Haiti – Conversations

Note:   I have to find a sense of balance in my writing about Haiti, and to that end I have to make sure I’m not falling into the very journalistic trap I spend my days bemoaning.  Over-reporting this tragedy puts up a barrier between people and the situation, and that’s the very problem I’m working to resolve.

I spoke to Simon last night via Google Talk, and I’ve made the decision to include the entire conversation.  There has been no altering of the subject content with a few exceptions.

• I removed the over-the-top swearing.  Neither one of us is a choir boy, and I don’t want my blog pulling an adults-only rating.
• Simon’s typing sucks.  He’s had his Droid two days before he went airborne, so combine the newness of the phone with his inability to use it, and this conversation would have been unreadable.  I understood enough of it to keep up, but in posting this I have chosen to correct the misspellings.

In sharing this, hopefully I will convey the utter sense of frustration there on the ground, along with the sense of humor needed to keep from going crazy.  Sometimes it’s the little laughs that make it easier to keep working for one extra hour.

I apologize for the length of this.  In formatting this, I chose to put extra space between our responses as opposed to cramming it all together and making it unreadable.

Lastly, this conversation happened yesterday.  Since Haiti was hit with a 6.2 aftershock this morning I have had no contact from Simon.

Simon:  Hello, love.  I’m still kicking it.

Daniel:  Well, that’s a relief.  I can’t return your ring to the store at this point – had it too long J

Simon:  Dick

Daniel:  Jerk

Simon:  I’m just mad for you – really.

Daniel:  I know; you’d have to be nuts to run with me.  Your sanity is perpetually in question, buster.

Simon:  Too true.  I’m questioning that very thing right now.

Daniel:  How bad is it?

Simon:  God, where do I begin?  Total chaos, there’s no other way to describe it.  I couldn’t type as much as I see going on

Simon:  Remember the aftermath in Jakarta?

Daniel:  Of course

Simon:  What is going on here makes that look like high tea with mum.

Daniel:  God

Simon:  I really need you here.  There is so much to do and so little to do it with.  I lost two kids today –haven’t gotten any treatment and they died in front of me.  Did one amputation in field on a 18yr old kid who got patched and sent on his way.

Daniel:  How did he get a patch job when he should have been held?  Why didn’t they do the job?

Simon:  I have no clue. By the time I got him his leg was already turning necrotic.  Whoever did this to him should be shot.

Daniel:  I’m so sorry baby.  It’s a steady stream of this all day isn’t it?

Simon:  The only break were getting is when one of the media C**** makes it back here and starts pestering us with cameras and questions.  If I shot one of them would it be justifiable?

Daniel:  Passive Eugenics.  You’re doing it for the betterment of the human race; you’ve got my vote.

Simon:  Don’t encourage me LOL.  How’s the press coverage at home?

Daniel:  As expected: overdone, overcooked, every possible angle and completely self serving.  They’re more worried about ratings grabs than content.  I don’t watch what I don’t have to – work related only and then I watch cartoons.

Daniel:  Twitter was lousy with the clip of Anderson Cooper “helping” some kid to safety.  The kid was completely mobile, but he’s helping him.

Simon:  I’ve had some different fuck in my face 20 times a day asking me “How does this devastation make you feel?”

Simon:  I tell them homicidal

Simon:  Then I get “homicidal.  Who are you going to kill?”

Simon:  “you if you and your cameraman don’t piss off already!”  That normally gets the camera cut off right there.  Have I made the evening news yet?

Daniel:  LOL, not that I’ve seen.

Simon:  Good!

Simon:  They’re awful.  I really want you here.  I wasn’t kidding.

Simon:  You have medical experience and you’re a journalist.  You can triage with me and paint a REAL picture of what’s goin on here.  I have plenty of people here and its STILL not enough

Simon:  Those shirts that you bought for me?

Daniel:  Bandages?

Simon:  Bandages and gauze. I got a supply shipment when I got here, that was the last I’ve seen and we’re out of everything.

Simon:  It’s has to be a logistical problem.  Roads

Daniel:  Air drops?

Simon:  Intermittent.

Daniel:  I’m not surprised, and you know I’ll come if you want me to.  My mother will take the dogs and Grams is back home.  I don’t know how work will bite on the idea of me going but I’ll ask.  They might jump on…

Daniel:  ….having somebody on site.

Simon:  You wont get a chance to report much

Daniel:  I’m sure but it won’t stop me from trying.  News report now say that US aid crews were turned away

Daniel:  Bottlenecks at the airport and supposed numbers of aid workers on site were sufficient

Daniel:  I don’t know at this point if I could get in.

Simon:  WHAT?

Simon:  You have to be fucking kidding

Daniel:  Just the messenger, baby.  Read the wire report.

Simon:  I believe you.  Who is the uninformed asshat that decided they have everything they need?

Daniel:  It didn’t say

Simon:  You get to the airport and I’ll get you in from there

Simon:  Sleep on it.  If you can’t or decline I would totally understand

Daniel:  I do need to think about it.  If I come it has to be for the right reasons, not because I’m missing the field action.  We talked about that.

Simon:  I recall.

Daniel:  When was the last time you slept?

Simon:  What’s that?

Daniel:  Rephrased.  Have you passed out from exhaustion yet?

Simon:  That I know all about.

Simon:  I crashed in tent city for a couple of hours.  I awoke to somebody trying to lift my cellphone

Daniel:  Nice

Simon:  he opted for a few handfuls of RME instead

Daniel:  Talk about trading down.  I could sell the phone; RME tastes like freeze dried snot

Simon:  Indeed

Simon:  Thanks for that analogy; cheers

Daniel:  You know me; I live to make you smile

Simon:  Indeed J

Daniel:  And eating?

Simon:  All is well there.  I bagged a slow-moving journalist and have him on the spit now.  He had a lot of meat on him surprisingly so I’m good for a couple of days.

Daniel:  LOL, um, well, don’t forget to floss?

Simon:  LOL, I knew that would make you laugh.  I

(at this point, we lost connectivity and were not able to re-establish it)

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