We arrived at the Port au Prince airport on Thursday night at 11:30pm EST. The Prime Minister had not released the orphans to board the plane to leave Haiti. Our group (Steve Studdert) contacted Senator Orrin Hatch and he contacted the airline we flew in on and asked permission for the plane to stay until morning so that Steve could hopefully meet with the Prime Minister, to ask if he would release them. We didn't get to our camp until 3am. We are staying with the 82nd airborn on a soccer field in P au P.
January 29
Well what a first day back in Haiti. It was so difficult to drive down the streets and see so many homes and businesses completely destroyed. I traveled in a hum-v with the 82nd airborn touring Port au Prince to access the hospitals and see the needs. As we went through the streets in the hum-v I had to use a lot of Creole to navigate and was so surprised that after 20 years it came back so easy. Many children and adults have lost limbs. (This is why it's so important to get Healing Hands for Haiti back up and running!) It breaks my heart to see these people suffering as they are. I am so thankful I was chosen to come down with UTHF. My emotions have been up and down throughout the day with the devastation of Haiti and the suffering on one hand and the smiles and laughter from the children and others I talked to today on the other. On a very positive note they were successful in getting 66 children on a plane to Salt Lake City.
We'll see what tomorrow will bring. We will begin building a temporary orphanage, some are going to Petionville and some to Petit de Gave. This was the last area of my mission and where the epicenter of the earthquake hit. They haven't had any help there yet so I'm sure they are in dire need.
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