Guest Blogger Anne Marie

After 72 semi-waking hours of being in a famished, destroyed, impoverished nation, I'm full of intrigue about what's next.

Haiti is a nation of systemic poverty. I've seen poverty like this in parts of South American and African nations-but I could drive out of it and stay in a nice hotel or visit a government building-the entire country wasn't in despair. But here there's no escape from the poverty.

It's been six months since the earthquake and destruction is still everywhere. Instead of moving the rubble, people have settled on it. I'm afraid the people will just make this the new way of life.
There's so much good here-in the people, the organizations present, the goals-but the country's potential seems to be buried in the rubble with the rest of the city of Port au Prince.

Not once have I seen a single road crew, drive on a paved road, or seen anything that looks like substantial progress. Perhaps I would see it differently had I been here 6 months ago? But for David and Steve-and all those who I've asked who had been here as first responders- the immediate feeling of despair, death, and destruction have simmered into an acceptance of a way of life.

The people are unhappy with the current government. Civil unrest is boiling to the surface. There was a threat of a "manifestation" today. Basically, a manifestation is a riot. The opposition (which is 90 % of the people) plan a protest against the government and take it to the streets. Our driver/security, was called into work last night to prepare for today's planned manifestation. As I mentioned earlier, he is the head of security for the President of Haiti. He slept at the President's home last night.
The manifestation didn't happen-at least not yet-but the intentions and plans are real and will happen soon.

I'm overwhelmed about what needs to be done and where to start. The government's a mess, the land's a wreck, the buildings are flattened.
The people are hungry and living in fear of the next quake.

But because I have a little blue book with me, I get to leave it all....for now.

UHTF Fireside

Doug will be speaking tonight about his trip to Haiti as well as sharing photos and a video. Joining him will be Steve Studdert. Studdert was the lead organizer for the Utah Hospital Task Force (UHTF), a group of 130 civilian volunteers that helped after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Please join us at the Lakes Stake Center 7:00pm. Monte Cristo & Oakey. All are welcome!

I’m so excited to be a part of the Million Mothers for Haiti –helping to build the American Hospital of Haiti.

As part of the non-profit organization www.gifthaiti.org. A committee has been established, to oversee The Million Mothers for Haiti – helping to build the American Hospital of Haiti.

Our goal is one million American women giving $12 each. Some think with God's help this is achievable by Mother's Day in May. Wow!

The use of the $12 (or more) donations will go 100% to the hospital construction, supplies, and long-term operation.

Wonderfully creative Michael Walker and his team, who created and oversees the www.gifthaiti.org website, is working on a sub domain “Million Mothers" for Haiti website.




Once construction begins, the www.gifthaiti.org website will have a regular progress report on the hospital.

The American Hospital of Haiti will provide a higher degree of respect for women patients and the modesty of women that has been customary in Haiti.

Women health needs in Haiti are immeasurable; painful yeast infections are widespread and mostly untreated. High blood pressure is also widespread and mostly untreated. Care for children is also a critical need.

The outpatient clinic on the campus of the American Hospital of Haiti is being designed to also incorporate a women’s health clinic, community health education, and vocational training.

NEED --

We need for every woman to become involved. There are few American women who can’t spare $12, especially when you know it will bless the lives of badly hurting women and children. Please donate Today and email, repost or tweet your friends and invite them to give $12 (or more) and invite every woman they know to do the same.

I am only one, But still I am one. I cannot do everything, But still I can do something;

And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Edward Everett Hale

Because I Have Been Given Much

We today announce THE NEXT STEP in helping our dearly struggling brothers and sisters in Haiti. Our responsibility to give succor is far from finished.

For over two hundred years, much has been written worldwide about the American Spirit. It is not found in government but in America’s people. That’s you and me. The freedoms with which we are blessed with in this divinely inspired nation allows you and me to make a difference, to act independently, to give our ourselves and our money, to bless the lives of total strangers.

For many, religious faith is central. For others, it may be the inherent goodness that has come to be a hallmark of America’s people.

Today we announce an extraordinary nationwide citizen initiative – citizens, not government – to build the American Hospital of Haiti.

Today we announce the formation of a new non-profit IRS 501(c)3 tax-exempt charitable organization called Americans Helping Haiti – and a new website www.GiftHaiti.org where starting tomorrow (Saturday) you can contribute.

This is huge – there is nothing like it! And you are a key part of the team that will make it happen!

No contribution is too small; no contribution is too large. But each of us has something we can spare. Tomorrow please go to www.GiftHaiti.org and become part of this great American effort. Email, text or Twitter your friends, contact your Facebook pals, and invite them as citizens to also give. Imagine if each of us had 50 friends donate 50 dollars – we will be able to begin construction on time!

$50 dollars or more – that’s not very much to save lives. No amount is too small, no amount to kind. We all know lots of people – in our wards, our neighborhoods, our professions, our schools, our social network. Not one of them wants to be left out!

Many of you keep asking “What can I do?” Here is something very specific you can do right now: Ask fifty of your friends to donate fifty dollars. Of course, many of your friends can and will donate much more. Every time I speak at a fireside about our Haiti trip, people are asking how they can help – you’re having the same experience.

To design, build, and operate a hospital is no small task. This is an enormous and costly undertaking – but we can do it!

