Two weeks ago I spent a couple days in the American Airlines Cargo area waiting for customs. Two days, not wasted, but frustrating nonetheless. It all came about because of a "chance" between one of the guys coming with the disaster response team and an AA reservations agent. The employees of AA had been collecting goods to send to the needy in Haiti. They wanted some local contacts and so it ended up in my lap. I was happy to help particularly because of the great in the Cabaret area.
So a number of AA employees came to Haiti with the 350 boxes of clothes, shoes, food and baby supplies. But we waited as customs didn't want to clear it, they didn't have the right paperwork. I did enjoy getting to know the folks and spending time with close access to the airport ramp.
At the end of the second day customs cleared everything and then Protection Civile got involved. They wanted to accompany each organization getting goods to the site to verify it was being given away. And first they wanted everything to be stored in their depot. We knew this would mean everything would disappear. And after a week of waiting that is exactly what happened. Almost none of the boxes got to their intended destinations.
But that is not the end of the story. This past week I traveled back to Miami for a couple of quick meetings. On my way home I saw Maggie, one of the AA reservations agents I had met in Haiti. She was excited and wondered if I could take back four boxes with me on the flight. I waited for them to pack them up and we were off to Haiti. Not problems at customs this time and I was able to take everything to Cabaret. It was not much but we did bring a little joy to the younger classes at the school in Messailler. Some clothes and shoes for adults were distributed to folks in the church. All in God's time! Thanks to American Airlines and the generosity of those who gave.
No comments:
Post a Comment