AMURT Haiti

Amurtel works out of a home which houses 9 Haitian orphans, including two which were received after the earthquake in January.

All photos except for Raganuga and Vesudeva were taken by Asa Pickford. He can be reached at asapickford@gmail.com

Malika
Malika is 2 years old and is the newest member of Didi's home. She is from an orphanage in Kenscoff and was extremely malnourished when she got here. In a couple weeks time, she has gained much of her health back and is in great spirits.



Jyoti
We received Jyoti right before Malika about a month ago. She is 1 1/2 years old and was left with an aunt after the earthquake. The aunt, not having resources to take care of Jyoti, decided to bring her to Didi's home. She too was malnourished upon arrival. Now she is back to health and is practicing her first steps.



Lolita
Lolita is 2 years old. She is the quickest one to warm up to new people. She comes running, smiling, laughing, and instantly makes new volunteers her friend.



Sarita
Sarita is 1 1/2 years old. Her nickname should be miss independent. She is a do it herself type of lady. She seldomly asks for assistance and many times refuses help during here daily tasks.



Krsna Kantha
Krsna Kantha is 3 years old. He is Tapeshvar best friend. A very cute kid, that has a smile that can make anybody happy



Tapeshvar
Tapeshvar is 3 years old. This kid has energy for days. At three years old he has an incredible personality. I walked with him in the neighborhood, and was astounded by the large number of people who called out to him.



Karmeshiarii
Karmeshiarii is 15 years old. She is fluent in Creole, French, Spanish, and English. A very intelligent young lady who wants to be a doctor when she grows up so she can help people.



Raganuga
Raganuga is 16 years old. Her favorite past time is singing. She loves being a typical teenage girl. She has an interest in traveling as an adult.



Vesudeva
Vesudeva is 13 years old. He is a great help around the house. He also loves to joke around and laugh. This kids always has a smile on his face.

Our team has been very busy adjusting for the second phase of the emergency relief by getting more organized as an organization and as a team, continuing disaster response for our 14 camps, and beginning to map out the mid and long-term goals for AMURTEL Haiti. This has meant employing 11 people, dividing responsibilities, and creating work and living spaces for volunteers on the second floor of the AMSAI's school. Also, a recent meeting with Didis Ananda Jiiva Prema, Didi Ananda Prama, Didi Ananda Usa and Didi Ananda Vimoha has formalized AMURTEL's present camp strategies and long-term goals.

AMURTEL Haiti will continue to seek collaboration with organizations, individual donors, etc. to meet the basic needs of the 14 camps we are serving for a period of time undefined. Most of our camps are dangerously situated along the river banks and flooding is inevitable. For preparation of any later disasters we have teamed up with OIM to register and account for the residents of these 14 camps.

AMURTEL Haiti has decided to establish a formal Port au Prince team committed to assisting the 14 camps find security, food, basic medical needs, etc. until we are better able to understand the long-term status of these camps. Already we have distributed over 2,500 tarps, 1,538 hygienic kits, given medical attention to over 1,800 people in our clinic, have had food distributions for over 30,000 people, including rice, beans, corn, and oil to parents of 200 students of AMSAI, and provided a daily feeding program of milk and cereal to over 100 children.

In the weeks that have passed since the earthquake, AMURTEL Haiti has been responding to the immediate needs of some 10,000 people throughout the 14 camps we are presently assisting in Jobel and Lavale Bourdon.   All of our efforts until now have been concentrated on bringing people basic necessities to survive the traumatic and sudden changes which have drastically altered the lives of Haitians everywhere, but most importantly right here in Haiti. 
  

AMURTEL's 12-year history in Haiti has been through its support to AMSAI (Ananda Marga Special Academice Institution), a school formed 12 years ago, educating some 4,000 children with a philosophy which propagates love of all creation.  It is with this mission that AMSAIs all over the world seek to acknowlege the spiritual, mental and physical aspects of a child through creative arts, meditation and yoga asanas as a way of fostering compassionate caretakers and leaders of our universe.


  AMURTEL Haiti is helping AMSAI conduct student surveys to determine the status of these familes along with how we can assist  them in becoming independent.   We are currently giving special attention, curteousy of  World Vision, to these families who may or may not be apart of the 14 camps we are serving by providing them with oil, lentils, rice, corn and wheat.

 


 

AMURTEL Haiti is inspired and currently considering activities for mothers which will provide skills training and capacity building activities which will enable them to become self-sufficient in the lives.