We have already engaged architectural experts who are working on the hospital design. It will be one story high, and have 130 beds – because there were 130 of you involved in the Utah Hospital Task Force!! We do this much in your honor! There will also be lodging, skills training, and community health education components – more later on that.

Each of us treated a patient like Bela, a beautiful 14-year old girl some of us met. Her mother, her father, her five siblings were all killed in the earthquake. The family home was destroyed. She has no food. We met Bela as she lay in a hospital bed, her left foot and right hand amputated. The last time we saw Bela was as she was wheeled to the curb and discharged from the hospital – set on the street to fend for herself. Not yet healed, no crutches, no family, no shelter, no food, no medicine – Bela left to find her own way. There is not a day passes but I don’t think about Bela, and wonder – and know that our special responsibility has not ended.

For Bela and well over a million others like her, we must do this. We MUST – because we have been given much.

Funds will be used to construct and operate a desperately needed new hospital in Haiti. We anticipate construction will begin in June – that’s just three short months away – and we are working to open the hospital to patient care on January 12, 2011, the one year anniversary of the most destructive earthquake in modern history. So we must move very expeditiously – we have no time to spare.

My personal hope is that on January 12, 2011 – every one of the original hospital team will again be together in Haiti, this time to celebrate the inaugural of the American Hospital of Haiti!

Together – as citizens – and maybe with a few of our generous Canadian friends too – we will build the AMERICAN HOSPITAL OF HAITI. Tomorrow go to www.GiftHaiti.org and get this ball rolling!

Our brothers and sisters in Haiti are experiencing incomprehensible suffering in what one U.N. official termed the worst human catastrophe in recorded history. Though the earthquake terror is now mostly over, the awful fear, the horrifying memories, the injuries and sickness remain, and a future marked by acute unemployment, homelessness, and disease lie ahead. With determination, compassion, unity, and a respect for the dignity of every Haitian, through our personal generosity and by enlisting your friends – we together will bless those in Haiti who are hurt, homeless, sick, and hungry.

Our abundance, born of the American can-do spirit in our free society, made it possible. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little." Hopefully we added something to those in Haiti who have so very little; many like Bela have absolutely nothing.

Reading the scriptures helped me to know what we must do.

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." [Matthew 25:40]

"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." [John 13:34]

"Succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." [D&C 81:5]

Won’t you please – first thing tomorrow morning – go to www.GiftHaiti.org and help build a shiny new hospital as a place of safety and medical to replace collapsed hospitals and makeshift camp clinics overflowing with more homeless and sick Haitians.

I cannot say enough about the goodness of you who were on our recent Haiti emergency team, as you each constantly found yourself living what King Benjamin taught: "When you are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." [Mosiah 2:17]

I invite you to now, no matter where you live, no matter your circumstances, to help make the American Hospital of Haiti become a reality. Saturday, go to www.GiftHaiti.org and be one of those unseen ministering angels, one of those generous American citizens, who will work wonders in Haiti.

This is just taking off. In the next few days I will be email you more details. We have organized a Board of Trustees for the charitable foundation (as required by law), and we will be organizing a Board of Medical Advisors, a Construction Board of Construction Advisors, and other committees essential to making this all happen. We will also be opening an office sometime next week. Everything just takes too much time!

Please email questions you may have to info@gifthaiti.org . Our able internet guru Matt Pierce will make sure everything gets where it should be.

God bless you!

Steve Studdert

UTAH HOSPITAL TASK FORCE

We didn't end up leaving last night. We plan on leaving this evening late. At the end of the day yesterday we gave all of our supplies to those who were staying. (Not our group) So today I'm spending the day in Kenskoff. It's up in the mountains. Will keep you posted about my return.

Tuesday February 9th

Today we got up and got an early start. We left camp at 6:45 to go to the General Hospital. When I arrived there I found Mana had had a very bad night. She was in a lot of pain and was screaming and crying. The only nurses left in that tent were Haitian nurses and they don't usually give the best care and attention. I sat and talked with her for a little while and tried to calm her down before I had to leave to the ICU tent for the day. I worked changing IV solutions, changing dressings and translating. Joel and I took a lunch break today and walked to the Centrale Chapel in Port-au-Prince to meet a bishop who was just a young man (a deacon) in Jeremie when we served in that area. It's so good to see people we knew from before and to see they are still strong in the church. We came back and worked in the ICU again. (CNN was filming in our tent today, and they interviewed some of the doctors and talked about what Healing Hands for Haiti does.) The conditions these people are trying to heal in is unbelievable! There are flies everywhere and it is hot and sticky. The tent is about 100 degrees inside. In the late afternoon one of the Haitian translators that is working with us had a wisdom tooth that was really bothering him, so I numbed him up and extracted it for him. We got a ride back to camp with the 82nd airborne, had a nice testimony meeting and were given plans for our departure tomorrow.

Meridian Magazine : : Church Update: Healing from the Rubble

Meridian Magazine : : Church Update: Healing from the Rubble

Doug,

I am so happy you and the others are in Haiti. So many are praying for your efforts and safe return. Your stories are terrific. I am sure Michelle and your kids are beaming with pride because of your selfless time and money spent helping such an important cause. I look forward to hearing from you when you return. Has your Creole come back faster than you would have imagined I wonder?