On January 13th, less than 24 hours after the earthquake destroyed Port-au-Prince, I drove across the border into Haiti. I went because I knew that I could help. I had worked in our Haiti office for six years, managing both our disaster and infrastructure portfolios. I had left Haiti at the end of 2003 to open PADF's Dominican Republic office, but continued to visit Haiti frequently. I went thinking that I would lend a hand and then return to my work in the Dominican Republic. Instead, I ended up staying for four months. I reopened our Haiti office and reorganized our staff to allow us to focus on providing the help that was so desperately needed.
The early days were the hardest. Half of our staff's houses had been damaged. Many of our people were sleeping in cars or in tents. Despite this hardship, they came to work. We found warehouse space and quickly organized the logistics that allowed us to bring in over 50 containers of food and supplies--nearly $3 million of badly needed assistance. We organized work teams to clear the rubble, provided counseling in the camps, and began working with the government to identify which buildings were safe to use and which had to be demolished.
I ran the Haiti office until May 12th--four months from the earthquake. I then returned to the Dominican Republic to close out that office and moved to Washington. My new challenge will be to support our Haiti operations from our headquarters. Having lived for thirteen years on the island of Hispaniola and having witnessed the impact of the earthquake from the earliest days, I understand well the challenges that Haiti faces. I look forward to doing my part to help Haiti rebuild.