 

DISTRIBUTIONS

Thanks to Mexican Foundation INICIA, AMURTEL Haiti is in receipt of 500 boxes of milk by Parnalat and 2,500 gallons of water from Planeta Azul in the Dominican Republic.  AMURTEL Haiti's depot is stocked and continuing to fill up everyday as we continue to receive, deliver and distribute tarps , hygiene kits, water and milk to children and pregnant mothers and as many families as possible from the surrounding areas of Jobel and Lavale Bourdon.  

                            
 Today I visited this distribution and acknowledge here the efforts of our AMURTEL Haiti team of responsables along with the cooperation of the some 800 people who stood patiently in line to receive hygiene kits for their families.  During my visit to this distribution, I almost forgot what was happening.  How could it be a distribution with everyone being so polite and patient?  How could this be Haiti?
 
LATRINES        
           
Our latrine project is certainly underway and very inspiring.  I visited the camps of Juvenat 7 and Jobel 4 today where we are building 24 latrines in collaboration with Haven Partnership.  AMURTEL recently provided Haven Partnership with children songs aimed towards inspiring them to care for, clean and use their new latrines along with having good hygiene habits like washing hands after using the latrine and before eating.  Today I was able to particpate in the assembly of over 100 very excited and anxious children between the ages of 4 and 12 years old who were taught one of the two songs prepared. 

EDUCATION

In light of the fact that children have been out of school for weeks now with no promise of opening any time soon and with parents beginning to express concern for their children's education, it was nice to witness the first activity organized for kids to date in collaboration with Haven Partnership.  AMURTEL is very proud to be assisting in these efforts and is more inspired about launching the beginning phases of mobile AMSAIs directly into camps today.  AMURTEL Haiti is conducting surveys which aim to determine the whereabouts of AMSAI students, their families and how AMURTEL can provide assistance to them as close friends of AMSAI and AMURTEL Haiti.  For the AMSAI students already located, AMURTEL Haiti began distributing World Vision donations of wheat, corn, rice and beans to parents today.

SOLAR LIGHTING AND WATER FILTER



AMURTEL Haiti has started to collaborate with Sun Energy Power International an organization who we first met through Gretchen Wallace of Global Grassroots.  Sun Energy has installed security solar lighting for our building entrance which has significantly provided comfort to us all here at AMURTEL Haiti.  Also we have been given an innovative and simple water filtration system which will purify 60 gallons of water at a time using a drum, pvc piping, sand and rocks.  AMURTEL Haiti is in the process of installing this filter for AMURTEL Haiti use this Friday and hopes to begin training and installing similar filters to camps in the next few weeks.   Sun Energy has also made a one-month donation of clean drinking water for AMURTEL and AMSAI students.

EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING

Gretchan Wallace of Global Grassroots, an organization which is empowering women and girls all over Africa, provided a post-traumatic stress technique of relaxation and breathing to women of the 12 camps AMURTEL Haiti is currently helping and which was well accepted and appreciated by all.    We hope to collaborate more with Global Grassroots in the future once we begin strategizing social and economic development initiatives which will provide families a way out of the current problems which face them now.

 I followed Lule, our community liaison person, out onto the field today to distribute tarps, continue the needs assessment strategy with the camps and check in on the latrines.   Camps have formed wherever open space would allow and a lot of camps are very close to the neighbourhoods they fled.  These camps take advantage of this by returning to their dilapidated homes and retreiving whatever they can to help with the construction of temporary housing.  There is the sound of hammering and signs of collectivity everywhere.  Some have come together to fix their own water sources, others lend a hand in constructing the shacks which form rows of homes now.  As I walk through the narrow lanes between shacks, I see crocheted drapes hanging in front of doors and shacks furnished with beds, tables, chairs.  I tell myself that whatever they had before life in the shack must not have been that great since everyone looks so comfortable, but not true.  I know a lady who is huddled into a camp with her sister.  She lost her husband and her child.  They had a nice home and great jobs.  Her husband was cut in half by a fallen beam and child dead from falling.  Camps are not just for the poor.  No one is exempt.

Today's visit to Juvenat 7 and our new camp called Bremon will benefit 100 families.  These tarps will lay overtop the shacks of which are old metal siding, rusted with holes and not good enough to protect from rain and drafts.  No wonder tarps are of high commodity on the streets of Port au Prince these days. 

