In response to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, we’ve now raised more than $350,000 to aid the victims through our Haitian Earthquake Relief Fund. 100% of the money raised is being disbursed to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), American Jewish World Service, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and IsraAID (the coordinating body of Israeli charities devoted to global relief work) to provide essential relief, food and medical supplies on the ground.
In his recent Jewish Journal piece “Step-Up Nation” (punning on the great new book Start-Up Nation), Davis Suissa explains how it never occurred to Yonatan Yagodovsky, the director of the international desk at Magen David Adom (MDA) in Israel, that the IDF Haiti operation was good PR for Israel. “Maybe we’re stupid and naïve,” he told Suissa. “We just want to help.”
But the truth is, as most of us know, it was good PR for Israel. To that end, the Israeli consulate here in Los Angeles sent The Wire’s own Yael Bar-Tur to Haiti where she spent two weeks with her IDF unit on the ground blogging about her experiences.
Needless to say, she saw a pantload more than the average CNN viewer. Be sure to catch all her blog posts here and find out first-hand what the IDF was up to on the ground in Haiti. And thanks Yael for letting us repost these! The Jewish Federation might have raised more than $350,000 for Haiti relief, which, of course, is paramount to the country’s recovery, but you did something few of us could imagine doing: you got your hands dirty and we’re very proud of you.
Yael BT, blogger and communications staffer for the Israel Defense Force, is part of the IDF’s relief mission to Haiti. Yael has given us permission to re-post blog entries about her experience in the wake of recent earthquakes.
So it’s final – we’re leaving Wednesday the 27th. W’ere slowly starting to pack up and transfer patients from the hospital. Much of the equipment (tents, cleaning supplies, food) is being left here for our local translators who have been doing a great job.
As for us, things just keep getting weirder and weirder. Yesterday, the Colombian doctors gave us a salsa lesson. Today, Sean Penn stopped by (still don’t know why). I will try to answer some of your questions from twitter:
What’s the mood?
Like I’ve mentioned, volunteers are in really good spirits, but we’re getting tired. I think everyone is excited to go home. That being said, it will be hard to leave. Doctors and nurses got pretty attached to some patients and saying goodbye is a difficult process.
How is International cooperation?
It’s pretty much like a mini UN here. We have medical staff from Colombia and Canada working with us, and journalists from all over the world popping in.
Medically speaking, there’s a lot of cooperation with the US military, the Miami University hospital and an Italian hospital (both in Haiti), and of course a steady transferral of patients to the USNS Comfort.
What does Haiti need?
It’s a bit of a bubble in here. We see many happy stories and a lot of hope. However, this is only a little bandaid on the huge wound this earthquake caused. Many of the patients we help are in need of long term treatment and the whole country needs a long term plan to rebuild it’s infrastructure. We, the Israelis, are excellent first responders and we’ve worked hard since we got here. But now it’s time for the world to step in and make sure that these people are not forgotten once the news starts getting old.
Why did you go to Haiti?
I don’t know. For those of you who know me, I’m a little anxious. I like to be in control and I enjoy showering When I saw the images on TV of the Israeli delegation, I felt such pride! I knew I wanted to be part of this effort. My job here was to work with the press and indeed I did entertain reporters most of the time. But every free moment I had I spent at the children’s ward or with the babies. I still can’t comprehend the magnitude of this whole operation, but I know it is something that will be with me forever.
Yael BT, blogger and communications staffer for the Israel Defense Force, is part of the IDF’s relief mission to Haiti. Yael has given us permission to re-post blog entries about her experience in the wake of recent earthquakes.
Wow. Today was probably one of the most eventful days here in the camp.
This morning I wandered into the maternity ward. The Dr. asked me if I ever witnessed a birth. I said no, so he told me to stick around, I might have to help. Luckily they handled it pretty well on their own, but I got to help clean the beautiful baby boy and even put the tags on him. The nurse had to leave the room, so she casually called out to me “oh, can you give the baby to the mom?” And that was pretty much the coolest thing EVER.
Not that I even had time to think about it. Shortly after that, Mike came in, a 4 year old boy who was diagnosed with Leukemia, here at the IDF hospital . We started a huge twitter campaign to find someone to help him, and 2 hours later he whisked away to Miami University Hospital.
After that I showered. When I came back, I discovered that our search and rescue team had found a 23-year-old man who had been trapped for 11 days, alive! He survived by drinking liquids that he found around him, mostly his own urine. He is currently being treated here and his physical condition is excellent. The video of the incredible video of the rescue is above.
