ME&MEE

Another post in our series on EA USA’s Haiti earthquake assistance efforts from our team on the ground in the Dominican Republic. Following is an account from Christina Graves, an EA USA Logistics Coordinator.

With a whirlwind of activity, I arrived at Reagan National Airport early Sunday morning. The final decision to send my team to the Dominican Republic and assist in processing an undisclosed number of our American clients into the US after their evacuation from the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake had been made quickly and created the expected adrenaline rush. As we connected in Miami for a flight to the Dominican Republic, a colleague commented on the amount of aid organizations, rescue teams and media insignias visible on the clothing of those who were boarding the flight with us. I nodded vaguely. I barely noticed the UN symbol on the vest pocket of the man I passed in the plane aisle. Over the next several days, I was remotely aware of pilots passing by in the hotel lobby announcing they were taking flights into Haiti, the individuals and organizations trying to find a way into Haiti, and groups of reporters from all over the world. For those in the world of international relief and humanitarian assistance, it was a networking dream come true. I noted all this flurry of activity like Alice on the other side of the looking glass in the child’s fairy tale.

My focus was specific. My mission was clear.

In my double role as Logistics Coordinator of the mission and the language and cultural liaison, my focus was 200% on our customers who were exhausted, confused and scared after evacuation from Haiti with one concern on their minds — return to the US as soon as possible. I was the person they were counting on to get them home. While coordination whirled around me for large drops of medical supplies into Haiti, I passed out cell phones and assisted in setting up computers to give limited internet access to a small group of Americans who wanted to reach their families back home.

As portable trauma centers were built at the Dominican border, I held lengthy meetings with a hotel manager to arrange half a dozen rooms for just one more night in a completely booked hotel.  As rescue teams went across the border like bees to honey, I translated for our nurse to find the correct medication for an elderly woman who ran out because her trip was extended unexpectedly by the earthquake. This mission for me was one of complete service. I gave everything I had to meet the individual needs of both our customers and my fellow team members. I exhausted myself and gave the best assistance I could.

At some point in the midst of updating a group of customers that we had no available flights out to the US for the next day, assuring them that I would accompany them to the airport and stay until they checked in for their return flight, listening to their stories of experiences during and after the earthquake, and asking my colleagues yet again when was the last time they had slept or ate, I realized that I was happy and that I was completely at home.