I was told it was about 7 hours to the border but we made it in 5 hours. We arrived in Jimani about 6pm and went directly to the 'Command Center'. The Red Cross was there along with a Civil Defense group from the DR and many volunteers. There were tents pitched in an open field and there were 5 or 6 mobile food trucks parked nearby. We checked in with headquarters and were given some paperwork to fill out. We would be staying the night in Jimani because we will be going in to Haiti tomorrow with a convoy for safety reasons. They leave twice a day, at 6am and 2pm. We will be joining the 2pm convoy.
We proceeded to put up our tents. My new Dominican friends had never pitched a tent before so it was fun showing them how to set one up. They learned quickly and were happy to help. They seemed to find pleasure in learning something new. They were tent experts by the end of our trip.
We heard that there was a shortage of tents for some of the Haitian refugees that were in Jimani, most likely they had family in the hospital there and needed a place to sleep. So, we donated our tents to them for the night and ended up staying in a waiting area in the hospital.
We were up early and proceeded to get our supply truck organized. We took everything out and reloaded it. We labeled boxes and separated food and water from supplies. Marcos of SODPRECA had setup a meeting with a group of epidemiologists in order to get further permission to enter Haiti and work with the animals. The group is called SESPES and they have something to do with the Department of Health. We were given permission by SESPES to proceed so now all there was left to do was wait until 2pm. During that time we were able to treat a Civil Defense Service dog that was extremely thin. We fed him and gave him a Vitamin injection. They agreed to remove him from the field and let him recuperate for a week or so before working him again.
At 2pm we got in line for the convoy and left around 2:30pm. There were many cars and trucks. We crossed the border without any problems. We weren't even asked for our passport. Because our group was so well prepared before leaving we sailed right through. Right at the border there were makeshift shops everywhere selling a little of everything. I understand it's a place where people from the DR go to buy things cheaply and then take them back to the DR to sell. The border sits on a huge lake that extends from the DR to Haiti. It was actually very beautiful.
The first part of the road to Port au Prince was very rough and extremely dusty. The mountainside had collapsed down onto the road and you could tell they had to clear the boulders out of the way to open it. It took us 2 hours to get to Port au Prince. We didn't see much devastation on the way because there is not very much there. We passed through several small towns where things seemed to be normal. Once on the outskirts of Port au Prince we began to see massive destruction. Masses of people in the streets, chaos on the road, different humanitarian groups visible and crumpled buildings everywhere. We stopped at the airport where there were some US troops. There were helicopters and planes, huge tents and equipment and soldiers everywhere. Tbe sky was very busy and it was so noisy.
We continued on into Port au Prince and found the location we were supposed to stay. It is called SONAPI and it's a Haitian free zone where businesses can setup tax free and create employment for the people. UN troops were everywhere as well as The Red Cross. It felt safe right away. In SONAPI there was an area there where the Dominicans had setup their mobile food trucks so we decided to stay in there.
Now more waiting until they secure our campsite.
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