A Great day!
PDG Amos and family are safe! Ted Lazarre has been found and is ok!
A very productive day as well. Supplies and money came in in great quantities from everywhere. Our District as always did the extraordinary. One club raised over $39,000 at their meeting, and another one matched it!!!!!! Supplies and funds in every region under the regional coordinators is coming in quickly and in great quantities. Great work clubs and Rotarians. I am sorry that I can not give you exact figures but the funds are going to a number of regional accounts and I am not sure of everything and would not want to mislead you.
Still using Satellite phones to communicate. Caleb, Claude, Guy and Ted. This Disaster Investment has been a life saver. Some protocols to work out yet but generally what a great thing!
Photo: BBC News In PicturesOn the lighter side, we had one flight leave from Nassau to Haiti with medical supplies and a Doctor Ageebe and a Nurse Fountain. Not everything went as planned but we made progress. The plane got there with the supplies which were picked up, but we lost the Doctor and Nurse. OOPS!
We finally found them but the old challenge of communication was interesting. I got a mixed message that they had been dropped in Port de Paix. I could picture them standing on a vacant dark lonely runway looking for someone they may be comfortable staying with until they were found, but in fact they had been left in Cap Haitien at a hotel whose name they did not know and no phone contact for.
The good news is in texting them on their Bahamian cell we were able to ascertain where they were and it was the same hotel we had stayed at when we visited the Cap Haitien club so we were able to use the satellite phone and communicate with Rotarians on the ground in Haiti and by tomorrow at 11:00 they will be on their way to Pignon to help the wounded at Dr. Guy Theodore's Hospital.
The challenges remain that the Port is closed, the airport in Port au Prince is over taxed and on occasion has to turn flights away, and the communication systems are restrictive. We are working around those. We are working with District 4060 (Charles Adams) on a plan to ship by sea to the Dominican Republic and tranship over land from the Dominican Republic to Haiti. We need to overcome the availability of trucks, the boarder and the inland challenges but with their help I am sure we can.
Photo: BBC News In PicturesWe have a container of medical supplies in Atlanta that is going to be transferred to a DC-3 tomorrow and will be in route to Haiti by Sunday. A number of relief flights from other countries have gone in as well. Our Jamaican Rotarians in concert with the Jamaican Government and Coast Guard have sent in an army of supplies and people and are continuing to build their relief efforts.
We have 4 flights (Twin engine) leaving Nassau tomorrow for Haiti followed by a DC-3 on Sunday. The 3 Beechcraft from North Carolina to Haiti are due early next week and we will have 4 planes on the ground in Nassau for the remaining 2 weeks available to us and all we need to cover are the fuel costs.
The Donor Advised Fund is set up and we have full exposure on the International Web Sites.
Tomorrow is another day!
Successes to follow!!!!
Another very proud moment for us all.
Rotarian Claude who has been one of our Primary Contacts in the Haiti disasters has been designated as the National Coordinator of the Health Commission they are putting in place. That is a huge responsibilty that he accepted at the ins...istence of President Preval.
Congradulations are due to him. Please do not email him any congratulatories at this time as his email is very busy and he is trying to get things done. Congrats Claude"
PDG Dick
Photo: CNN OTHER NEWS: We've heard from ADRR Christian Inervil from Haiti who says he and his family are fine. He confirmed also that two other Rotaractors - Pierre Carisme and Dominique - are also fine. Let's continue to pray for them all- Kameika Fullerton Delisser (Rotary Club of St. Andrew North)
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