The journey back home has started for us. We left the Porta au Prince camp site today at 2pm and on the way to Santo Domingo for the flight to New York and then to Seattle and then a last car ride home to Vancouver.
Said goodbye to our friends in Haiti, we already miss them.
Update 2: 02-18 9:57am PST
Now at JFK airport and are about to get on the plane back to Seattle.
Take care,
Team Kitsilano
Update 1: 02-17 10:30am PST
At Santo Domingo Airport, just about to leave for the first part of the flight to New York
Take care,
Team Kitsilano
Sukhwinder, one of our team members, is also a recent graduate from Medical School. Because of his medical training, he’s been helping out at the University of Miami’s field hospital in addition to helping out in the daily langar. Being at the hospital puts him at the front lines of a lot of the suffering that’s taking place here. It also exposes him to a lot of interesting experiences. Just the other day, he helped deliver a baby! It was pretty dramatic. A woman was rushed into the hospital and before long, Sukhwinder was working with another doctor to help deliver the woman’s 4th child. Within 10 minutes of her arrival, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy!
There are hundreds of patients at the University of Miami field hospital and a lot of the injuries, illnesses and infections being treated there are extremely sad to witness.
Over the weekend, Sukhwinder also went to set up a community clinic in a mountainous area just outside of Port-au-Prince. He was gone for 3 days and saw around 100 patients a day along with a couple of other Sikh doctors. It was really sad to realize that most of the people up there had not seen a doctor in years. Some of them had never seen a doctor in their lives. Doctors are sorely needed in this country.
We’ve been combining the langar and medical aspects of our sevaa here. Yesterday, we went out to an orphanage of 400 kids to deliver food, toys and other items. Sukhwinder and some other Sikh doctors also provided a medical checkup for many of the kids.
Our time in Haiti is winding down but we’re working as hard as we can until the last minute.
Everything over here has shut down as everyone remembers the 1 month anniversary of the earthquake. We ran out of some supplies and its a challenge preparing so many meals. As mentioned before the lines seem to be getting longer and with the increased number of volunteers, we’ve been cooking over 1,500 meals each day.
Sukhwinder has been helping out at the University of Miami Hospital and its been a real eye-opener. Medical school can never prepare you for this and the sheer number of patients and the slow progress due to limited Doctors and Nurses is heartbreaking. Everyone is trying our best and the medical teams are giving it all they got and getting very limited rest.
Yesterday we served 1,100 meals at 3 different locations. There are many checks and security has increased, we got stuck in traffic for close to 2 hours. The food lines seem to be getting longer each day and it rained real hard all last night!
All teams members are contributing in a big way. Sargun Singh Shergill from California and Shailendra Singh Malili from Toronto have been really amazing.
The journey back home has started for us. We left the camp site today and on the way to Santo Domingo for the flight to New York and then to Seattle and then a last car ride home to Vancouver.
Update 1:
Made it to the airport, a bumpy journey and we realize now that even thought we haven’t took off, we’re already starting to miss the people and our daily routine for the last two weeks.
Update 2:
It’s been a rough couple of days! We left Port-au-Prince on the 9th and reached Santo Domingo later that day. We were supposed to catch a flight to New York the very next morning at 3am but we soon found out that all flights to New York were canceled due to the massive snowstorm there. And so we’ve been stuck in Santo Domingo ever since! We hope to get a flight to New York tonight, but even if we do, we might not get a flight out of New York until Sunday.
We’ve been trying to make the best out of the situation and have been sightseeing around Santo Domingo as we wait for our travel plans to be sorted out. Santo Domingo is a great city. It’s modern, clean and generally well organized. It’s amazing to think about the differences between Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince. Both cities are on the same island and yet one is a bustling metropolis and the other is a sad ruins. Even though we’re not yet back in North America, we can’t help but feel sadness at the disparity in living conditions we’ve witnessed. All of us keep thinking back to our time in Haiti, the experiences we had there and the people of Haiti that touched our lives forever. We’re eager to back to our lives in Canada but none of us plan to forget what we experienced here.
Update 3:
Stuck in New York – planes all been canceled due to the snow storm. Airport is crowded and hope everything is going okay with the sevadaars in Haiti.
Teams Kitsilano and the United Sikhs team served 1200 meals today. We served food at two sites, first distribution site went well. Lots of women and children lining up for food and they really appreciate the work that our team and United Sikhs are doing.
We also saw off Team Jericho today that left the base camp for the trip back to Vancouver.
Team delivered food to one of the many tent camps yesterday around Port-au-Prince, people were surging forward for the food.
UN forces from Peru were with us, oddly felt like a movie scene, not real, but this is all too real here. We also saw Canadian troops around which was nice to see.
Sukhwinder’s been working daytimes this week at the Visiting Doctors Organization medical clinic today along with the Greek relief team who are set up near our United Sikhs Camp base.
Yesterday, we went to a school to distribute the day’s meals. Everything was going normally until a man brought forward a boy who had a terrible burn on his leg. Apparently, they were in a kitchen and there was an accident where the boy bumped into a pot and boiling water fell onto the boy’s leg resulting in massive burns. Unfortunately, the boy did not receive any medical attention even though the accident occurred several days ago. We immediately took the boy with us to the hospital where the United Sikhs Medical Team was stationed. The Medical Team was able to quickly treat his burns and provide him with medication. The look of fright on the boy’s face was finally replaced with the look of relief and even a smile.
Team Kitsilano is finally here! They’re a very motivated team and are getting right down to business. Team Kitsilano will be taking full charge of our camp here once we leave in a few days. Other Sevadars (volunteers) from Toronto are also setting up a second camp an hour and a half outside of the city in a location that has been largely neglected by the international relief efforts thus far.
