Michelle May

Strangely enough w/in my 1st few hours back in Haiti I ended up nodding & looking haggard for a few seconds at the end of this piece on NBC News with Brian WIlliams.  I had not slept the night before- keeping the same hours as the nurses & docs. 

More soon, beat tired…

Tags: Haiti, NBC, Project Medishare, relief work.

Okay Okay so we were told that we will have access to nothing- spoke to a man i will be working with who is very CIA-esque.. he had suggested bringing a free standing tent since we likely would not even have a stick or ground that could hold a tent up… I got advice on cleaning water using pens, filters, & the ole bleach & bandana method- but then i started receiving texts from Aaron (T-mobile & Verizon have waived roaming fees to & fro Haiti til 1/31.. AT&T has not- filthy bastards).  Here are Aaron’s texts:

logistically this place needs us.  Lots of people on the U of Miami base.  200 pax hospital and geraldo is next to me.

Phones work here.  Tmobile is free.  People have comps and I am working with a guy to set up wifi

Computers are likely safe here

Tent and mosquito net not at all necessary.  They have a huge communal tent w/ cots.

don’t need to bring water, maybe powered gatorade.  Maybe bring some water but don’t load up tho

There are pallets of water here.  At night it is COLD!  Sleeping bag is a must!

.. it was then clarified that it was so cold at night b/c they crank the AC in the tent at night!  so a bit different than we were bracing ourselves for.  I asked Aaron about coffee (if I have that i can do anything) he said there is coffee in the CNN tent- I was advised to bring makeup & be ready to bat my eyelashes.  Will keep you updated- clearly there is wi-fi.  When not working, i’ll blog.  xoxo

Tags: Haiti, Project Medishare, relief work.

You never know what is going to happen in life.  I was just sitting here watching the coverage of Haiti- feeling helpless and heart-broken, while also trying to recover from my trip to Rwanda, Uganda & the DRC… when a call came in from my friend Aaron.  Aaron & I worked together at www.hodr.org last winter doing hurricane relief work in Gonaives, Haiti- i have blogged about that here in the past.  Aaron is a bit of a Haiti connector/conduit… he speaks Creole, has many friends that he keeps in contact with back in Gonaives, and he also has this finger on the pulse of what is going on in the disaster relief world.  Aaron has now hooked up with a medical group, www.projectmedishare.org who sends doctors down to Haiti.  Many doctors from across the states have joined them on the groud in Port au Prince as soon as they could following the recent 7+ quake.   Aaron recruited me to join him in giving the medical teams logistical support on the ground.  He just arrived to PAP today & said that now aid is streaming in (the port is fixed!) they need some definite assistance in getting all the goods & people organized– enter: logistics!  I will blog & update from there while I can. 

above:  Myself, Jeanene & Tamara- girls i worked with last year in Gonaives, Haiti.  Tamara will be joining us in PAP- great to reunion with her and Aaron!

You may be asking how i can do this- well good question & I hope to answer a few of your Qs while also busting my butt packing & prepping for my flight toMiami tomorrow.  WORK:  yes, i do have a day job- but i also have saved up personal days, have a very compassionate boss with a big heart, and fortunately the ability to adjust my schedule in times of personal need.  VERY FORTUNATE- I KNOW! 

above:  when Aaron is not kicking arse, hauling rubble & saving lives, he is pole dancing at an auto parts store in Gonaives…

So the deal is we each need to bring every single thing we will eat, consume or need with us- that includes all water & food- we can assume that we will have nothing there- not electricity or a water source.  for days i have been obsessing on how i am going to take down enough drinking water- looking into filtering systems, etc. Food- i am going to be pretty sick of balance bars & nuts in due time.   Another thing is sleeping- where will be sleeping?  I don’t know… my own tent.  I am used to packing lite but this is just the opposite- i do not want to forget one thing.. and am not used to dressing for rain and also hard physical work- but it will all come together by Monday AM, have no fear… I do not want any of this to take away the focus from the utter terror that the every day Hatian has had to endure- even before this earthquake happened.  To be slightly inconvenienced (or at least that is the perception at home) is really is no big deal & puts many things in perspective.  In some ways, i wish everyone had to do this- just to appreciate what we have & have more patience & understanding for those who have been dealt a raw deal.  We are really lucky in life here in the N. America/Europe/Aust/NZ..  As far as I’m concerned it is our duty to serve others who have not been born into such relative wealth & luxury. 

above:  One of my favorite kids in Gonaives, New Years Eve 08/09.

Tags: Haiti, Project Medishare.

With so many orphanages in Africa I may have had the good fortune to accidentally stumble on one of the better one around- in the village of Nyakinama near the town of Musanze in Northwest Rwanda.  As you will see here, there are some precious kids who live there- and the physical grounds look and feel good.  If you want to learn more about the orphanage (&/or volunteer there!!?) please check out their sponsor’s website:  www.aidpafrica.org 

Tags: orphanage, Rwanda.

