Food Distribution Surge in Haiti

Jan. 30 I joined CL. Robin B Akin of the 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and General Luis R, Visot, Commanding
General of the 377th Theater Sustainment Command Army Reserves at an ROC (rehearsal of concept) meeting where plans
are gone over. Without desks or high tech equipment, the visual presentation consisted of papers on the ground held down
with rocks.The meeting was a rehearsal the day before the start of a food distribution surge. All the key figures from the
millitary side were there. It will be the largest food distribution to date in Haiti since the earthquake and will go on for 14
straight days at six different drop points in Port-au-Prince with a goal of giving out one million rations. The 82nd Airborne and
U.N. security forces will do crowd control. A large contingent of NGOs led by the WFP (World Food Program) will man the
distribution points.
On Saturday night I was driven to one of the basesthe 82nd Airborne has set up. It is on the grounds of a school that is
closed now. It took an hour to find the place, though it should have been a 15 minute drive. We only had coordinates to find
the place, and a couple of street names. A guard at the gate led me to the TAC tactical operation center) where I met CPT
Roberto Fonseca.
The grounds gave me the feeling l was on a set out of "Apocalypse Now." It is terrain with tropical plants and tall mango
trees. The sounds of nocturnal animals fill the air. I unfurled a sleeping bag on a concrete walkway outside of one of the
classrooms to use as a mattress ( far too hot to get in it), arranged a mosquito net tent on top of it (mesh you can see
through supported by a wire frame), unzipped the tent and climbed in. I got three and half hours of sleep before waking to the
sound of hymns sung by displaced people living on the perimeter of the school. I lay in my self-contained see-through tent
listening for a few moments before getting out of it and heading to the rally point in the makeshift motor pool complete with
Humvees.
The group I rolled with, D/1-325th AIR, headed for Cite Soliel, the poorest area in Port-au-Prince. Earthquake damage there wasn't as bad as
in the downtown; however the poor are even poorer here and growing more desperate. This distribution site was set up for
Samaritan's Purse International. We arrived at 4:30 AM. A crowd formed immediately. The soldiers acted fast and rolled out
concertina wire, making a barrier to separate the crowd without tickets from the ticket holders who lined up against a stone
wall. Across from the line is a tent city that sprung up after the distribution site was established, making the situation more
volatile. By 6 am there were approximately 4,000 people at the site. As the morning went on, the line grew and the heat
reached over 100 degrees.
THe NGOs and the millitary made quick decisions to keep the line flowing when they sae that half the tickets were different
from the ones they gave out, and that men as well as women were on line (only women and children were supposed to
receive the rations and then share them with their families.) All tickets were honored and families were give a 25 kilo bag of
rice that most of them took away on their heads. Toward the end of the line, there was pushing and shoving and line cutters
the UN security forces dealt with forcefully. Thousands were still on line when the food ran out The distribution took place
without any major incident though the Haitian police took a few people away and many were taken out of the line with fake
tickets.
I will be going to another distribution insideCite Soliel, where I was told things were a little hairier. As people trust more food is
coming they become less desperate and the threat of incident dwindles. Aid has been a long coming for some people.
Moving supplies around is still a logistical nightmare. The Haitians I talked to were grateful, but were hoping for more than just rice.

To see new images of my work in Haiti book mark my flickr page- Here is a link to a set on images from Haiti http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliedermansky/sets/72157623308001766/
you can watch a food give away video clip here 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ87_gN0QLQ
you can watch CL. Robin B Akin talk about the mission here in video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdfoW74cRr0

On the Ground in Haiti

We landed in Port-au-Prince just as the sun was rising . After getting our bearings and loading the gear onto a truck, we waited for transportation. Waiting is a sub-theme in most things millitary. Along the edges of the runway were pallets loaded with supplies. Civilians from different aid organizations were also waiting around. There was a sea of water bottles, everything from Aquafina to Fiji . Boarding small tourist busses from the Dominican Republic that had a tropical flair, we made our way to a camp known as APOD - Arial Point of Debarkation. Once in our tent we set up cots. I was lent a mosquito net which transformed my cot into a canopy bed of sorts.