AMURTEL Haiti continues to adopt a distribution approach which places more responsability on camp committees by giving them small rather than large quanties to reinforce and encourage their own leadership abilities.

 

Thanks to IOM (International Organization for Migration),
AMURTEL Haiti has just received  the following for distribution:

4000 plastic sheeting for 4000 families
(5-6 persons ,one family each)
2300 hygiene kits for 2300 families
(6 persons each kit)

Check back for photos from this distribution which we are organizing now!!!!!


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MEDICAL CLINIC

AMURTEL Haiti's medical clinic has continuously received patients for the past two weeks.  To date our nurses and doctors have served approximately 1046 patients. 

AMURTEL Haiti is working tirelessly to meet the desperate pleas of the thousands of families in neighouring camps, Jobel and Bourdon.  Each camp has its own priorities, some need water, others need shelter, some need food, latrines, ongoing medical attention, etc.  In the end, all the camps need as much help as they can right now.  Today I visited a camp called Debrosse with approximately 600 families to see if they need or want latrines.  I became very aware of their hardship during my conversation with their committee reps.  Today I looked at them and realised just what a fragile situation they and their families are in.  Can you imagine not having options? Right now, they have no future.  For a moment, I felt like crying.  I feel so much for these people and how difficult it must be for them.  Every time Haitians get up, something kicks them right back down again. If it's not a corrupt government, it's a hurricane and if it's not a hurricane it's a bloody earthquake.  But anyone who has lived here can tell you about the fight in them and its this fight that makes me stay here and share in the struggle.  Even though things are hard, they get up every morning and do what they gotta do and I want to accompany them on this journey.    42 latrines are underway in three different camp sites of Jobel and Canape Verte in collaboration with Haven Partnership.  Trenches are already dug, one for women and one for men with more for women.  All latrine sites will include a washing station and a hygiene promotion strategy using children to pass the message through songs.   All we are waiting for is the materials to finish the flooring and infrastructure.   Work is expected to be completed in a few days.  Approximately 26 people from these camps have been solicited to help with the building of the latrines including carpenters and will be paid by Haven Partnership.

           
      
 

We forgot to mention that the Military providing security for us that day was from Nepal and Hindu.  They were even singing kiirtan with us and the commander of the team actually sat next to the Didis to distribute food at one point.  Ah, the memories...did I mention Didi Jiiva Prema continuously had inscense burning in the background during the entire event?? What an amazing day!!! 

 

 

 

Words cannot describe how humble I feel today having witnessed AMURTEL Haiti's amazingly smooth food distribution to approximately 7,000 people made in collaboration with ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development), UMCOR  and Global Medic yesterday, January 30th.
 

Having experienced more than a few unpleasant and frankly barbaric food distributions in Haiti, I stand today proud to have been a part of the beautiful demonstration of humanity at its best during yesterday's food distribution to approximately 7,000 friends of AMURTEL Haiti.  I believe the success of this truly inspiring day is a collaborative effort of the AMURTEL Team and the tireless efforts of Diana, Lule, Rajarshi, Rama Krsna and most importantly those contributed by Didi Ananda Usa, Didi Ananda Vimoha and Didi Ananda Jiiva Prema's extensive 12-year work, love and commitment to the families which we are now providing aid to during this time of crisis.  It is noteworthy to mention here, that a volunteer from the community and a committee representative said to me during the distribution, "Don't you see how nicely everything is going?  We talked alot to everyone and it's because we have a lot of respect for Didi.  We want to show Didi we are people, not animals".   I  almost cried. 

The distribution will provide two weeks worth of rice, beans, oil and salt to approximately 7,000 people along with a distribution of 150,000 Aquatab water purifiying tablets for 5000 people (31 tablets daily for 10 days).  Beneficiaries of this distribution are residents of the 10 camps which AMURTEL Haiti is continuing to serve.  AMURTEL Haiti is the first NGO to provide aid to them since the earthquake.
 

