Reflections on Relief

My readership,

I am sorry, again, for the hiatus. For the past two-weeks-or-so, I have been assisting a Haiti disaster relief team sponsored by International Medical Relief.

Needless to say, this was a trying, eye-opening, enlightening, and upsetting experience. I have many thoughts about my time in Haiti, my team of doctors and nurses, other relief workers with whom I interacted, the Haitian people with whom I worked, relief efforts, Haitian infrastructure, obstacles to recovery, and the sponsors of relief efforts. I was diligent in journaling and taking photos. I wrote nearly 30 pages in just 11 days, and I snapped over 300 photos--undoubtedly, I will steal some photos from my team as said photos surface.

I would love to share some of these thoughts and photos, but I request time. I know many of you are eager to hear a first-hand perspective from someone who was in Haiti (or my particular perspective), but I need some time to process and recover. I have come down with a small cold and am dealing with inconsistent sleep as a consequence of waking-up regularly from the anxiety-laden dreams that are side-effects of taking Malarone.

I will share thoughts, reflections, and photographs in the near future. Until then, here's a brief anecdote:

One morning, I was interviewed by an NBC correspondent in Port-au-Prince. He asked me questions about what I was doing (while I was looking for supplies for my dad and other doctors at the University of Miami pop-up hospital) and my thoughts on the scientologists who were in Haiti en masse. I was not completely honest with the correspondent because a scientologist volunteer was standing close-by, but I generally found the scientologists to be unqualified and inappropriately stationed at the hospital. Anyways, bless Hubbard that I wasn't included in the news piece promoting those who study scient.