Well, hello!

I got my journal login from GVN, so here's the link: http://www.volunteerjournals.org/author/kwork/

Cynthia Sewell is a volunteer who is probably home by now, having just completed her rotation in Haiti three days ago. I'm going to quote from her journal here, since this was... just unbelievable.

Hi All, sorry so late with an update. My last day in Haiti and I finally have access to a computer. I’ll attempt to be brief with my summary of events which have unfolded in the past 2 weeks. Week 1 we arrived in Port au Prince and proceeded to make our way through the city. The sites confirming all that we have seen in the news media. Extremely overcrowded city decaying before your eyes. Most buildings reduced to rubble, rubbage and sewage everywhere! We made our way to Jacmel, on the southeast coast of Haiti. Arrived in a torrential downpour. Quickly determined our compound was not safe for habitation and infeasible to set up camp. We stayed in a nearby questhouse for 4 days until we could get our compound up to “living” standards. I use that term loosely. As the development team with were dropped in country with little resources and connections with other ngo’s. We had many false starts, but finally prevailed by week 2. We have created a community center for the tent camps surrounding our compound. We offer adult english classes, childrens’ art and recreation classes. The appreciation of the Haitians is heartwarming. We also formed a partnership with OIM to help relocate the displaced people of Pichonat, the largest IDP camp in Jacmel. Our first visit to the camp was met by a group of angry demonstrators chanting they will not leave. We aborted our mission that day as we considered the situation might ascalate. Unfortantely, I will not be able to continue my work with the relocation process. I also spend time with children in a couple of orphanges as well as a few schools. In summary, the needs are enormous! I accomplished what little I could in such a short period of time.

So, yeah, they built the whole compound from scratch, and it now has two pit toilets and some tents. It looks like more people were being redirected to Port-au-Prince on the previous rotation, probably because of the aforementioned incident at Pichonat.

One week to go!