aid workers that returned from Haiti. One eye-opening point was that the reported road conditions and violence that is apparently occuring in Haiti is being exaggerated and exploited, which in a time of tragedy could be justified (receiving more donations, etc.), but it does show hope. The country of Haiti has been in a state of peril for centuries and this seems to be the tipping point. What's to come from this event? Who knows? Yet on a positive note, now the world knows of Haiti and the Island of Hispanola, and that's a start.
Comments
Justin, what you are doing over there is both amazing and inspiring. Good luck and most importantly, stay safe, especially in these times. Just letting you know I am still reading your travel blog back home and sending you best wishes. Take care.