BRUTE Goes to Haiti

What's happened since the massive earthquake four months ago? What's it like living there? How're the rebuilding efforts going? What happened to all that money that we all donated via text message? These and many more questions were on our minds as I (Dru) and fellow BRUTES Josh and Justin decided to fly down to Haiti earlier this month to see it all with our own eyes.

Who can forget those images of destruction that were all over the web and TV? Like each of you, we had been deeply affected by what we saw and at a bit of a loss as to how to respond. Hundreds of billions of dollars had been raised, but we wanted to learn more about what's been done. We wanted to figure out how to take action as global citizens and part-time do-gooders. So we reached out to some of our friends.

Within a week, we were heading down to Haiti to visit a doctor friend who'd been working in Jacmeel for seven months. We flew out to Port-au-prince with a loose agenda to meet with her and various organizations who were on the ground trying to rebuild the torn island nation.

What we saw there was overwhelming. The streets looked as if they had been hit by bombs, buildings were left in shambles, trash and rubble were piled high all around. Driving around, we passed a multitude of tent cities, even in front of the leveled presidential palace.

Cameras and notebooks in hand, we eagerly spent our few days taking in the sights, smells and sounds. Along the way we met Haitians, tent city inhabitants, NGOs (ie. Architects for Humanity), and school officials. We even visited the places where the colorful Tap Taps (makeshift busses) are assembled and painted. Even not knowing a bit of Creole (and relying much on translators), we learned of the daily lives and struggles of a people that needed help in every way imaginable.

The situation in Haiti is complicated and difficult, but we're encouraged to see that there's some amazing people willing to think bigger and more creatively about rebuilding.

We're still processing our notes, photos and videos, and plan to share with you just a bit of what we saw, heard, and learned in our brief visit. We'll give you tastes of the culture, share stories, and of course photos and videos to give you a sense of what its like to be on the ground.

Stay tuned.