Yael BT, blogger and communications staffer for the Israel Defense Force, is part of the IDF’s relief mission to Haiti. Yael has given us permission to re-post blog entries about her experience in the wake of recent earthquakes.
January 20, 2009
9:22 am — 6.1 Quake
Jumped out of my sleeping bag today to a 6.1 earthquake, not a nice wake up call. The ground was literally sliding around.
Spent the day escorting reporters. Yesterday we had two kids come in (brother and sister) who were buried for 7 days! They walked out of the hospital today. Walked! It was amazing. Even the doctors, who usually keep their cool, where so touched.
Here is a picture of me and my friend Max. He may look little, but he is a decorated soldier (probably ranked much higher than I am). Max found a survivor at the U.N building a few days ago.
Feels like it’s been a week already; I can’t believe this is only my second night. Met some more people today at the camp, everyone is so nice and relatively relaxed. There is a Psychiatrist and a social worker here with the military, and they are definitely busy. I am exhausted, so I can’t imagine what the doctors feel like. We are all kind of slurring our words and mispronouncing our own names.
Nothing has sunk in yet, at least not for me. Right now I am exhilarated at the thought of the people we’re helping. Still haven’t had time to think about those we aren’t. I know it will kick in sooner or later.
Yael BT, blogger and communications staffer for the Israel Defense Force, is part of the IDF’s relief mission to Haiti. Yael has given us permission to re-post blog entries about her experience in the wake of recent earthquakes.
January 19, 2009
1:34 pm – Hello from Port-au-Prince
I have finally arrived at the Israeli Military hospital here. My journey was pretty nightmarish- LAX to Puerto Rico, PR to Santo Domingo, then stuck overnight in Santo Domingo. 5:30 am we left for the airport with a driver who did not stop at one red light and I am not exaggerating!
In the airport we scrambled around for a flight, it was only private jets and aid. We finally boarded a tiny private jet (after paying the pilot too much money) and somehow landed in Port Au Prince.
The airport was pretty chaotic – like a mini UN with soldiers and people from all over the world. We asked pretty much every nation for a ride and finally got a ride to the hospital with the wonderful people of Timoun lakay – a charity for children (www.timounlakayfoundation.org).
The streets were pretty crazy, packed with people. no one crying or screaming, didn’t see any blood or what they see on the news. Just thousands of people sad, jaded, walking around aimlessly.
2:22 pm -The Israeli Hospital
In a foreign country in the Caribbean I have never felt more at home.
There are over 200 Israelis here–over 100 medical staffers (doctors, EMTs etc), search & rescue and logisitcs workers, and everyone is incredibly nice. Most of the medical staff are reserves, doctors that left their families and practices in Israel and jumped on a plane. The hospital is huge – there is an ICU, a Pediatrics unit, an ER, an Xray machine, an operation room and even 3 incubators with 3 beautiful babies. Although I am just here to report, I have never been prouder in my life.
I stumbled upon the two pediatrics tents and gave the kids some dolls I had brought from home (luckily I am a 27 y/o who owns some stuffed animals…) and even helped feed one gorgeous 6-year-old boy with an amputated leg who’s name I don’t know. He then fell asleep with the doll and that was pretty much worth the whole trip.
6:06 pm – For those who are asking…
We sleep in tents. The food is ok–today I had canned tuna and mustard for dinner, but we are lucky to have anything. It is HOT!
9:27 pm – Surreal
I don’t know what time it is (late?). I am in the baby ward sitting on a field bed trying to get some work done. I’m sharing the bed with a girl who is about 3 hours old, covered in a towel. So far we are not bothering each other.
We have a few locals with us translating. I always ask about their families and they usually reassure me that everyone is fine. I asked one man and got the answer I didn’t want to hear. His wife and kids were at home, he was lucky to be outside when the quake hit. He used to work at a bank but the bank is gone as well. He said that God does whatever he wants. He wasn’t angry, just accepting and so happy to be alive. Surreal.
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When I saw the images on TV of the Israeli delegation, I felt such pride! I knew I wanted to be part of this effort. My job here was to work with the press and indeed I did entertain reporters most of the time. But every free moment I had I spent at the children’s ward or with the babies. I still can’t comprehend the magnitude of this whole operation, but I know it is something that will be with me forever.
Jumped out of my sleeping bag today to a 6.1 earthquake, not a nice wake up call. The ground was literally sliding around.
