Saturday, January 23, 2010

 

Judith's Deployment - Update #3

January 23, 2010 is day seven of Judith's deployment and this is post #3. The majority of this post consists of her emails. They are posted in chronological order, going forward in time. The email excerpts take you from Thursday afternoon through Saturday morning. At the end of some of the excerpts, I have entered editor's comments. I do this only to clarify and give context/background. I have also “redacted” (government-speak for deleted) a few names or other references, where appropriate. This in no way takes away from the value of the story.


In one of her emails, she mentions the house we lived in while posted to Haiti. I found a couple of photos of the place and scanned them in and posted them near the end of this article.


At the very end of this post is a CNN article Judith sent me. I wouldn’t normally replicate a media article on a blog but I have done it here because Judith chose to send it to me, so it has value from that perspective.


-------------------------------------------

21 Jan; 1321; subject: Another day in Haiti - What is a day when it consists of 36 hours?

Just got a good four-hour nap. Finally. My mind was running and processing so much that it takes me forever to wind down. The ACS chief, who is married to the AGSO let Helen and me shower and crash at their house in the housing compound across the street from the Embassy. It looks a bit like Nautica. We also did some laundry while we were at it. I told our group that I can do one more day of 16 hour shift (really 20 when it is all said and done) and four hours of sleep. Then I am going to need to get a good sleep in. The XX said that we were switching to 12-hour shifts. Alhamdullela! This means that we are going to do visa intake for 12 hours and then sleep and stuff.

Editor's Comment:

-ACS = American Citizen Services, a sub-section of a Consulate;

-AGSO=Assistant General Service Officer who is the deputy to the SGSO

= Supervisory General Services Officer. These officers oversee the internal logistics of the embassy. It’s what I do for the State Department;

-Nautica is the name of a gated community here in Nassau where we lease a number of residences for embassy employees to live in.


Remember that wrap that I bought at the airport? I have used it soo much over the last few days: I went to my airport shift in running shorts, black tank, and running shoes and wore the wrap around my shoulders, to be a little bit more dressed. Then I used it as a blanket at the AGSO/ACS house and now I am using it as my wrap again while doing intake to make it all look better than just a tank. As news anchors, nobody can see our legs or feet, so I am wearing my five dollar flip-flops (Five. Five Dollar. Five Dollar Flip-Flops…to the subway song).

The airport shift was the most drama so far. We had loads of people trying to get non-Amcits on the flights. Old dual citizen ladies that were being pushed in wheelchairs by young men with only Haitian passports. The women had no idea what was going on and those men totally took advantage of them. It did not work, though. They didn’t go to the U.S. We had a bunch of people trying to get their non Amcit brother or sister on and they were the only one who could take care of them. We had people who were trying to use their rank, army husband, anything to get on that plane. Then we had a bunch of people trying to sneak on the planes. Trying to sneak in our tent and then just walk on. I, personally, caught five. We had an actual stow-away on a plane already. Finally, we had some British journalists who were trying to use their fame (In the U.K) to get on a flight. And an LPR Israeli woman that was part of a missionary group that left from the U.S. that could not get on. Her team mates decided to just leave her on the tarmac with us and got on the plane. So much for friendship. “They had to get back so that new doctors could come on.” When I said that they could just stay and there would be the same number of doctors, they understood that I wasn’t playing and they decided to abandon their friend.

Editor's Comment:

-non-Amcits = people who are not US Citizens;

-LPR=Lawful Permanent Resident, a green card holder


As you can suspect from the above, we were in the line to decide who was going to get manifested or not. I was the one who had to tell them that they couldn’t go. Because of Beth and her training in Dakar, I explained in a nice way that although LPRs couldn’t go right now, as soon as the regular planes were flying, they could go to the normal process. I also remembered to keep repeating the same message and not let them get me arguing with me: “Unfortunately, because of the quake, we can only evacuate Americans at this time.” “Unfortunately, because of the quake, we can only evacuate Americans at this time.” “Unfortunately, because of the quake, we can only evacuate Americans at this time.” “Unfortunately, because of the quake, we can only evacuate Americans at this time.”