       

 

 

AMURTEL Haiti team, Didi Ananda Jiiva Prema, Diana, Rajarshi, Rama Krsna, Lule and such appreciated volunteers like Didi Cirismita, Ms. Didianne and Kunti to name a few have been on fire busy here at AMURTEL headquaters (the Ananda Marga School on Boudon) since the January 12th earthquake here in Haiti. With 14 days of non-stop rapid response to the now 10 camps which AMURTEL is not only working closely with AMURTEL has provided the following to date:

Medical care to 747 people
Food (Rice, beans, oil and salt) for approx. 15,900 people (approx 5,900 will receive food for two weeks at tomorrow's distribution)
4 Family size Tents
200 Tarps
32 Latrines for approx. 4,000 people (work began today)
Clothing (reived today and to be sorted tomorrow)
Clean drinking water for 5,000 people (distributing tomorrow)

Interview with Junior, 20-year old student, 25 January (14 days in camp)

 

It's really something painful to hear when Junior tells us that he remembers the day he left his house on Tuesday, January 12th for school and said good by to his five brothers and sisters as well as his mother, Leya, who had also left the house early to work as a cook at a nearby school. While Junior was on his way home that evening, thinking he would arrive to see his family's smiling faces nature proved to hold another plan. To everyone's suprise the earth shook and all the houses fell, trees lay on the ground and dust filled the sky covering the last rays of the sun. Junior, one of the fortunate ones, had not been physically hurt during those brief moments and ran alongside thousands of people that had now taken to the streets, crying and wounded. He had only thing in mind, where is his brothers and sisters? Where is his mother? One can only imagine how horrified he was when he couldn't even recognise his house amongst the other demolished homes and with his brothers and sisters trapped inside. His house fallen to pieces and not enough strength to get them out, Junior searched frantically for help and eventually stumbled across rescue workers who saved his five brothers and sister alive but with severely broken and fractured bones and terrible bruises some 18 hours later. It's hard to imagine how a a young man, 20 years old deals with such trauma, living in a camp without blankets, clothes, work, school, with his brothers, sisters and mother living but into a dark and uncertain future. So, if you ask Junior what's going to happen to him, he says "I'm waiting for someone to give me a job because I'm not going to leave. I don't know anyone outside of Port au Prince."

Written by Jean-Ronald Brutus

 Interview with Dulus, 54 years, businessman, 25 January (14 days in camp)




A lot of people are finding it difficult to relax like once before since the catastrophe of January 12th in Haiti. As is the case for Dulus who I met at a camp without hope, seven children of his own, seven additonal kids of his brothers who died during the earthquake, his mother and his wife. He told us about how he no longer feels calm and how every time he hears the sound of a helicopter circulating above, he begins to feel tense and feels like running because he thinks things will start falling again. This fear makes him feel as though he is no longer living since he can no longer provide for his family. Dulus says he is starting to think that going to the country isn't a bad idea and would like to but he can't afford it. Moving a family of 17 from Port au Prince is not easy and expensive. I left Dulus sitting in a chair, taking medication for the stress he has now and without any idea of what will happen tomorrow.
Written by Jean Ronald Brutus

15 days into what has turned out to be the worse days for Haitians, with thousands of people homeless, sick, scared, alone hungry and hopeless, today AMURTEL Haiti was able to bring some comfort to the 9 refugee camps found in the highly affected areas of Jobel and Lavale Bourdon.

Thanks to our Spanish partner Maye (Movement for Self-Management and Education) a relationship with AECID (Spanish Agency of International Development Cooperation) was made possible and today we were able to distribute 4 family tents to be served as care centres for pregnant women and their children,  drinking water to the camps of Jobel and Lavale Boudon which do not have access to clean drinking water and 200 plastic tarps to be used instead of bedsheets. Also AECID provided us with 40 Hygiene Kits containing such things as towels, shampoos, toothpastes, toothbrushes, condems, combs, razors, water purifying tablets, feminine pads, buckets and toitlet papers which were all distributed equally amongst the camps.

AMURTEL Haiti has been recently approved to start distributing food to over 11,000 people next week!!!

Not many communities have received help since January 12th, let alone a promise of food or water. 
 

We are celebrating this triumph and working very hard to structure the distrubtion for success.

We have also spent the last week liasoning and networking with associations who wish us to distribute water, tents, milk and pampers to 9 refugee camps.

Our medical clinics and visits to communities is going extremely well.  We have treated 509 people to date.



We have also been working closely at organizing the communties for our upcoming distributions.


