Amid the ruins, dogged optimism

 February 2, 2010

The night the earthquake hit, survivors of the Norwich Mission House’s collapse were greeted by a furry cheerleader-cum-rescuer.

Tamar, the house’s young German Shepherd, was the first to arrive when Lanitte Belledente crawled around outside after being knocked down and seriously injured; the house’s security guard and a neighbor’s security guard followed.

When Chuck Dietsch was pulled from the rubble after being trapped for 10 hours, lying on the ground waiting for rescuers to take him away, Tamar came over and licked his face.

The Norwich Mission House was Tamar’s home and it was destroyed, so Mission House staff found her a temporary place to stay. Tamar has spent the past three weeks at a yoga retreat in Petionville.

Tuesday, staff and a team from Haitian Ministries picked Tamar up and brought her to her new digs, the same house the staff will live in for the foreseeable future.

Tamar jumped up into the back of the Land Rover the Ministries team was using Tuesday, and sat tall looking out the back window at the city. Jean Marie Brutus, a gardener, pointed to Tamar and said something in Creole.

"She gained spirit," he said.

Recent Posts

Potholes

 February 2, 2010

There are no streets in southeastern Connecticut — all of Connecticut, really — that compare to those in and around Port-au-Prince: the roads alternate between paved and dirt, and potholes the size of kiddie pools are common.

Making adjustments, making do

 February 1, 2010

Yesterday we witnessed firefighters in the Saint Gerard community, extinguishing burning bodies in a huge pile of rubble. The odor was a bit overwhelming, which has only occurred a few times.

The sight that I found the most disturbing,...

Cushier than camping

 February 1, 2010

To answer the question on the minds of most people who wanted to know what this trip would include for – ahem - accommodations: It’s cushier than camping.

The Haitian Ministries staff didn’t know until the last minute...

Hard to hide, even in a 'clown car'

 January 30, 2010

Even in a city that turns your head at every block, we make a scene.

Dominiques Georges, a Haitian and the project assistant for the Haitian Ministries Norwich Mission House located here just outside the Port-au-Prince city limits, has...

Destination Port-au-Prince

 January 29, 2010

A wrought-iron gate on a bone-dry dirt road marks the entrance to — or escape from — Haiti. The border crossing at the town of Jimani is about 40 miles outside of Port-au-Prince, and on Friday, a long line of people stood outside the...

The real journey starts now

 January 29, 2010

The easy part was yesterday. We flew into the Dominican Republic and spent the night at a hotel with free Wi-Fi, a hotel bar, bathrooms and showers. Our BlackBerries and cell phones still work reliably.

This morning, we took two taxis to...

‘Welcome to the Haiti Express'

 January 28, 2010

The flight attendant would ask the question, but already she knew the answer.

More often than not these past two weeks, she knew that the people boarding this 40-minute jaunt from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Santo Domingo, Dominican...

Day Staff Writer Karin Crompton and Photojournalist Tim Martin are blogging from assignment in Haiti, where they are covering the struggles of local people and the Haitian Ministry of the Norwich Diocese. Ministry staff members from Connecticut are there to provide aid in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that destroyed the mission house and left Haitian staff members and dependents dead, injured and missing.

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