A Different View of Haiti
Landing at PAP - Toussaint Louverture Airport Port au Prince, Haiti. (Susan Terrell)By Susan Terrell
In March I was privileged to spend five days in Port au Prince as the guest of native Haitian Cessna pilot, Reg Auguste. Reg and I met last year through the online forum board of the Cessna Pilot Society. As a student pilot as well as a writer who enjoys stories about interesting people involved in aviation, I appreciated the sense of humor and positive attitude consistently apparent in his posts, as well as his tales of renovating his 172 which reflected a genuine love and enthusiasm for flying.
When the earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12, one of the first things I did was head for the CPS Board to see if Reg and his family were okay. They were fine; he and his wife had been attending to some business in Florida however their eldest son experienced the quake while at work managing the family factory in Cite` Soleil. Thankfully he escaped injury and the factory survived without major damage, but Reg told me a harrowing story of having been on the phone with his son when the quake first hit, hearing a verbal expression of shock and surprise from him as the first strong tremor hit, then the silence of a dead phone line. Communication was restored long enough for a call back and a quick “it was an earthquake Dad, I’m okay” … before the line went dead again for what would be a much longer time.
I expressed to Reg my desire to help somehow further awareness of Haiti’s needs after the earthquake through my writing. Reg then extended an offer to visit and see his country firsthand. I accepted his kind offer, a decision that understandably given the circumstances, caused more than a little concern on the part of family and friends. But one of the main reasons Reg wanted me to visit was to dispel some myths; for me to experience for myself the other side of Haiti and its people – to see the positive aspects rarely shown previously by the media in the U.S., and especially now in the midst of this disaster.
“We’ll go flying,” Reg had said, “take good care of you, and send you home with stories and hopefully a different view of Haiti.”
I flew into Port au Prince March 6, on a donated Vision Airlines flight from Miami bringing medical relief workers to the Medishare hospital located on the grounds of the Toussaint Louverture airport. Reg and his business partner Frantz Gabriel assisted the University of Miami/Medishare into bringing the hospital to life the first few crucial days after the quake. There are not enough positive adjectives to apply to the relief personnel and the help, miracles and support manifested at that facility – as well as others like it in Haiti that have come to life since the quake.
Inside one of the Medishare Hospital tents located on the airport grounds at PAP. (Susan Terrell)By the time I got there, the airport had calmed down somewhat from the frenzy that surrounded it for the first two months after the quake. The volume of relief flights in and out have slowed, although it was still a very busy place when I arrived surrounded by U.S. Military encampments as well as stacks of relief supplies awaiting distribution. When we landed, a Brazilian Air Force C-130 sat on the ramp next to our 737 and there were helicopters parked on the grass perimeter – some awaiting re-assembly after having been flown in via cargo planes. The GA ramp where Reg’s plane was kept was a mix of single and dual-engine piston aircraft, commercial turbo-props flying local routes once again, as well as private jets that were still bringing in needed supplies and medical personnel from all over the world. The contribution GA was making to Haiti relief efforts was apparent just by looking at what sat on the tarmac.
Unlike the heroic Medishare medical personnel who would spend their week-long volunteer rotation at the airport hospital facility sleeping in tents, I was fortunate to be able to stay in a comfortable home that had weathered the earthquake with only minor damage. The fact I was blessed to do so made my days spent on the ground observing the intense devastation from the quake – as well as the conditions the Haitian people themselves are now forced to live in – that much more poignant.
Devastation in downtown Port au Prince. (Susan Terrell)Pictures cannot do justice to the destruction. To see it in person emotes a sense of surreal – surely this pile of pan-caked concrete was not once a tall building; surely that pile of cardboard, sheet and tarp propped up with random boards is not where a family has to live. But the reality is that it once was a tall building – sad and sobering to realize that victims undoubtedly still remain deep within the rubble – rubble still there due to the overwhelming nature of the destruction and the magnitude of the necessary clean-up and removal. Sad and sobering also to realize a family does indeed live in that pile of cardboard, sheet and tarp – to know that Haiti’s rainy season is about to begin.