Editor's Comment:

-Beth is an esteemed State Department colleague, great friend and an individual that has had a profound and positive influence on Judith….and me for that matter.


------------------------------------

From: Gary XXXXX [mailto:xxxxxx@yahoo.com]

Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 4:39 PM

To: Shields, Francis E

Subject: Re: Judith's Deployment - Update #2 & Donation Appeal for "FSN's"

Frank: Read the posts. Judith sounds like she is having quite an experience right now. Great of her to step forward and help in this way. Pls give her my regards and tell her to stay safe. Best, Gary

Editor's Comment: I provided this email as just as an example of many emails I have received. In this case, this gentleman is one of Judith and my very favorite State Department people. He was one of my first bosses and remains a good friend.


-------------------------

21 Jan; 0931; Subject: Prestige - Guess what? I am drinking a prestige with Liz, Tammy's friend, in the house she is in. And it tastes really, really good. I heard through the grapevine that all the survivors are ordered to take a three day R and R. XX left today and a visitor is in charge. Like my new name_scheme? I am really eating it up today: real meal and now beer and wine and cheese. Some other women neighbors came over and we are chatting. So normal. - also heard through the same grapevine that DHS is going to parole all these accompaniers of minors, so we don't have to do so much in the visa department. They are also going to take over the airport. Again, less work for us. Even before I knew that, I told Roger that I would be off the radar until 0700. (Meanwhile, the impromptu sesh has expanded with the MLO and another mil guy). Also while chatting all these places they were talking about, reminded me of when we were here: Union School (still here), Caribbean supermarket (gone), Munchies Pizza, Gallery Monin closed before the quake, etc.

Count for today: one prestige and three-quarter bottle of wine. I am ready to go to sleep:) on the a mil guy who was on the Hawks with us, promised he would hook me up with some beer, but I had not seen him around. But he saw me in the house, so he brought over two cans of Prestige.

I am sitting outside the embassy nice benches surrounded by soldiers. It is good to be around them. They make me proud to be an American. Huah!I am going in, read a mag and go to bed.

I love you

Editor's Comment: This is one of the best emails in my opinion. It really gives you a feel for what Judith is doing, who she encounters, what’s going on and so on. Anyway, my notes:

-Prestige = national beer of Haiti;

-“…..all survivours ordered to take a three day R and R” = Embassy employees that were in Haiti at the time of the quake and not evacuated because they are designated as emergency essential staff were all ordered to take a three day Rest and Recuperation break -- a wise decision by the Department. Many of these people were having PTSD symptoms and even if not, they needed to be relieved for a few days and allow “fresh troops” to run the place;

-“DHS is going to parole all these accompaniers of minors, so we don't have to do so much in the visa department”. = This means that instead of going through all of the work at the embassy to issue these accompaniers a Visa, they are allowed to travel to the US w/o one and they get “paroled” by DHS at the port of entry. Parole places similar conditions but isn’t technically a Visa. The plus of it is that the beleaguered embassy is relieved of some workload.

-“They are also going to take over the airport.” = With DHS taking over the operations at the airport that embassy consular employees are carrying (manifesting, etc.), the stress and workload on the consular staff will be lessened. This is appropriate because DHS has Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers that can do these operations.

-“sesh: = An Australian slang term for a drinking get together. We learned it from an expat Australian family we became friends while when we were stationed in Wiesbaden Germany back in the Army days

-MLO = Military Liaison Office – The office at the embassy that handles Security assistance which involves working with the host nation security services, military and so on. This is the office I was assigned to when Judith and I lived in Haiti, 98-00.

-Union School = The main international school for expat and diplomatic community kids. Jonathan went there for a semester when we lived there

-Caribbean Supermarket – the supermarket that catered to expats, diplomats and other foreigners. We shopped there at least every week.


