damage

it is what i do, it is what HODR.ORG does, responding to those in need after a natural disaster - but it doesnt get any easier with time, this being the 7th disaster that i have witnessed. yesterday when we arrived in the city of gonaives, haiti i was speechless (as were stef and john as we peered out the windows of our muddy, struggling, lurching 4x4) and then i cried. i cried again today when we visited a school and medical clinic, i cry as i type this.
the damage here is from a river that jumped its bed and raged through the city center. we have found crumbled buildings, hundreds of tumbled cars, broken walls, people living on their roofs, and mud everywhere. a great deal of water is still trapped in the low lying city and it sits chocolate brown defiling all it contacts. there is mud that has baked and curled up around the cracks, there is mud that sucks your boots off, there is mud that moves slowly to the side as you trundle, and there is the silt mud that splashes. all of this mud can be found in the homes, business', schools, and churches of this city populated by 300,000.
the mud is overwhelming in depth and coverage. there are vast areas with 2 feet of mud (some areas more, some areas less) really - block after block after block. in the areas fortunate enough to be somewhat dry the dust is choking. there are people everywhere carrying things on their head with their skirts/pants hiked baring their upper legs and showinga a few splatters of dried mud, as you follow toward the knee the mud is darker, thicker, and finally just wet near the ankle. their steps are measured - as if walking on ice. their pace is steady, their posture is erect.
they are coping, but there is damage to the country, the city, the things, the people......... and the people who witness it.