 

The Haiti earthquake of January 12th literally brought down the walls from which we as a human race have used for centuries to protect ourselves from each other. Some would even dare say we've spent an embarrasingly enormous amount of time not being afraid of others but totally consumed and chronically afraid of ourselves, all the while cowardly disguising it with a false adoration of self.  I can't help but see the distinct and apparent symbolism behind the hundreds of standing wooden structures in contast to the thousands of crumbled cement ones. Could this not be mother nature begging us to follow in her lead, by living in harmony with all that shines omnipotent perfection and love? Could she not be begging us to come out from behind our sky rises of fears, expose ourselves and who we really are and rebuild? And could it be that we are being asked to rebuild ourselves as we truly are and toss away the fabricated armor of untruths?

 

I walked around Port au Prince yesterday so to not become too removed from the situation here.  I was so glad I did.  Although I didn't see any dead bodies this time in the street, I did see signs asking for help, others marked "Jesus" and the smell of corpses still fill the streets.  






The UN has been busy cleaning the area of debris which may even give some people the illusion that things are getting better.

And we have been hearing a steady influx of planes and helicopters for the past 3 days.  I don't know why I was shocked when someone told me that Haiti has been occupied by the U.S. They're keeping a low profile, but they're here.


There is an eery feeling in the air.  Some say it's like a cementary in Port au Prince now.  I rode on public transport yesterday and felt a deep despair in people.  But Jean and I feel as though it's a calm before the wake.  People are hungry.



 

On January 12, 2010, 4:53pm...

HELP Haiti

AMURTEL Haiti is committed to continuing to provide rapid response initiatives to the increasing misery currently plaguing thousands of refugees in Port au Prince. Of the thousands who have lost their homes, relatives, promise for a future and for those women who are pregnant, nursing newborns or for the hundreds of orphaned children, the elderly and physically disabled, the hungry, and the sick AMURTEL Haiti is running out of resources and needs your help. After only one week since the January 12th earthquake, the refugee camps are without access to purified water, toilets, shelter, food, clothing, medical attention, psychological counseling or transport out of the city or to hospitals and many of the camp sites are in vicinity of dilapidated homes and the stench of unremoved bodies. Please, there is still so much to be done and we need your help.

How you Can Help

Camps

People here have lost everything and are confused about what they're next steps will be. Most have lost children, parents, friends and relatives and everyone has lost their homes.  When asked what they want, they don't know, expect the obvious, food,  shelter, clothing and water.   Medical supplies are also a must.  Please contact the representatives below for more information on how you can help.  The following will also go a long way:
 

• Food
• Dry goods
• Clothes
• Blankets
• Solar garden light for around the camp sites
• Kitchen supplies
• Plastic Tarps
• Shovels
• Chistles (for breaking bricks)

Field Volunteers

The conditions in which AMURTEL Haiti's volunteer team are working under are extreme. Electricity and purified water is unavailable or sparingly available and due to constant earthquake tremors, our team is living outdoors under a simple tarp. While Port au Prince has not experienced any rain, there is the obvious threat which will likely worsen the conditions in which we are presently working in including the spread of diseases.

Your donation of the following items will be crucial to AMURTEL Haiti's effectiveness of our rapid response efforts:

New 4x4 Truck
Motorcycle
Laptops
Laptop speakers
Memory Sticks
Digital Cameras
Video Camera
Projector
Digital Voice Recorder
Tents
Mats
Blankets
Walkie Talkies
First Aid Kits
GPS
Folding Solar panel charger kits
** Solar Panels and Batteries (very important to maintain communication)
Office Supplies (Note pads, stickie notes, pens, pencils clip boards, white board and erasable markers, paper clips, staplers, three hole punches, file folders, white and yellow envelopes, plastic sheet covers, desk organizers and wall hangers, clear tape, heavy duty tape, etc.)Office Equipment (Printer, Scanner and cartridges)
Swiss Army Knife
Solar or wind up flash lights
Solar or wind up radios
Outdoor solar lights
AMURTEL Haiti Vests and T-Shirts
AMURTEL Haiti Hats
AMURTEL Haiti "Security" T-Shirts
"AMURTEL Haiti" Tape roll (used for labeling stock and on distribution items)
Rechargeable charger and batters (+AA, +AAA)
Water purifiers
Mosquito Repellents ("Relec" Brand)
Candles
Lanterns
1 Pair of Keens for men, size 8
1 Pair of Keens for women, size 7.5
2 Pairs of "Havaianas" Sandals
amplifier
Vitamin C Packets
Herbal Supplements
Energy Bars
Snack packets
Toothbrushes
Maxi pads
Hand lighters
Toothpaste
Hand sanitizers
Soap
Shampoo and Conditioners
Water bottles

Fundraising

Please feel free to take any and all information you find on this blog to assist us in raising money or collecting items.