The camp is in a state of constant flux. We had to move twice before we had a tent we could call home. Search and rescue teams made the initial set up and left the tents behind in a deal struck by the 3d Sustainment Command Expeditionary. In return for the tent loan, the 3SCE will use their logistic capability to return them. A jumbo tent ( the fusion cell) went up the first day I arrived and was made internet ready. It will serve as the logistical hub for the entire theater. Incoming troops are coming faster than available space to house them is identified, yet everyone is being accommodated.

The tents that serve as living quarters are basic. Inside them it feels like an oven in the daytime. The cots are standard army issue. Mosquitos and spiders share the space. There are Porto-Johns and portable cold water showers with outdoor sinks nearby. There is no kitchen, only MREs for grub and lots of water; the millitary is big on keeping soldiers hydrated. Considering there was nothing here before the earthquake the camp is pretty great.

I accompanied Sgt. Tomas of the 7th Sustainment Brigade to the port and another camp. His driver, Fred, lives in Port-au-Prince and gave us a mini tour enroute. The damage breathtaking; the devastation is mind boggling. I was surprised to see signs of everyday life everywhere. We drove by a bustling outdoor market and the streets were full of traffic. Tent cities all around the city are a reminder that nothing will be normal for a long time to come.

Operation Unified Response, The 377th TSC leaves for Haiti

At 11 in the morning on Jan 25th I got a call for Shaun Clark, the public affairs officer for the 377 TSC (Theater Sustainment Command), asking me how fast I could get ready to go to Haiti. I was told to be ready to leave by that evening, but later learned I had till the next morning. Everything time-related remains fluid when traveling with the military.

I arrived at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, LA, on Jan 26th . Shaun filled me in on the role the 377th TSC will play in Operation Unified Response. They will be the logistical support for all US soldiers in Haiti. They are relieving the 3rd Support Command Expeditionary, who have been surveying and analyzing distribution sites since Jan 19th. I am accompanying 19 soldiers, an early entry module detachment, who will be met by a much larger group once they are operational. This unit and the larger one deploying are prepared to stay at least a year.

We boarded a bus for Miami in the late morning, taking with us everything needed to sustain them for the start up period, from MREs (meals ready to eat) to cots. After a 16 hour ride on a chartered bus that included two fast food stops ( I confess to having McDonald's and Burger King on the same day) and a couple of smoke breaks for the night driver, we arrived at an airbase in Miami shortly after 5 AM to find out we might have to wait 2-3 days for our flight out. I write from a large waiting room in an airbase outside Miami where we are prepared to hunker down, if need be. We could still get out today, but no one knows for sure. Though the unit does logistics, they are not responsible for the logistics of getting themselves to Haiti. Overall everyone is in good humor.

The rest of the day our plans remained fluid .I got a little sleep in the afternoon. Early evening we were waiting for the plane we dined on Popeyes friend chicken and had a surprise visit from professional cheerleaders taking part in the Pro Bowl Game. The flight meant to leave at 10 pm was delayed till 12:15am, and then got cancelled. We end up checking into a Comfort Inn Hotel. Hopefully in the morning we will be on our way. The start of this trip is a forecast of what to expect in Haiti. Haiti was no longer the top headline in the news when we departed, but the story is far from over. From where I sit, it's getting more interesting by the minute.

Update - shortly after falling asleep, i was woken up and told to come to the lobby to catch a bus back to the airbase to fly out.
We all got on a C-130 for Haiti and landed as the sun came up. I arrived in Haiti tired, but ready to take it all in. A logistical nightmare that is being tackled moment by moment, is one way to describe the situation here.