The DRC was one of those places I often referenced when talking about places I would never be crazy enough to visit.  For instance when people wrongly think that Iran is a place of “chaos and war” I correct them- “It’s not like it’s the DRC” I often say.  Here in Rwanda I heard many stories about the violence that goes on over in the Congo.  The violence perpertarted against women is on par with Darfur- it is said to be a lawless corrupt place- not a place I would risk going to.  But then I went.  Unlike other countries, I still believe, post visit, that the DRC is a place which is very dangerous.  I am not an expert- I just read books & read news- all of which could be misconstrued propaganda.  That said, the NGO workers I have met who have been there tell me that what I hear about the DRC in the news is correct, if anything understated.  Like the long going genocide in Rwanda, foreign powers seem to turn a blind eye. The chaos in the Congo makes it so they can rape the land of its natural resources- including minerals which are used in cell phones, and diamonds… seems like that may be why no one does anything about it (my opinion at least).

I hired a guide to take me around- I was told that one is absolutely a must or else a tourist like me would get hassled to death.  Even with a guide we were bombarded by people desperate to make money that they would surround us trying to get us to go on their motor taxi or buy something- quite different from Rwanda.  We visited a poor part of the city of Goma, near the airport & just one of the many UN compounds.  There young children in scraps of clothing toiled away clinking at rocks-  the rocks are in fact dried lava, as most of the town of Goma was covered in lava after a volcano erupted in 2002.  My guide tried to show me some houses still immersed in lava but as we tried to walk to the area a man came out behind a shack and started screaming at us- he seemed to be very angry.  My guide said that the man was simply “overtaken with joy in seeing a visitor” Ha!  That story again changed to “he’s a hooligan who smokes marijuana” and then finally to “It is a government official who wants a bribe.” 

We also visited the “rich” part of Goma- which is on the lake- land which was not there pre volcano eruption.  There we chatted with prostitutes drinking beer in shacks as construction on houses went on all around them.  We still had to stumble around on dried lava which made visiting this area even more exhausting- never mind the emotional inundation.  The newly built compounds were surrounded by bundles and bundles of razor wire.  I asked who lived in these homes as we passed some homeless people getting comfortable in the driveway entrance of one home. “They’re empty” my guide explained.  I guess they are counting on NGOs to rent them out for their foreign workers.  The UN has its biggest mission going in the DRC; from what I saw most of them consist of Indians and Uruguayans- we saw them riding about 100 to a truck- heading over to Rwanda for some R&R.  I can imagine it is extremely intense and depressing working in the DRC- something I have learned this trip is that the darkness and intensity n this region is something far too powerful for me at this point in my life- it would engulf me.  I don’t think I could ever live and work here.

In my brief visit I saw images of war and abject poverty at a level unlike I have seen before - a little boy sucking on a real gun on roadside, hate in a young boys eyes when he saw me, women walking about as empty vessels- no doubt they had been raped at least one in their lifetime, wooden bicycles that look like they are out of the movie Mad Max ridden by young boys in dirty ragged clothing- desperate for work or a way to make money.  I could not help but think of the DRC as a crying helpless baby- only wanting its mother and the most basic of comforts- but it cries in vain- no one comes- at least not to help- take advantage of her yes- help- no.  The DRC cries alone- shivering- cold, hungry, terrified.  I pray for this country’s people- what a horrific and unjust existence.  No one should have to live that way just so the rick can get richer.  We are very lucky to have been born where we were born- I think it is up to us to speak up and help those who have had the bad luck to have been born into something so horrible.

Tags: Congo, poverty, rape, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC, war.

One of the main reasons I came to Rwanda was to visit the Genocide Memorial in the capital of Kigali.  It opened in 2004 to mark the 10 years since the 100 day genocide.  The memorial was put together by Rwandan public tax dollars and the AEGIS trust which is a UK based group who also did the Holocaust museum in London.   It was said that part of the reason for constructing the memorial was so that society could recognize what went on, pay respect to the dead, and seek some understanding as a nation.  The memorial is set on a large hill; outside of it is a mass grave which is as large as a car park.  All over the tiny nation of Rwanda there are mass graves and memorials- usually on a lesser scale than this one.    Going through the memorial there is a play by play about how the seeds of division in the nation were planted- how they evolved, and then how the practice genocide and 100 day genocide was calculated, planned and supplied (French sold them weapons).  It points out the role of the UN (in leaving- abandoning them), as well as the role of propaganda/mind control, since the radio stations called for the killings (and the UN was not allowed to take out these radio towers).  It included faxes sent by the Canadian UN commander begging for more troops and warning of what was to come.  Photos of dead bodies and body parts- as well as those who survived machete wounds are shown.  I am constantly shaken here that humans could do such horrible things to one another and in such a barbaric way.  It is overwhelming.  The memorial also has s section dedicated to other genocides- Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Namibia, and Bosnia to name a few.  They point out the common denominators in Genocide ideology such as depersonalizing the “other,” promoting an idea that on race or religion is “all good or all bad” and giving people concrete ways to identify “others.”

