I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the useful roles different technologies are playing in the recovery efforts in Haiti. I’ll be speaking from my experience, but it is definitely not limited to how I used it.
WiFi- everything I used hinges on WiFi. With it I was able to use my iPod Touch to access the internet. Though food, water, and shelter are vital needs of the people, WiFi and internet access in general are playing a big role in the coordination of relief.
Twitter-Before I even left Twitter was helpful. People that saw my tweets about going to Haiti contacted contacted me. Through several degrees of communication, people in 4 different cities who had never met before coordinated to get more supplies down there. Now that I’m back, I’ve had people contact me via Twitter with questions and need of help. Not to mention Twitter was a simple way to keep everyone back home updated on the events on the ground.
Skype- $3 subscription for unlimited calls to and US number, iPod touch, headphones w/ mic, Skype app, and WiFi. Put them together and you can make phone calls to anyone in the US. This was useful not only to stay in contact with loved ones, but also to coordinate aid delivery.
Google Voice- If you’ve read my blog before you probably know what Google Voice is and how much I love that service. Since it is web-based, I was able to send and receive text messages as if I were on my phone in the US. Just another way to stay in contact with folks in the US who could sometimes get me information quicker than I could have gotten it by myself in Haiti.
Once again, I want to use this post to emphasize the importance of technology in aiding those in Haiti. Though not inherently helpful, without these tools workers on the ground would definitely not make as big of an impact as they are now.
Plan: Wake up. Travel to tent city. Set up tents for over 600 people.
Problem: Mayor of Croix des Bouquets didn’t want us to set up the tents where we planned because the school beside that field was re-opening soon.
Solution:
Well, as I told yall yesterday, we had some locals pass out vouchers to the neediest families. Well, we arrived back at that tents city the next morning with a truck full of tents and well needed police escort.
We began by finding more volunteers to help secure the site along with the police. Then, one of our team members preached to the crowds while Pastor Lesly, one of our Hatian friends, translated. At the end Pastor Lesly appeared to give an invitation in Creole, about 20 people came up and prayed with him.
After the service, we had the families with vouchers come in to see a demonstration of how to put up their tents. They then came to the truck where I took their voucher and gave them a tent and Tommy gave them a Creole Bible.
As we began to run out the people got more desperate. Towards the end the crowds began to break through the perimeter and the police began to shove them back. We about ran over people that were grabbing onto our trucks trying to get their hands on something to take.
We finally got out of there and back to our camp. After lunch we set out to what would be the most memorable part of our trip. I’ll save that story for its own special post tomorrow.