The destroyed Presidential Palace. (Susan Terrell)But in days spent on the ground with my host I also saw exhibited firsthand the spirit, dignity, humor and courage of the Haitian people. I saw the determination, faith and grace that will help them rise above this newest adversity. The Haitian people have faced much in their long history and as I learned more during my visit about what they have overcome and dealt with in the past – slavery, oppression, and savage dictatorships to name just a few past adversities – my respect for them in the present only grew.
It was seeing Haiti from the perspective afforded flying right seat with Reg in his 172 however, that brought home to me in a way being on the ground could not, the bigger picture of both Haiti’s inherent beauty, as well as the challenges the country faces.
Port au Prince, Haiti from a 172. (Susan Terrell)Flying North toward Cap-Haitian and looking down from the window of Reg’s plane, the destruction fell away as we climbed, revealing Haiti’s geographical essence. We flew in the late afternoon, the clouds and setting sun creating dramatic shadows on the landscape below. We flew over the Peligre Hydroelectric Dam in the Artibonite Valley. We flew over the Citadel, built between 1805 and 1820 by 20,000 workers as a lookout and fortification for defense against the French of the then newly-formed Haitian nation. It is a massive and impressive structure often referred to by Haitians as their “8th Wonder of the World.” Especially seeing it from the air, there is no doubt as to why they feel that way. How did they get the construction materials to build such an enormous structure up the one, long, small, winding road that is the only access? That aspect of its wonder was made even more apparent from the perspective offered in the 172.
The Citadel. (Susan Terrell)As stunning as many of the scenes I looked down upon were, Haiti wasn’t as beautiful as it has the potential to be, as it deserves to be – as it once was. Due to massive deforestation, where there should be verdant vistas there are only areas of depressive brown and the stick-like stripped remains of what once were trees. Where water should consistently frame earth at the shoreline in the vibrant blue-green the Caribbean is known for, the deforestation in Haiti has also created far too many areas of mud where land meets sea.
As we flew over Port au Prince at take-off and approach altitudes, the earthquake destruction below proved overwhelming in the panoramic view offered from that unique perspective. I had observed it up close and personal on the ground, but to see how vast it was from the air brought home to me just how daunting the recovery from this earthquake will be for Haiti and its people.
GA has played a crucial and valuable role in the recovery process, one it will continue to play. It has already been invaluable in getting supplies and medical personnel into areas inaccessible to vehicles or larger aircraft, as well as helped in evacuating the severely wounded. Reg shared his vision of using GA aircraft to do aerial seeding to restore the tree growth on Haiti’s barren hills; a newly acquired 207 he and his business partner Frantz just purchased was recently used to fly desperately needed midwives into Port au Prince from an outlying area. Their FHEAA (Fondation Haïtienne pour une Education Adaptée à l’Aéronautique – Haitian Foundation for an Education Adapted to Aeronautics) formed before the quake to give Haitian youth the opportunity to become pilots as well as aircraft mechanics, is a positive step in offering hope for the future and they look forward to resuming classes soon. “Aviation for Humanity”, a wonderful non-profit organization dedicated to providing safe, cost efficient and reliable air transport in remote areas to humanitarian agencies, also works closely with FHEAA and has been invaluable in offering support and assistance both before and after the earthquake.
Seeing Haiti from the perspective I did was an experience I will never forget. I look forward to returning, perhaps if I’ve completed my flight training by then to experience “wheels up” from PAP as PIC. It was however a privilege to view Haiti right seat in Reg’s Cessna. Doing so only re-enforced my belief that those of us with a passion for GA are truly blessed to be able to experience our world from the unique point of view it offers us.
Please keep Haiti and the Haitian people in your hearts and minds; they will need the world’s understanding and help for a long time to come after this devastating disaster.
For more information on “Aviation for Humanity” – its work in Haiti and elsewhere, please visit their website at: http://www.afh.aero/ More information on “Project Medishare” can be found at their website: http://www.projectmedishare.org/