How to Send your Donations to AMURTEL HAITI

Make sure to write Haiti under the memo section on all checks, to assure money gets sent to Haiti

Cheques may be sent to:

Joni Zweig  802.583.7663
email: info@amurtel.org
PO Box 232, Warren, VT 05674  USAOR

Robert Hoffman for AMURTEL Haiti

AMURT Canada
110 Millicent St.
Toronto ON M6H 1W4

Tel: 416-588-8359


*** The Canadian Government will match dollar for dollar

AMURTEL HAITI

AMURTEL Haiti headquarters is located on the premises of AMSAI Bourdon which is central to such slum areas known as Jobel and Lavale Bourdon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As AMURTEL Haiti is dedicating all its efforts to Jobel and Lavale Bourdon along with surrounding areas, AMURTEL Haiti is collaborating with AMSAI, International Embassies, Associations, United Nations and other charitable giving organizations to bring a rapid response to as many victims as possible.

 

AMURTEL HAITI RAPID RESPONSE EFFORTS

Community Assessments and Organization of Committees

AMURTEL Haiti is working closely with the Jobel and Lavale Bourdon communities which is home to over 14,000 refugees and 19 camp sites. At the request of AMURTEL Haiti, these communities have formed mixed-gendered central and local committees so as to facilitate AMURTEL Haiti in providing regular and effective aid to the masses of displaced, hungry and seriously wounded victims. This will also allow for a multi-directional community approach which empowers and shares the responsibility and fate of these
displaced communities.

Medical Clinics

AMURTEL USA President, Joni Zweig (aka Didi Cirismita), has been actively supporting AMURTEL Haiti efforts by fund raising, coordinating vounteer teams across country and visiting providing Homeopathic remedies and first aid assistance, along with the aid of Chilean and American doctors who together have treated 390 victims of the January 12th earthquake in Haiti.

 A closer look...

On January 16th, AMURTEL Haiti visited the highly impacted neighboring areas of Lavale Bourdon and Jobel. 75% of the population is seriously wounded and bruised and had not received any medical attention until AMURTEL Haiti organized a medical clinic on January 17th, just three days after the devastating earthquake leaving over 14,000 refugees destitute and critically wounded in the neighboring areas of Jobel and Lavale Bourdon. To date, AMURTEL Haiti with the aid of 8 Chilean doctors and 2 American doctors have successfully treated 390 men, women and children giving special attention to those victims with fractured and broken bones, sprains and serious wounds by splinting and casting, transporting victims to hospitals and providing antibiotics and homeopathic remedies.

Food Distribution

Since January 14th, AMURTEL Haiti has distributed rice, beans, cornmeal, oil, salt, pampers and clothes to 14,086 residents of Jobel and Lavale Bourdon communities out of the AMSAI school and its annual food supply from the World Food Program. The food was distributed by camp site and will provide one meal a day and enable families to eat together.

Everyone at AMSAI is okay, although the evening is somewhat quiet with the children being clearly affected from the chaos.  We've set up a tarp out front of the gated yard of the school where some 15 people, adults and children will attempt to sleep.  We've heard now there had been more tremors than what Jean and I felt in Petion-ville and that one of our young boys, living with us at AMSAI, has not returned from school.  We are worried but hopeful that he may have gone straight to his family's home.  On this very nerve-wrecking evening, I notice that Didi's favourite little boy is extremely quiet and doesn't want to eat.  He and the other toddlers are clearly affected, given their abnormal silence.  We also have some 4 foreign doctors and a german sheppard named Tomar who they saved from a collapsed missionary house in Petion-ville.