The town of Nyamata about 30 kilometers south of Kigali also has a different type memorial.  During the genocide many took shelter in the churches around the country.  Tragically, many of the “death squads” came to the churches where thousands were hiding- they then massacred everyone there.  In the town of Nyamata there is a church where nearly 10,000 were killed.  As you enter the church the first thing you are struck by are the pews filled with clothing- as well as clothing of children stacked in a separate area.  You can see the belts, shoes, hats all laying there covered in blood- really hitting the point home of the enormity of what happened.  There I met a 23 year old named Mugabe.  He is actually a survivor of that very massacre.  I do not know how he can speak of it but he told the story of what happened over the 3 days that that church was terrorized- when he was 8 years old.  His brother put blood on him at the time so he could pretend that he was dead.  There he witnessed the torture, rape, dismemberment, and murder by machete of thousands including his own brothers and both of his parents.  I will not tell you the details but it is truly the most horrific way to kill or torture that one could ever imagine.  Mugabe took me to an underground tomb where his parent’s coffins lay.  Alongside are hundreds of others as well as piles and piles of bones and skulls.  I asked him about how he managed to recover from that and get to where he is today- a man who aspired to be an engineer, is soft spoken and kind.  He explained that immediately after he lived in a swamp for a month.  After the genocide “ended” he moved in with the family of friends.  He received government sponsored primary and secondary education (education is not free in Rwanda), but now that he wants to go to college he is on his own.  Mugabe said that he often has nightmares and flashbacks- I cannot begin to imagine.  His resiliency is something I have never seen before.  Mugabe seeks solace in friends, art, music, and karate.  After he took us around the Kenyan woman I was with wept.  “What can we do to help him?  We have to help him!” she urged.  I felt useless.

Afterwards I went to visit an American guy I met on a bus a few days back- he works at a hospital in Nyamata as a nurse.  He took me on a tour of the facilities.  Post Genocide many foreign powers put money into Rwanda- most likely out of guilt and shame since they sat by and ignored what was going on when it was going on.  The hospital was very nice, likely built with foreign donations- most impressive was it had an entire wing dedicated to AIDS patients.  One of the horrible weapons of genocide was rape and mutilation- often they purposely gave women AIDS- torturing but letting them live so that they would be “walking ghosts.”  There at the hospital were the faces of those who survived that- as well as younger victims of AIDS- some born out of rape.   My new friend also brought me to the psych ward of the hospital where I got to met their head therapist- and learn about the medications and therapies that they attempt in treating a traumatized nation.  The therapist was friendly personable and had passion for his job- later on my friend told me that the therapist had also witnessed his parents murder.  Pretty much everyone you meet here has had that- or they took part in the killings- they are genocidaires.  Rwanda is experimenting with reconciliation since they cannot possibly imprison everyone who took part in murder of between one and 2 million people.   I could never see that working in the US but here, expectations are already so low.   Sorry if much of this is disturbing- I have tried to not go on and on- but there is no way for me to describe Rwanda to you if I do not describe some of this.  A good book to read if you do want to learn more is Stephen Kinzer’s “A Thousand Hills.”

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A few days ago i had the great honor of going gorilla tracking in Rwanda- one of the last places on earth to see gorillas in the wild.  Since they are very peaceful animals it is possible to get very close to them and watch them as they play, eat bamboo (they get drunk on it), and clean their big coats.

As you can tell, I am a huge fan of the smallest in the family- the baby gorillas!  As we approached this particular gorilla family our guide spoke to them in their language - the language that Dian Fossey studied and documented in these very mountains of Rwanda.  This baby actually tried to come at us- to play- but the guide made a noise which meant “stay back.”  What a sweetheart.

It was a great day- a gorgeous 5 hour treck through majestic mountain jungle.  I have never been one to really get into “tracking” animals- so not sure i would do something like this every day- that said, it was truly awe-inspiring to see such gentle giants in their natural habitat… And in some way the tourism actually helps sustain and protect them from poachers and the civil war that plague this region (at least that is what they tell us to make us feel better about it, i guess…).  Here’s the deal if you ever want to do it too:  only 8 people are allowed to visit each family per day.  There are 7 families so that means 56 people spread out in the National park per day.  Once you and the park guide finally find the gorilla family you have exactly 1 hour to observe them.  If you are sick you are not permitted to go.  Cost for a permit is prohibitive- currently it is US$500 & it is rumored to be raising to $800 this year… so your mindset should be that this is “once in a lifetime.”  You must also book in advance- even at that price they are often full and it can be difficult to get a permit.  Climbing to see them is also strenuous, especially if it is cold, raining & muddy, as it was when I went. 

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