Thursday, January 21, 2010

Miami On Way to Dominican Republic and Haiti



All the days of preparation are finally coming to fruition. Arrived tonight at the Miami International Airport with Rev. Carlos Hernandez (behind the camera). The early part of the day was spent purchasing last minute items and finishing packing, amazing how little things like cables for various electronic gadgets can be forgotten. First thing this morning, our BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) arrived and I installed the software on my Macbook Pro. This device should allow us to access the Internet in the Dominican Republic or Haiti (or nearly anywhere in the world except for the North and South Poles). We hope to be able to send back photographs and video to help tell the story how people are in need and how they can be helped.

The situation is changing rapidly in Haiti. There was an aftershock of 5.9 hit Haiti at 6 am (more here). More people have fled Port-au-Prince. Field hospitals and clinic are overwhelmed with people in need of care. Relief workers are stressed and confronted with more need than can be met. Our team hopes to provide some measure of relief to the Mercy Medical Team (MMT) that went ahead of us a few days ago, to met with and assess how our Lutheran partners, and to assess the situation and begin to make plans how we can best help in the future. Tentative plans already are being made to send in another Mercy Medical Team (MMT) in a week or two.



Matthew Harrison arrived late evening in Miami after a long day of traveling.


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