current living conditions in Haiti

Today in Haiti still about 1.3 million Haitians still remain living on the streets with no shelter and no food. The U.S. State department has put Thomas C. Adams as a coordinator to watch over Washington's plans for reconstruction in Haiti. $1.15 billion has been pledged by the U.S. to go to Haiti, but it still has not been sent because a plan for spending the money has to be formed first. The State Department sent the lawmakers the plan on September 20 and gave the legislators 15 days to look over it. "Whether or not the legislative acts or not, the money will be released as soon as the period expires." (Jonathan M. Katz) The obama administration is, "in the final phase of working with them (congress) on release of supplemental funding to implement our-long-term strategy," said State Department adviser Caitlin Klevorick, who helps and works in Haiti.

Haiti is still being helped from the severe earthquake in 2010 and the living conditions are still bad for many people.

Second day in Haiti

During my time in Haiti i spent most of my time at the Pediatric center where the injured kids lived while getting treatment. I helped out by giving kids medicine, doing physical therapy with them, and also by just hanging out and playing with the kids. They loved when you played soccer or catch with them. This made them really happy. It was so amazing to see everyone smiling after all that they have been through. For communication I learned a little bit of Creol. For example i learned how to say hi, how are you. And i also learned how to say my name is Jacquelyn and other small sayings. In addition to learning some Creol, there was a translator who was there. There was about twenty kids living in the pediatric center, but during the day other kids sometimes went to the Pediatric center to hang out. One of the kids who I spent most of my time with was named Jackie. His head got crushed by a rock during the Earthquake so he had to wear a helmet all the time. He was staying at the pediatric center until he was sent to the United States to get his skull repaired. It was so sad to hear some of the stories of what happened to these kids, but I was glad to see that they were so happy and friendly.

Earthquake

The earthquake in Haiti killed over 230,000 people, injured over 300,000 people, and made over 1,000,000 people homeless. The Earthquake hit west of Port-au-Prince Haiti's capital. The Earthquake began on Tuesday 12, 2010 and by January 24 about 52 aftershocks had accord. Some of these aftershocks were measured 4.5 and greater. The earthquake caused the majority of its damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, and other places in the same region. The after affects of the earthquake were people lost family, lost  belongings and money, and many people were injured and couldn't be found.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. There were concerns spread that Haiti could not cope in the event of a huge disaster before the earthquake struck. Haiti has been coping with the situation better then people expected. They would not be able to handle this major disaster if they had not gotten medical help from the United States and many other countries.

First day in Haiti

During April vacation in spring 2010 I went to Haiti with my family to help care for kids who were injured and displaced. In Haiti I went to Milot near Cap Haitian. It is a tropical and hot area in the North shore of Haiti. When i arrived at the airport I felt overwhelmed by people asking for money and I didn't know what to expect when I got to the hospital compound where I was staying. The drive to the compound was about thirty minutes and was a bumpy ride. As i passed by shacks on the side of the road I saw broken tin roofs, windows without glass, and a lot of trash everywhere. When we passed by the ocean it was filled with trash and abandoned boats that were broken. There were a lot of people on the side of the road, mostly kids. We also saw a couple of cars pass by us on our way to the compound. One caught my eye. It was what they call a buss and people would just jump on and pay a small fee.