in which Tim gets to help Haiti...

I know there is a lot of interest among socially concious people back home in what is being done to help Haiti. A lot of the relief effort has been concentrated here in the DR since we have more functional airports than Haiti does right now. The embassy is very involved, and all of us know aid workers or missionaries who have headed into Haiti to take a more active part in the effort.

They haven't let us Peace Corps volunteers go into Haiti yet, but there is a hospital set up on the border that has been helping a lot of refugees. We volunteers are going over their in shifts to help keep things running. The hospital is equipped to serve a few hundred patients, and during the first week after the quake they were seeing that many show up daily. It was a big mess. Kim went out there last week to be a runner and do whatever she could to support the doctors. As with most disaster relief efforts, things are very unorganized and high stress.

I am heading out there on Saturday. Things may have calmed down now, but I am sure there will still be plenty to do. I am not sure what to expect, but I am glad to be able to help directly in some way. I will write updates as I can reporting on what I see and learn. Thanks for the prayers!