Homage to Flo McGarrell

Flo McGarrell wearing one of his fiber art creations

When I first heard of the earthquake in Haiti I thought of Flo McGarrell. I knew he was there. I called his mother Ann, and I conveyed my sense that Flo would be fine, leading the rescue efforts of others. I was wrong. Despite Flo's strength, the earthquake's suddenness made survival more an act of luck than will. He was killed instantly on January 12th when the Peace of Mind Hotel in Jacmel collapsed. His body still remains trapped under the hotel. A friend who was with him at the hotel and the remaining members of FOSAJ, the art center Flo ran, have been unable to dig him out. The State Department may send some heavy lifting equipment to Jacmel so the body can be recovered.

One natural disaster put me on the path to meet Flo and another has taken him away. Ann McGarrell, Flo’s mother, contacted me after seeing a series of photographs I did about post–Katrina New Orleans. We collaborated on a book using photos she selected from my series and a poem she wrote inspired by my photos. This collaboration also brought Flo and James, Ann's husband and Flo’s father, into my life. Both are fine artists of the highest caliber.

I was privileged to share a Thanksgiving with them. Flo prepared raw food concoctions that were scrumptious. That weekend I took pictures of Flo’s crocheted hats so he could enter them in a fiber-art competition. Ann, James and Flo acted as models on a cold Vermont autumn day. He talked to me about the art center in Haiti he was going to be running and invited me to visit and teach a workshop there, an offer I will always regret not having accepted sooner.

Flo was multi-talented and had a generous spirit, openly sharing ideas and help. His life and his work were interconnected. Working and living in Haiti was a synthesis of his many interests. He had started making "agrisculptures," using plants and recycled materials to make a statement about sustainability. In Haiti, he ran the art center on a shoestring, committed to bringing the local art community in Haiti together. His optimism and positive outlook were infectious.

In a recent interview Flo said, "I have a few guiding principles, which I think must propel me toward this artistic freedom you speak about: Don’t hide, don’t lie. Do that which scares me. Resist the urge to settle. Be as many things as possible in this lifetime.” From what I know of Flo that is exactly how he lived. Flo’s commitment to these principles and his life’s work are inspirational. The randomness of his death is difficult to grasp.


On Friday, Jan. 15th I went to a banquet hall on Wall Street to photograph a benefit for FAR, the Fund for Armenian Relief, a humanitarian organization formed to aid the victims of the earthquake that hit Spitak, Armenia 25 years ago. I arrived early and followed voices I heard in the distance near the Stock Exchange. There was a rally, tying many issues together. A mishmash protest of sorts by the Bail out People Movement . The crowded chanted that Wall Street should bail out Haiti, return the riches it has stolen. Councilman Charles Barron on Brooklyn, stated the $100 million Obama pledged to Haiti amounted to $50 per person and demanded more help be given to Haiti.

At the banquet a few of the speakers mentioned Haiti, but their focus was Armenia. The evening was a reminder of how long it takes an impoverished nation to recover. I write this waiting for a flight back to New Orleans, a city still hardly better and stronger than ever, as Bush had envisioned it. It is unfortunate there is no end in sight to war. Cleaning up the wrath of nature seems task enough for the world. The earth's moving plates know no boundaries, and when they shift, we are all equally in peril.

To Flo’s family and friends, I reiterate my deepest condolences. To everyone else, I want to share Flo’s life and work.

The McGarrells wearing Flo's fiber art creations

To see more of Flo’s work go to www.gowithflo.net

The Rutland Herald wrote the following
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100115/THISJUSTIN/1150333

To read more of Flo’s own words read a recent interview in Art : 21 Blog
http://blog.art21.org/2009/08/28/inside-the-artists-studio-flo-mcgarrell/

To see James McGarrels site created by Flo click here http://www.redwingstanza.com/index.html

Protest on in NYC for more aid to Haiti

Protest in NYC for more aid to Haiti/ Councilman calling for more aid to Haiti

Climate Change + Man-made Environmental Disturbance = Environmental Refugees

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is in full swing. Hundreds of protestors are being arrested while figure heads from numerous countries go to meetings, discussing how to slow down global warming and the cascading list of problems already resulting from it: melting ice glaciers, rising sea levels, drought, and climate change refugees.