 After working for an NGO in Haiti 3 years, living and working through 3 hurricanes and this time being here on a short two-week visit with friends, I thought I had seen it all, but apparently not.  My finance, Jean Ronald (Rama Krsna) and I (Janelle Clarke, aka Jayatii) had been returning to the Port au Prince AMSAI School with three buckets of paint and related supplies for what would soon be a rennovated computer room into a haven for 4 orphans toddlers and 2 teenage girls.  We had only been on the bus leaving Petion-ville for about 5 mins, we were just pulling up in front of the hospital when suddenly the entire bus started springing up and down, shaking people from their seats and causing many to yell and scream in horror.  It felt like an unwanted amusement park ride.  I could not imagine what was happening.  We all looked at each other in complete horror while at the same time hoping to find an immediate answer to our fears.  Eventually the bus stopped bouncing up and down and everyone started jumping through the windows and many pushing and squeezing to fit through the doors of the bus out onto the street.  Since I'm not the type of person to run without knowing what I'm running from, I just remember standing on the now empty bus looking at Jean who had just stepped off to see what was happening.  His face said it all as he looked at me through the glass window and screamed for me to immediately get off the bus.  When I did, I was not prepared to see the Hospital collapsed onto the newly built and beautifully lanscaped restaurant.  It was only yesterday that Jean and I had made it a point to visit the gardens of this new and stylish restaurant one day.

This was definately comparable to 911 or a Will Smith blockbuster film, with people running towards us covered in blood and white dust all over their bodies.  I saw women screaming with their unconcious babies covered in blood.  One women was trying to get a motorcycle taxi to give her a ride somewhere with her dying child in her arms and the motorcycle taxi crying, hunched over the bike and telling her that he can't having seen too much already and being obviously afraid of the unknown.  This mother, barefoot and in her bra and shorts, whailed in horror, screaming for help.  Everywhere I looked I saw destruction and fear.  People were frantic and trying to get to a safe place, but where?  Drivers of cars were confused, speeding, almost hitting people, trying to get out away, but where to? Every building had collapsed and the only sounds were those of people screaming from beneath toppled over buildings or in front of you, behind you and unknown distant places.  I remember Jean being so aware of the electrical wires and not wanting us to stand anywhere where something could fall on us.  In fact we spent the first moments of this disaster trying to understand what was happening and trying to find somewhere safe to stand.  Eventually, after realising the magnitude of the situation and realising that huge buildings had all come crumbling down and seeing almost everyone hurt and running from fear, I remembered the AMSAI School and everyone I love and care so much about in Haiti.  Would the school even be there?  What about the kids and Deshana, our friends and what would I tell Didi Ananda Jiivaprema, a yogic nun with Ananda Marga and director of the AMSAI school who had just left one day earlier for the Dominican Republic.  At first Jean and I had to decide what direction to walk since there was no option now of public transportation.  Going to his mother's place would seemingly take us away from the direction of people running and screaming into Petion-ville while going to the AMSAI school would lead us right into the centre of it all. That road being Bourdon which now appeared to be covered in crumbled blocks from walls of houses, rooftops, fallen trees and people running and screaming. Since I had only one option which was to get to the AMSAI school and Jean had only one which was to not let me go anywhere alone, we made that journey hand in hand sometimes even singing kiirtan or Baba Nam Kevalam.  As we walked we saw people lying down on the street, some had their eyes closed, some did not, were they dead?  We continued to see all the familiar landmarks of houses and business establishments along with artisana work sites all ruined and collapsed.  On this trip we saw many foreigners walking, the elite running and abandoning their cars and everyone being on the same level at the same time.  We had also met some familiar people who were completely freaked out, huddled into the street with terror written all over their faces.  They confimed the disaster as being a 7.3 earthquake and that the famously posh hotel called the Montana had also collapsed with so many dying. Despite it all though, I remember feeling pretty calm and focused on this walk to AMSAI until the curving of the road opened up a view of the stacked houses I had always been so perplexed by.  These are houses built seemingly one on top of each other along the sides of huge mountains.  The people that live in them are not rich, they are the poor, with the elite living at the top.  Now as I let go of Jean's hand to stand at the edge of the road looking out onto these houses, I felt the earth ripped from beneath my feet.  I cannot say how many house were now wiped clean but it must of been a lot for it to have made such a profound impact on my spirit.  Where had they gone?  What about all the people in them and below?  Perhaps the AMSAI school will not be there after all.  For a moment I broke down and began to cry and then I remembered God and everything being in his control regardless of our perception of things.  I don't know how long the walk/jog to the AMSAI school took but as we turned onto the road leading to it, we were stunned to see a two-storey neighbouring house completely crumbled into the road.  We had to walk quickly over the blocks and rubble in the street, fearing neighbouring walls would fall and suddenly running into a stunned neighbour who confirmed that everyone at the school was ok and that the school was okay.  As we turned down the road to AMSAI we confirmed with our own eyes the presence of AMSAI standing strong admist the surrounding destruction.




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