Blog 24 : My thoughts Che Bruce Haiti 2010

Time GMT Date 2010

TAF has pushed me to write down my thoughts and to explain how I feel, whist it is fresh in my mind.

Sent: by Che 23 Jan 2010 18:56 Local Time in the Dominican Republic

Yes I know deep down that this mission is over, hindsight is a brilliant thing and on reflection team safety made us leave a day early when now the consensus is that we could have probably done one more good days work.

Still there are those dying, sick, horrifically injured and in a country where the majority had very little, they now have even less. I think of the things we have seen and done and the temporary relief to pain that we administered to many. However let this not distract to the continuing need of the vast majority of the population.


One elderly lady said god had sent her an angel, I reset her leg as best I could with plaster of paris (POP), administered some pain relief and gave her some iv fluids then moved on, she was left under a make shift tent in the street covered in flies.

Another girl for 3 days I had promised to examine her wounds but each day I found that I had more and more patients to deal with, there were those who had walked in off the street and some who had been carried in on doors and others by vehicle.

Yesterday I looked at her badly deformed leg......it needed debriding and deep down I new that with out continuing care, constant antibiotics and sanitation she will loose her leg, and if the wound becomes septic she would die. Her lip had been split into two pieces and it had now healed as separated since the initial earth quake. I new looks were the least of her problems yet I felt for her.

I still feel a deep sadness for those I have had the privilege to meet.

Hopefully although short term we gave them hope. Getting aid to the people was a continuous problem. Those who were taken to the hospital de la renaissance (Cuba) were treated well.

How you make sense of this. I don’t know I am hopeful that aid, food and medication that was left buy ourselves and the South African hussar team reached those that needed it the most.

I can remember treating a lady; she was a secretary who had been hit by a slab of concrete whilst working in her office. Since the quake had hit the capital she had laid in the garden naked, unable to move. She had not had any form of assessment of her injuries. Some people thought maybe she wasn't physically ill or injured. Amongst the cruel tangled devastation everyone is affected psychologically.

If anyone reading this has seen the film black hawk down, the cathedral district in which our team worked resembled Mogadishu, please believe me when I say there was nothing left, there was nothing left. The air was putrid we constantly breathed the stench of decay.
I tell myself the mission was a success; we came and helped those that needed help. But I will forever ask was there more that we could have done! Yes I think there was.

I would like us all to think whilst we are sat in our chairs at our computers in our centrally heated homes, together with electricity, water and an endless supply of food, that we should spare a thought for those in Haiti who have “nothing”.

US Marines deployed as Piece Keepers and SAR Personal Protection.

It’s easy to be passive and think its thousands of miles away but we're all human; we all have the capacity to show humanity. “Please show some” to the People of Haiti and show it Today not tomorrow.

Even though the rescue efforts have now ceased, on Thursday reports were arriving in some there was information about text messages sent by those who were entombed, some may not be injured but are unable to escape. They are awaiting a rescue that will never come. They will just be left to die of dehydration over the following days. What do I feel, I don't know, only time will tell?

Do I feel psychologically affected by this, no, saddened no one deserves to live with out the basic commodities that are needed to sustain life, water, food, love and care even in this their most desperate time of need.

Che Bruce Haiti 2010

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
Sir Winston Churchill British politician (1874 - 1965)

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