------------------------------

21 Jan; 0953; Subject: Prestige - Nice! I know what: why don' you set up a facebook account for me with the Haiti stuff?

I had to laugh about food when I read what I wrote about eating here. I am becoming way more conscious of what I put in my body because the only things to eat here, are nutrigrain bars, canned black beans, Vienna sausages, and m and m's. Now I try to eat as many carrots I can find. That is not hard here: it is the only fresh thing around. Coffee situation is horrible: only the powder shit from MRE

Comment:

-MRE = Meal, Ready-to-eat….duhhhh.


------------------------

22 Jan; 8:21;ubject: A new dawn

First, I slept so good. I asked to sleep in an office and I was out in 10 seconds. I am refreshed and ready to go. We are on our bus to the airport. We have moved to phase two of the operation: 12 hour shifts for us and better processes for vetting people for eligibility and for getting them on the planes. While the fog of war hasn't entirely lifted and some q's remain, I see the sun and think this will be great. I also met the new MLO. I heard that our house is destroyed....

Editor's Comment:

-“I heard that our house is destroyed....” – I hope not. It was a really cool house. I have put some pictures of it at the end of this post.


----------------------------------------------------

22 Jan, 0833; Subject: Coming to Haiti - Hi Judith!

Coming to join you to assist GSO. Going on Sunday to Santo Domingo for 3 weeks. Let me know what to bring.

Thanks,

+++++

Judith responds and asks that a few items be brought:

Kaki shorts: on shelf in closet

Black socks

Dark red pakistan scarf

Light blue pakistan scarf

Cord for the mini computer

Liquor

:)

Editor's Comment:

-The AGSO from Nassau, ++++, who I supervise volunteered and was chosen to go. He was in Islamabad for two years, getting there just as Judith and I were leaving. He is a great guy and I love working with him. I am getting old, now supervising people that are the same age as my son, Jon. +++++ kids me and threatens to call me Dad. I am proud of him for stepping forward and glad that he will be there with Judith for her second week. He will be there for three weeks and will be doing logistics related work, the same type of work he does here in Nassau, whereas Judith is doing consular work


-------------------------------------

22 Jan; 1857: subject: OMG - First, Helen needs some fruit cups in cans. We are almost done with our shift and this little boy shows up by himself. The cutest little backpack and he carries a soccer ball in it. We gave him a load of candy that we bagged for kids and one of those light sticks. I also gave him an mre to show at home. He almost had me cry. He is quietly sitting with us in the big big folding chair.

We had a bunch of doctors coming in and they told us that they had to do many amputations and did not have any way to dispose of the limbs.

We figured out that we could ask the mil flight if we could use their toilets. That is a godsend. We have four porta-potties for the entire airport, not just us. When I have to go, I put on gloves and bring the baby-wipes. Then I wipe off the front part of the seat and the rest of the pottie that may remotely touch my legs if I can't sustain my hover. There was a Delta flight here and they had to laugh so much that we were so happy to pee there. They promised they would get us some alcohol next week.....

Tomorrow we are probably less busy because ICE is here, taking over. Also, we strengthened our rules: only Amcits and one person accompanying a minor Amcit. We had some really upset mixed Amcit/greencard families. I helped one: it was an Amcit father with an Amcit child and a greencard mother. Technically, the minor could have been accompanied by the Amcit father, leaving the mother. This is what my colleague wanted to do. I told the guy to let his wife and son go right now, put on a different shirt and get back in line. They made it. You should have seen those happy people. And that made me feel really, really good.