Louisiana and Iraq are both seeing their marshlands disappear while the indigenous people become refugees. Louisiana’s marshlands have been compromised by the oil and gas industry and water management projects. Iraq’s Marshlands were dried up by eco-terrorism followed by drought. Water management worldwide is always problematic. Long-term effects of changing the natural environment are often ignored until the foreseeable damage occurs. These changes, like land loss due to salt-water intrusion and the exodus of certain species of plants, animals and peoples, are magnified by climate change.

The Biloxi-Chitimacha Indians of Isle de Jean Charles will be forced to move as their Island is erodes away. The island falls outside the levee protection system proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers, who deemed it unsavable. Many of the Island’s residents left after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hammered the island in 2008. Approximately eighty remain, unable or unwilling to relocate just yet.

The Marshland Arabs population in southern Iraq is also being forced off their ancestral land. Saddam Hussein cut off the water to the Iraqi Marshlands by damning it up to punish the indigenous people for rebelling after the first Gulf War. The ecosystem changed from marshlands to desert rapidly. After Saddam’s fall, some of the dams were broken and areas of the marsh were partially restored, but drought has brought further hardship to tribes who remain.

While protestors are arrested in Copenhagen, a football field-worth of land disappears from the marshlands of Louisiana every 15 minutes.


Click here to see photo essay on the Biloxi-Chitimacha Indians of Isle de Jean Charles http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliedermansky/sets/72157622865496771/
Click here to see the newest video on Over – the- Wire films on the Marshland Arabs of Iraq

http://overthewire.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/marsh-arabs/

images on this post were shot on the Isle de Jean Charles and in Pointe- aux-Chene, Louisiana

Thanksgiving in New Orleans post Po-boy Festival

I haven’t gotten used to Christmas lights going up before Thanksgiving and I’m not sure what to make of the newest addition to holiday lawn decoration, the blow-up turkeys. This year Wal-Mart is taking care so people wont get stampeded to death at their stores on Black Friday. Since they take out insurance policies on their workers, losing one or two of them probably isn’t too bad for the bottom line but equating shopping and danger couldn’t be a good marketing device.

Sure as it is Thanksgiving my father will be carving the turkey my mother cooks, tasting a few prime bits in between slicing the bird. Bo, the poodle will poodle will be nearby waiting for scraps that will inevitably end up her way.This Thanksgiving I am in New Orleans, touched by five different invitations from people who wanted to make sure I wasn’t alone since I’m away from my family. For fear of eating way past my limit I’m limiting myself to going to two celebrations.

Thanksgiving is a holiday I have had mixed feelings about ever since I was a kid and learned that the American Indians who so graciously helped the Pilgrims learn to farm and shared the original Thanksgiving meal celebrating their harvest were later banished from their land and in many instances massacred. Though I will never stop thinking about the plight of the American Indians on Thanksgiving, I understand why it is an American favorite and do participate in a special meal wherever I find myself on the day. Giving thanks is always a good thing as is eating with friends and family. This year I will have more crawfish pie than turkey. One of the advantages of being in New Orleans: lots of local goodies will be served along with turkey and cocktails will start being poured by noon.

Here is a link to another food related topic: the New Orleans Po-boy festival. I posted images of the event on Flikr. I don’t usually eat when I work but couldn’t resist the soft shell crab tempura po-boy. Though it didn’t win best po-boy in the festival’s competition, it has my vote.
Happy Thanksgiving

Images, Top: Father carving turkey in Englewood N.J., Lawn turkey light, Chalmette, Bottom: Soft-shell crab Po-boy, Po-boy festival offering in New Orleans, Taxidermy turkey form the Fairbanks Museum in Newbury Vermont