The core of the team has been learning about the camp setup and the Langar distribution. Its an amazing setup that United SIkhs have here.
Sukhwinder has been working with the medical team and spent the night working at the U of M Hospital, supported by the US Army, huge tent complex.The need of the people was overwhelming to see.
The volunteers here are full of such great spirit. Haiti is super hot & humid.
Do you all remember Charles? He’s the boy who comes to our camp daily. It’s felt like he hasn’t missed a day. He comes, we feed him, we bathe him and we play with him. He’s very smart and very funny and he knows all of us by name. His arrival brings one sure smile to all of our faces every day.
Recently, we asked him a little bit more about how he was impacted by the earthquake. He told us that his father died, that his house had crumbled and that he was now living with his mom and 2 other siblings in a makeshift camp. We resolved at that moment to visit his camp.
We asked him where he lived and he told us that it was not too far from us. We dropped him off at home that day and we got out and met his mom. They were all living in an incredibly rundown part of town that was probably already miserably poor even before the earthquake. The effects of the earthquake made that part of town all the more unlivable.
As we were talking to his mom, many others in the camp had gathered around us. They told us that, as of yet, no outsiders had come to visit their camp. Unfortunately, we had nothing at the time to give to them. We gave them our thoughts and our prayers. We told them the impact that their little boy had on us and that we all cared for him deeply. Their response to us was very moving: “We thank you for coming here. We will sleep well tonight knowing that someone has come to visit us. We will pray for you so that you can continue on with your service to the people of Haiti.”
We left very touched by the entire experience. We now plan to take meals back for the entire camp. After sharing our experience with the Medical Team, they would also like to set up a clinic there for a day. We’ll update you later on how all of that goes
Stage 1 – Vancouver to Seattle – Complete Stage 2 – Seattle to New York – Complete Stage 3 – New York to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Complete Stage 4 – Santo Domingo to Haiti Border – Complete Stage 5 – Haiti Border to Base Camp – Complete
02/06/2010 – 4:33pm PST - update 3
Just arrived at the United Sikhs base camp and met up with Team Jericho and the rest of the United Sikhs Sevadaars here. We’re all good, just tired and will send more details later.
Take Care,
Team Kitsilano
02/05/2010 – update 2
Just arrived at the hostel, by the Dominican/Haitian Border. All 5 of the team members are great and we’re just resting and getting used to the heat. In the morning we’re going to be crossing the border and meet up with Team Jericho at the United Sikhs base camp.
Take care,
Team Kitsilano
02/05/2010 – 3:20am PST – update 1
Our first post! We’ve just arrived at JFK-NYC, safe and sound. Waiting for our flight that will take us to Santo Domingo (and then a 10 hour drive to Port au Prince, Haiti). Everyone is doing great and can’t wait to get to Dominican Republic and then to Haiti.
JetBlue, our airline was amazing. Allowed all of our relief supplies and the many boxes of toys and school supplies without any issue.
Take care,
Team Kitslano
And they’re off. Second team of Haiti Relief volunteers left yesterday, for a two week mission to Haiti. Team Kitsilano left Surrey Gurdwara on Thursday, February 4th at 5pm. The team and the sangat took part in an Ardaas for the team and the people of Haiti.
The team along with their smiles and high spirits, took along toys, school supplies, kitchen utensils, tents and camping supplies as well as Canadian Flags. The first team had requested sending Canadian flags as the people of Haiti really appreciate the work and effort of all Canadians along with relief workers from across the world. We thought that by sending small Canadian flags, it would be a great way to give them something to remember all the many Canadians taking part in the Haiti Relief effort from all over Canada.
The team consists of Karnail Singh, Jasvir Singh, Surjit Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Sukwinder Singh.
During the next two weeks the team will be sending updates about their journey and first hand account from the disaster zone.
Team Kitsilano – from left to right: Ramandeep Singh, Surjit Singh, Karnail Singh, Jasvir Singh & Sukhwinder Singh
Why I felt compelled to go on this mission:
I feel helping others gives me purpose and meaning in life, something integral to our personal understanding of faith and spirituality. Helping others leads us to rediscover our connection to the world. I believe this mission to Haiti will provide renewed hope and belief not only to me but also to those we help. Although each of us interprets the meaning of faith in different ways, we have seen that no matter what beliefs you ascribe to, all of the world’s major faiths emphasize the importance of helping others.
Name: Karnail Singh Rai Age: 37 Occupation: Transport Business Owner Hometown: Surrey, BC
Why I felt compelled to go on this mission:
I have realized my human duties since I have seen the misery of the many Haitians. They are short on food and water. Parents have lost children and children have lost parents. We may not be able to fill the void, but at-least we can help them however we can.
It is hard to see the Haitians suffering and as a member of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara, its also vital that we see whats going on for ourselves. The Sangat of the Lower Mainland and in fact Sikhs across North America have rallied to this cause and alogn with United Sikhs, we’ll be looking at the needs and wants for the short and long term so that, funds collected from the congregation are spent effectively
Name: Sukhwinder Singh Sangha Age: 31 Occupation: Medical Doctor Hometown: Surrey, BC
Why I felt compelled to go on this mission
Tragedy both manmade and natural seems to find Haiti time after time, yet through this adversity the Haitian people
seem resilient. The images on the news made me utterly upset, like it did many people across Canada. The news stories of the sheer loss of life made me angry and most of all it made me feel helpless. I wanted to be a small part of trying to help these amazing people on their long journey to rebuild their lives and to rebuild their country.
Feeding one hungry person or assisting another one medically, would be to honor the Guru’s wishes of us as Sikhs to help those in need.
The need in Haiti is immense, and I am humbled and thankful to be apart of this effort.
May Guru Nanak Sahib bless this mission, May Guru Nanak Sahib bless the people of Haiti.
