PETIONVILLE,
But in post-quake
“We don’t believe in sitting around and waiting for outside help. We can help ourselves,” said
Rouzeau is one of many Haitians who, while victims
themselves, have organized relief efforts for fellow citizens, trumping
the notion that all aid arrives from outsiders.
In clinics, young volunteers change bedpans and
clean wounds. A philanthropist is delivering diapers. Haitian medical
students returned from
When the
“For sure, Haitians have been helping Haitians,” said Dr.
top plastic surgeons who usually performs cosmetic surgery for the
well-heeled in Petionville. “We waited at least three days before the
international community came down to help. At the beginning, it was
Haitians helping Haitians.”
Within moments of the
capital, Degand was treating patients for free. Her doors have yet to
close to victims who arrive needing everything from minor wound care to
trauma surgery. All four operating rooms are full.
“Some patients have gone in and out of the operating
theater eight times” to save their limbs, Degand said, dressed in
scrubs on the front steps where recuperating patients sleep on
mattresses underneath a tent in the middle of the street.
Two large buildings not far from her clinic
collapsed, including Petits Freres et Soeurs, which had a number of
American volunteers in it, and
“They were really badly wounded because they were
big buildings with lots of cement. Really, I have never seen so many
traumatized patients,” she said. “They had scalp wounds. They were
bleeding. One patient had four or five lesions.”
Within hours, other Haitian physicians came by offering to help, she said.
During the first 24 hours, “we were one
anesthesiologist, one orthopedist, me and one nurse to do the whole
job,” she said, estimating she may have treated about 120 patients.
“Non-stop.”
In total, she figures she has treated about 1,500
patients since the catastrophe, more than 350 of whom required serious
surgery. She had few supplies, but her daughter showed up from
Another Haitian,
Her husband raised money at a
“Right now, there is no high class, middle class or
lower class. We’re all Haitians,” said Martelly, who spoke via cell
phone as she accompanied a hired truck to deliver diapers, water and
tissues to
At the Muncheez sports bar, owners Rouzeau,
The first day after the quake they emptied their
freezer, handing out sports bar staples: pizza and chicken wings. Since
then, their cooks have whipped up spaghetti, cornmeal, rice and beans.
“It’s a lot of work. Our kitchen is not designed for this,” Rouzeau said.
Supplies have been tough to come by; in some cases,
strangers have simply dropped off USAID food bags. Rouzeau estimates
they’re serving 800 to 1,500 people a day.
The restaurant hands out paper ID bracelets to keep people from cutting.
“I’m happy,” said patron Silaine Regis, 23, who was
sharing her hot meal of rice and beans with her sister and 2-year-old
niece. “It’s never enough, but at least it’s something to eat.”
The restaurant’s efforts also provide hope for its
100 employees, who had worked in two other locations that are shuttered
now. They have flocked to the main eatery. But with no paying
customers, the owners may not be able to pay them.
“We’re going to hold on as long as we can,” Rouzeau said.
—
(c) 2010, The Miami Herald.
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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
