Letter from Adele

Sorry for not updating recently but am making up for it now with this email that Adele sent in the last couple of days. You can feel her pain in her words.

Haven't had much time lately for email. Sorry. The impact of what is happening around us is having an effect. The volunteers who have responded to the emergency are working tirelessly. Admin., doctors, nurses etc. There are so many living in tents and under the stars it is difficulty to know exactly how many. They seem to come in on a two week stint. Surgeons leave and surgeons arrive from the DR. The airport is still closed to commercial traffic. A new group of Italian civil defence have arrived and errected more tents around the guest house. It's more like an army camp every day. Only discovered yesterday a group of Slovak army personnel are camping at the back of the car park.

Little by little the hospital is returning to being a paediatric centre again. Our OR doesn't appear to be as busy but post op patients are still coming in from the USS Comfort hospital ship. We expect to be getting around three hundred. These are now being treated in army tents outside the hospital buidling. With army hellicopters landing continuously on the grounds there is no lack of activity.

Through it all it's the children, their parents and our Haitian workers who continue to amaze. I'm here a week now and only found one employee who has a house standing, and even they are afraid to go indoors. None of the parents have houses standing. All are happy to be in the hosptial with their children/family because they have nowhere to go. All our workers are living under makeshift tents on the streets near their homes. They go about their work as if nothing has happened but there is an emptiness and deep sadness in their gaze. Something I've never seen before. Many have lost loved ones with still more unaccounted for.

For most, reality is setting in. The initial shock is turning to dispair as people wonder how they are going to manage. Especially the families of childen/patients who are amputees.....out of work and with nowhere to go, grim reality raises it's head. Those who have been hopeful and smiling over the last week begin to feel the weight of this reality.

A few of us went to Petionville and Port au Prince yesterday and passed hundreds living on the streets. Camp cities were visible in parks and laybys. The city centre is like a bomb site. Collapsed buildings and rubble are being cleared but as yet with nowhere to go. People, perhaps family members, are still chipping away at mounds of what have been homes, schools etc. in the hope of finding those still unaccounted for. We passed a university where the locals told us about 200 bodies remain buried. Charred remains were visible because bodies have been burned to prevent disease spreading. Even writing about this is troubling. I can't imagine what it is like to be living this hell on a daily basis. And yet life goes on. Street vendors have already set up stalls beside many of the distroyed building, some precariusly overhanging the streets. Many shops have reopened but with little on the shelves. Banks are back in business.

Visiting the hospital wards I notice our Haitian staff are back on their normal shifts. Fewer foreigners are around as normality returns. Many visiting doctors are out doing clinics in the poorer areas. As for the children!!! One little girl of eleven, Croixnise, has lost all her family. She always gives us a big smile with outstretched arms looking for a hug. Her foot is in plaster but hopefully will heal well. There is never a mention of her loss and she never complains. Victoria, two and a half is still smiling although her leg has been amputated below the knee. I know I mentioned her before but she is a treasure and as bright as a button. Her dad dotes on her. Last night she gave me all the money ($5) from her dads shirt pocket and then said she had to go wash her hands because of the 'microbes.' Her mom and older sisterr died in the earthquake. Another little baby has lost both arms but holds out his little stump when we gesture to shake hands. Life has to get better for these little warriors.

And then, new to our hospital, is the neo-natal ward. Here new babies are born daily. But they are so tiny and almost appear old before their time. The really healthy ones are few and far between. I haven't seen the dad of the twins in days, which makes me wonder if baby Jonas has joined his sister with the angels.

And our older children who are living outside the orphanage...... Many are helping out in the hospital, bakery, depots etc. It gives them a purpose and I am grateful they are by our side at this difficulty time. However, with schools still closed and nowhere to go many more visit us regularly. They are sleeping outdoors to in the park's camps. Most tell me they can't sleep and have recurring dreams of the terrible 46 seconds that changed their lives forever. We are told the first quake only lasted 46 seconds. 46 seconds to shatter dreams and hopes for the future. Already they have been told there will be no state exams this year. Government buildings have been destroyed and all records lost. Again, a sense of dispair prevails.

And yet there is always a funny side to Haiti. Recently a driver went to renew his car tax and although his car had been damaged in the quake, without windows and with a big dent in the roof, the tax officer was grateful and renewed his tax. Most likely, they didn't even have any records.

Yesterday I also stepped into another world. Visting the orphanage, our childen are almost oblivious to the havoc wrecked on the outside world. Except for the odd few all are back sleeping in their houses. There was great excitement when former volunteers visited, some of whom they hadn't seen for over a decade. The 'babies', the youngest now four, sang and danced for us. All wanted to see if my wires had been removed and some mimicked how I looked after the motorbike accident last year with my scarred face and swollen eyes. Boy do they have good memories.

Better go and see how they are at the hospital.
Take care

Adele