A SHATTERE D NATION

Journal Bydustin Allman

On January 12th, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hitHaitidestroying homes, bUSineSSeS and iiVeS Following theearthguake, there were numerous aftershocks and thecountry struggledto survive. Senior Dustin Allman wasable togo toHaiti inFebruary with an organization called New Directions International (NDI) Feb 3: I'vehad thistriptoHaitiplanned since September. InJanuary theorganization I was going with,New Directions International (NDI)began tofinalizethedetails, but I wasn't able to attend thelastmeeting on January 11 Theearthquake hit on January 12.Plans changed.There were 13ofussettogo. Now therearejustfive Myheart immediately burned with compassion forthepeople.Myurgency togo intensified and myfaithingoing never became so real Our plans since that fatalday have changed fourtofivetimes.Today I gotthecallsaying we'd be leavingfive days earlierthan planned Guess I'll miss theSuper Bowl for the first time inmylife and it doesn't reallybother metoo much.

Feb 7th: I could trymybest todescribe myfirst 10hours in Haitiand it would notdo justicetowhat I experienced.When we landed, there was no onetounload ourluggage andsupplies

The entire97 passengers were incontrol oftaking everything offtheplane We had acouple ofguys get inthebottom of the plane and weproceeded tocreate an assembly line. One swift motion followed by another, wepassed medical suppliesand suitcases tothedesignated groups.When all ofourstuffwas unloaded,weheaded out,walking through theairport passing all thecracked walls, shattered glassand pieces"of concrete scattered on theground Serge Elvarus, oneofthecontacts in HaitiforNDI,wasthere topick usup.It was quite confusing.There were about fiveothers begging tocarry ourthings fortips So many jobs were lost, and men crowded theairport lookingfor any means ofmoney W etraveled toourhotel only tofindout thatthey had lostourreservations.Our rooms were occupiedby NBC's news crew They made adjustments and told uswecould sleep on thefloorupstairs intherestaurant, (continuedonpage is)

(continued from page 12) After we put our things away,we went to visitan orphanage NDI supports It was destroyed likethe majority of Haiti,and those who lived there were sleeping intents It was an all-girlsorphanage and I went over to speak to some,asking their names,"Como u rele?"After breaking the ice, they immediately gravitated toward us and were all smiles This interaction alone had already made thetrip worth it They loved rubbing my beard and my hair Apparently,they're not used to the hairof a white person NBC had a satelliteand we were able to catch most of the Super Bowl at the hotel. It paled incomparison to the magnitude of everything around me. I am not here to watch a Super Bowl.I will now retireto my mat,with my sweatshirt as my pillow, no blanket, outside, on the floor. I do not even consider thisas "roughing it" after what I've seen on the firstday. Feb 8th: I'vefound that time is all relative in Haiti.Most people simply wake up when they wake up and spend theirday on a quest forfood. So my time was relativeas well.I don't know when I went to sleep;I only know that I stared at the lizardscrawling on the ceiling above my head until I fellasleep.Inthe morning I was able to experience Haitian coffee and warm sugar directly from the sugar cane fields. Then,we spent the firstfive hours negotiating with warehouses trying to haggle these places forfood We finally found a place that would sellus 100 bags ofrice, 50 bags of beans and 50 bags of vegetableoil The bags of riceweighed 60 pounds each and the bags of beans weighed 100 pounds each Three of us loaded and unloaded them from a truck by one of the pastor's brothers We paid $4,500. It is enough to feed the entire village, 573 families or roughly 5,500 people,but it will only lastfiveto sixdays. Elvarus has connections from the churches all the way to the "Haitian underworld" and has been quite helpfulin knowing the right people and judging reasonable prices Anyone can be bought here It is a mirror oftheircorrupt government for so many years We also took a tripto the Red Cross We saw representatives from the United Kingdom, Turkey, Germany and many others They might be able to help us distribute more food They are very organized Most villagesdo not need clothes They need food and medical supplies On our stop to the girls' orphanage we handed outSkittles They flocked to us and got back inlinefor more I have yet to mention the tent cities The AFCA villagewas all tented and makes up probably 90% of the villages I write thisto you staring at about 50 to 60 tents directly infront of me I spent my offtime playing balland hanging out with the kids across the street from the hotel My dad would think I was very liberal ingiving them my video camera to film for me, but I honestly don't mind Joseph Williams, our leader and President of NDI is friends with the personal aid sent by Bill Clinton to Haiti. We have an e-mail and phone callinto him,and hopefully he'llbe able to help us feed more hungry people The destruction here is terrifying and very real The pictures and footage on television and the internet isno scam and not over-dramatized. I am at a lossfor words trying to accurately describe it So with that,I Willnow retireto bed (continued on page 190)