Wednesday, January 20, 2010

 

Judith's Deployment - Update #2

Its now the morning of the third day Judith has been "on the ground". We have been texting pretty regularly and she has been able to send some emails. Also, you may have seen it in the news but just this morning, they had a 6.0 aftershock. Luckily, there was no damage in the embassy area. In a text, I asked her what it felt like and she said “it was like if you were standing on top of a gulf made of concrete”.

The emails she has been able to send me are excerpted below. They go from the latest, received yesterday evening back to the first few she sent me right after she was on the ground at the embassy. They are all very interesting and they give an inside look – the good and the bad. In a few places, I have inserted some explanatory remarks in parentheses.

Following the emails I have added images of the embassy area and the airport, the places where she will be doing her work.
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Email received Tue, 19 Jan, 1937 –
I just walked around the embassy compound and found a washer and dryer in the warehouse break-room area. YES. I am going to use it. As you could see on Google earth, the whole compound is pretty big. Right now all the grass is covered with tents and people: soldiers and search-and-rescue people. There are also some dogs. So nice. It might rain tonight, so they are all packing up their field beds with the silvery shock blankets you get in some MREs. Now they look like giant wrapped sandwiches.

Did I tell you that Roger Rigaud is here and I am in his team. We are team 2 and this week's shift is Embassy from 2300-0700 and Airport from 0700-1500. Yes, that is a 16 hour shift. However, it is probably not busy that late at night in the Embassy, so hopefully we can catch some snoozers. (Roger Rigaud is a State Dept colleague we served with while posted in Haiti 98-00)

I also saw Mike Limpantis He got grey-y hair, is married, has a two year old daughter and lives in DC. (another State Dept colleague we served with in Haiti)
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Email received Tue, 19 Jan, 1222, subject: More Haiti –
I am just back from a twenty-four hours and more workday. We started out in the consular section, with the mundane task of copying visa applications forms. Then I went to getting all the people who got visa loaded on the busses to the airport, where these people would be loaded on planes after a load of more waiting for them. We let only Americans on the planes for now because we are evacuating people and we have to make sure that Americans are safe first. This, of course, causes a whole load of drama and screaming and crying in the visa lines inside the Embassy and at the lines outside the airport. There are lines everywhere with people waiting for something. Mostly, to get out of Haiti. Loading busses was also a whole ordeal, because they had to get pre-staged and we had doctors who wanted to tell us who should go first and adopted parents (with CNN) who felt just as strong about being first. And then, we have the Haitians who are already prone on trying to sneak in front of the line or get in any which way they can. I forgot how much pressure people try to put on you. We loaded about 60-100 each round and finally got all people out by 2100. Then it was time to go to the airport where we had lines outside and in. For outside to be allowed inside they had to be an American citizen. No legal residents, no people with visas. There are a load of little kid-American citizens that all can be accompanied by a grown-up Haitian with a visa. We issued a load of those visas yesterday so that people could accompany a minor Amcit (American citizen). Then we had a line that checked to make sure that we only manifested Americans and their accompanier on the planes. We manifested them by creating an excel worksheet with their names, passport numbers, and anything special about them. Between 2200 and 0400 we got 475 people on about 13 planes. All manually entered. Then around 0600 we started outside the airport again with seeing who could get in. It is an endless cycle.
I am drinking an MRE cappucino right now and have eaten some of my candy bars. We kind of have a buffet set up here where people bring us food. A whole load of cans showed up today, including Vienna sausages. So, I got some for you to bring back:) I am going to find a pillow that was also donated to us and then to sleep. Got to take my first shower here at 1000 at the pool. Washed all the clothes while I was at it and they are all drying in my little area where I sleep. In a cubicle.
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Email received Mon, 18 Jan, 1651 –
I am a few minutes to catch you up.
The people who have been here, are a bit like zombies and are getting on each other’s (not ours) nerves. Nerves are very frayed here. I keep that constantly in my mind and am extremely calm when listening to them and talking to them or asking them something.
When we arrived we got a discombobulated explanation of what needed to be done on the NIV (non-immigrant Visas) side and which window could do what. No rhyme or reason and we were all kind of looking at each other. It became quickly clear that people are frayed and that some organization needed to be done. Some of our group have taken a bit of charge. ………….. And very dirty (referring to the Consular area). Stuff and trash is everywhere. No organization. This may be my next self-assigned task; cleaning a huge consular section.
So far, I have printed forms, got a tent set up…what a feat to be honest: I had to walk with everybody and wait with every decision maker or tasker and kept with it. Otherwise they would be off task as soon as someone else needed them for something else. Tammy’s friend who works in ACS has assigned me to be the official airport travel coordinator (Tammy is a friend and colleague we work with here in Nassau and her friend is posted in Haiti, doing Consular work there ). I.e. we stage people inside the Embassy who are allowed to go to the airport to be flown out. As soon as the busses come back from the last round, we check the docs one more time and start loading them in an organized way. We just shipped off a group of 28 orphans with their helpers. They are not yet adopted, but are called evacuated orphans. My God. They were so grateful to be finally going. So rewarding.
I have had two croissants with nothing on it and a load of water. It is hot, hot, hot. Hotter than Haides actually. Pun intended.
Vivienne is still working at the Embassy. (Vivienne Jeune, is a Haitian who was the budget person in the Military Liaison Office which is where I worked when we were posted in Haiti 98-00. Here husband is an engineer working in the Ministry of Works for the Haitian Government). Luckily, she was in Canada the day the earthquake hit because her daughter was giving birth to her first grandchild. So, they are ok, but not here. Which is better for them. Do you remember Kettly Jean Babtiste? I don’t remember where she worked, but I remember her name. She is here and OK. She remembered you and was happy to see us. I also saw a lady from the warehouse how is now working for the consular section. That was really nice too. (More references to people we knew when posted in Haiti)
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These are two short emails received just a few hours after Judith got off the helicopter at the Embassy.
Email received January 18, 1223 -
Thank you, honey. It is a bit crazy here but I can shelter from it if I need. I am walking the GSO through to get a tent set up for the officers outside so that we can process more people. The GSO heard that the XX said no yesterday. So I am hand-holding everybody to yes :-) If you know what I mean. I think I am good at this...
Email received January 18, 1222 -
I am here and have one moment of down time. I am set up with a little corner to sleep and am now running around getting a tent set up so we can process people outside through to determine whether they are going to the airport or not. Will try to email later.
Love you all
I am proud to be here
Get people to donate money to the red cross or doctors without borders.
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This is a close up image of the embassy. It is a fairly large compound, approximately 10 acres. It is built to the new standard developed following the Embassy bombings in Africa. From a security perspective, the main standard was that the embassy buildings have to have a certain amount of setback from the perimeter of the grounds to ensure a safe enough distance from streets where vehicle borne bombs will have less of an effect. In order to accomplish this, a parcel of land of ten acres has to be located for a new embassy site. The effect of this is that most new embassies are constructed out in the suburbs or even in rural areas, away from the typically congested urban centers of capitals. This is where most embassies are typically located on order to be close to the host country’s government. So, we have created a trade – off: a physical distancing of ourselves from our governmental hosts in exchange for greater physical security.











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