Georgia and New Orleans Contingents Arrive In Haiti

You may have heard that the people of the  U.S. are starting to lose interest in the plight of Haiti, even though it is still only 10 months since the devastating earthquake that claimed 230,000 lives and left much of the country in shambles.  Certainly, the media is giving less attention to the story. But a visit to any of the U.S. airports that carry travelers to Haiti on a daily basis will quickly dispel that view.

When our 9 Haiti Companions volunteers from Georgia and Louisiana  set out from Miami International Airport today for Port au Prince we found our flight of 210 persons packed to capacity with Americans bound for Haiti, ready to work in a variety of roles to help the Haitian people get back on their feet.  Certainly well over 90 per cent of the people on our flight were going to Haiti as volunteer workers, and given current needs, a large number, including most of our own group, were going to work in the medical and pharmaceutical fields with a special emphasis on helping Haitian children  

We were told the story was essentially the same for the three other Miami daily flights and one each from Fort Lauderdale and New York City, and that it has been like this for months. The fact is that American volunteers are pouring into the country in droves on a continuing basis to lend a helping hand.

There was one emotion charged moment in our airport waiting room when members of perhaps a dozen unconnected groups joined hands for a moment of silent prayer.  It was a reflection of the fact that many if not most of these groups including our own, are church related.

One small glitch in our plans---a group of ours sponsored by St, John's Episcopal Church in Minneapolis was forced to delay their arrival until tomorrow when their flight to Miami was cancelled.

Those of us who did make the trip today were met at the airport in Port au Prince by Pere Kerwin Delicat, head priest at Eglise St. Croix and six other Episcopal Churches in Haiti, who conducted us to L' Hopital St. Croix in Leogane, some 25 miles outside of Port au Prince,  where we will be staying during our week-long mission.

At Hopital St. Croix we were met by Peter Ferris of Dallas, guest house manager, who had arranged for a sumptuous arrival dinner prepared for us by expert chef Jeannine.

                                          Georgians and New Orleanians at Miami
                                          Airport en route to Port au Prince.

Our group who arrived today was made up of Joan Liverpool of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Decatur, GA, and Mission Control of the Deskam Institute of Stone Mountain, GA, who will serve as a pharmacist's assistant, four volunteers from Christ Church Episcopal in Norcross, GA, Terry Franzen, attorney and her husband Steve Franzen, Domestic  Relations and Juvenile Court Judge, who will serve on this trip as pharmacist and pharmaceutical supporter,  Anesthetist Leslie Freeman from Gwinnett Medical Center in Duluth, GA, who will be seeing and evaluating patients, and Daphne Gary, retired insurance executive who will be working in the pharmacy, from St. Mary and St. Martha Episcopal Church of Buford, GA,  Karen Murphy,  Elementary School Teacher, who will be serving as a pharmacist. Three volunteers are from New Orleans, Gwendolyn T. Dean MD, CPE of St Joan of Arc/Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Pediatrician and Humaniatrian Aid specialist, on her third trip since the earthquake, Wendy Schwartz, Health Care Management Specialist, and Steve Steinberg, Keeper of the Blog.