Elena´s Blog Post

Day 2: Haiti

We woke up extra early today to begin organizing the medication. This is probably one thing that most organizations are lacking, ORGANIZATION! We all came to Haiti with a purpose. but the problem is you have everyone wanting to do the same thing but not wanting to work together. Today we are headed to a church to set up a health clinic, 7 doctors, 2 paramedics and me and after my job well done on day 1, I have officially been given the name Dr. España!

We arrived at the church and began setting up shop, medication, medical supplies, water, and everything else you can imagine we would need, which was all made possible with your donations!!As soon as the word was out that there was help in the area people swarmed towards the church gates. There was literally a line half a mile long outside the gates of the church, our services were in high demand! It was so high that we had to close the gate due to overcapacity ( the picture of this is on the MOSCTHA blog update from Friday). Once again we began working, taking care of infected wounds, sticking injured victims, stabilizing broken bones and much more. There were mothers who showed up with their infant, which the majority were malnourished and hadn´t eaten in days. We worked long and hard for over five hours, with no resting or stopping, and the only reason we stopped was because we ran out of medical supplies. This just shows you how necessary it is to help these people. In one day we saved over 300 lives!

I think that what scares me most about this situation is how long term it will be. The people in Haiti are trying to function, trying is the key word here. They are trying to get by, but what we fail to realize is that eventually all the water will be contaminated, that people who haven't been treated will die and that the people who are starving most likely won´t stand a chance. It makes you question if there is still hope, but what we have to do is help show these suffering people that there is hope! We need to help give them a second chance.

I know very few Haitians in the United States, but the ones I know are all amazing people and I see a reflection of that in the Haitians that I have had the honor to meet here. They call me their family and they treat me like family as well. They smile and tell me their stories and spend time with me every night teaching me their language, Creole, even though some of them have just lost everything including their family. If anyone deserves another chance in this world it's them.