From Dominican Republic we took an 8 seater plane to Port au Prince. The plane had a faded glory: beige leather interior with drinks holders. It’s the kind of thing I imagine Tom Jones enjoyed in the ‘70s, piloted by a cowboy sort called Gordy who punctuated each sentence with a friendly wink.
On arrival at the Port au Prince airport things seemed pretty slick and extremely busy. Some huge US military cargo planes were being unloaded by equally efficient looking US soldiers. The immigration process was equally efficient. All in all a good airport experience.
The journey from the airport took around an hour. I was lucky to be travelling with Yves Laurent, a Haitian who’s been working with CARE since 1989. Yves recently returned to Haiti having taken his wife and children to Canada to continue their education as the school systems here are unlikely to be fully functioning for some time. Yves explained the journey usually took around 30 minutes, but because of the traffic it would take longer now.
Within 200 yards we saw the first tented settlement and people bathing in the open water pipe. The damage is clear to see and has been photographed by the media, so there’s no need for me to explain it more except to say that it is phenomenal. Port au Prince is a really hilly city and its clear to see that as hillsides have collapsed, buildings have gone with it.
The office itself is pretty big. There are tents in the gardens but most staff are now staying in the apartments across the road. I have a choice. I’ll probably go to the apartments as don’t really fancy being amongst people I don’t know in a tent. I’ve met a lot of staff today. Quite a few of them seem to be sick: either diarrhoea or a hacking cough so I must go now and try and find my multi vitamins.
One more proposal to write before the night is out.
Kate Akhtar. Feb 11th. Port Au Prince.