----------------------------

23 Jan; 0702; subject: Good Morning - Sunshine:) I love you. Good nite sleep up and off to the airport


-------------------------

23 Jan; 0852; subject: Re: Good Morning - Is he flying on Sunday arriving on Monday? We have an Amcit guy who is totally mental from what he has seen downtown. You should see his eyes. Totally f-ed up. We have four RSO’s on him and there is a nurse and another guy accompanying him

Editor's Comments:

-“Good Morning - Is he flying on Sunday arriving on Monday?” – A question about ++++; he will be in Haiti on Monday, 25 Jan

-RSO’s = Regional Security Officers, the name for Diplomatic Security Special Agents when they work overseas.


------------------------------

House Pictures: Below are scan of two photos of the house we lived in while posted to PaP. The house was on 49A Rue Pacot in the Pacot neighborhood, Southeast of the city on the side of the foothills leading up into the mountains. It was a nice neighborhood by Haiti standards and there were several embassy houses in this neighborhood. As of this post, we don’t know of its status. It was quite a nice house and we enjoyed it very much.

---------------------------------


CNN article: Judith forwarded this CNN article to me today (23 Jan). There are bizzillions of articles out there and no use in replicating them on a blog. I include it only because she chose it and sent it to me.

Sent from judithvanzalen@yahoo.com's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.

Volunteers in Haiti take a breath, find time to cry

Like many people who have done their time in Haiti, Gary Garner needs a good cry.

In the past five days, the Salt Lake City, Utah, physician has held a dying man in his arms and amputated more fingers and toes than he can remember. Now, he needs a rest.

Friday found him on the tarmac at the Port-au-Prince airport, searching for a way back to a normal life.

"We're going to go home and cry," Garner said in a low voice.

Then quietly, gently, with the suffering showing in his eyes as he looks away, he starts to cry. The pain can't wait for home.

Elizabeth Bellino couldn't wait either. The New Orleans, Louisiana, pediatrician sat in her car Friday and wept because doctors at another nation's hospital would not accept a truckload of food and water from her. Nor would they let her pick up patients to take back to the University of Miami field hospital, where she's been volunteering this week.

"It's so frustrating," Bellino said afterward. "Why would they do that?"

There's much crying in Haiti. There's certain to be more once caregivers and others get home.

For now, though, the work continues.

Bellino had an increasing patient load at the hospital, located in a dusty field adjacent to the Aeroport International Toussaint L'Ouverture. A 5.9-magnitude aftershock Wednesday had given her new patients.

Even though Garner was trying to figure out how to get home, he still kept tending to patients being brought to a landing zone in three private helicopters.

Those helicopters belong to Utah businessman Jeremy Johnson, who offered to take a medical team to Haiti after last week's 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed tens of thousands and injured thousands more.

Garner was a last-minute addition to a team put together by financial adviser Craig Nelson, a neighbor in Utah.

Nelson had been to Haiti on a Mormon mission 20 years ago, along with Steve Hansen and Chuck Peterson, now both Utah physicians. When Nelson heard about the earthquake, he decided they needed to go. Hansen and Peterson readily agreed.

They were dropped off Monday at the coastal city of Leogane, nearly 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince. The city was at the epicenter of last week's earthquake, and some reports say up to 90 percent of Leogane's buildings were damaged or destroyed.

Impact Your World

The U.S. doctors were among the first caregivers to arrive and were later joined by teams from Cuba, Germany, Canada and other nations. Unlike what happened to Bellino in Port-au-Prince, everyone got along fine in Leogane.

"It was like the United Nations of medical work," said Nelson.

"There were no nationalities," Garner said.

They treated about 300 patients. The medicine was often rudimentary because of a lack of supplies.

One doctor used a Leatherman tool to amputate a man's lower leg. Doctors also used a rack from the back of a bicycle as a makeshift orthopedic splint, screwing it into the patient's leg bones.

The days were long, bleeding deep into the night. Sleep lasted three or four hours.

"We worked until our headlamps ran out of batteries and then people would bring us batteries," Garner said.

"You can sleep when you're dead," he said. "And I'll have plenty of time to sleep this weekend."

And, no doubt, have a good cry or two.


Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?