Haiti ... a year later

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By Dave McLaughlin,
Sports Editor

FARMINGTON -- The AYS Eagles made a strong bid to claim the Prep Division championship of the Franklin County Babe Ruth League but fell just short when The Daily Bulldogs won the title game 4-1.
AYS pushed the Bulldogs to the brink after taking a 16-2 win, forcing a winner take all championship game, last week.
The Daily Bulldogs entered the league’s double-elimination championship tournament as the No. 2 seed while the AYS Eagles were sitting in the No. 1 position. The Eagles only loss during the regular season was to the Bulldogs.
In the first round of the Prep tournament, the Bulldogs beat the North Franklin Cats 16-9 and the Eagles defeated the Wilton Lions 13-4. The Lions, the No. 4 seed, eliminated NFC the No. 3 seed.
The Daily Bulldogs pulled off an early upset in the tournament bracket defeating AYS 9-4 handing the Eagles their first tournament loss. The Eagles went on to eliminate the Lions 17-7, advancing to the title game where they would face the Bulldogs for the championship.
AYS shoot out of the gate in the top of the first inning scoring nine runs, eventually defeating the Bulldogs, 16-2 and setting the stage for the final.
The Daily Bulldogs prevailed holding AYS to just one run to claim the title 4-1.
Team members of the champion Daily Bulldogs - Brandon Bard, Jacob Barker, Cole Dorman, Brandon Durrell, Logan Hader, Cooper Hollingsworth, Levi Libby, Justin Parlin, Miles Pelletier, Isaac Redlevske, Andrew Roberts, Terry Storer, Liam Sullivan, Mitchell Wallace, Caleb Walters, Xaiver Wilbur and Thomas Wing. Coaches: Cal Dorman.
Team members of the runner-up AYS Eagles - Dustin Fish, Austin Greeley, Matthew Lamarre, Nick Lombardi, Sebastian Lombardi, Ethan McPherson, Lukas Mitchell, Ian O’Donnell, Caulin Parker, Devan Pomeroy, Noah Preble, Paul Shaw, Stephen Sylvester and Dillon Webster. Coaches: Sebastian Lombardi, Terry O’Donnell and Rick
Parker.

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THEN — A tent city at the edge of Cité Soleil in Port au Prince, one of the many.

Photo: Nadege Gay

NOW — This is a semi-permanent site built in April/May. It is located at the edge of Cite Soleil and within a half-mile of the capital.

One year ago the earth shook and Haiti changed for the rest of our lifetimes. Depending on what report is read, somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 Haitians died immediately. A million were displaced and are homeless, many now living in tent camps scattered around the metro Port au Prince area. The business district and government facilities were among those hardest hit by the earthquake. When flights resumed in February, Sumner resident Bill Glass made the first of his 2010 trips to Haiti to see the country first hand and determine what Haiti Outreach Ministries (HOM), the organization he is president of, could do to help restore normalcy and provide relief. He and his wife, Linda, visited Haiti again in December and talked about the conditions and changes.

Conditions have improved significantly, but the earthquake damage is evident everywhere. Many schools collapsed and either ceased to exist or are now in temporary facilities or under tents. Stores remain rubble, paradoxically creating opportunities for the street vendors who have gone into business using HOM microloans. Haitian government facilities remain in disarray and the current election cycle is producing more uncertainty. The UN force remains in the country to help ensure security and stability. What is most remarkable is that many neighborhoods have achieved a new normalcy as people habituated to difficulties have tried to create new lives for themselves and their families.

Despite the real problems and other media reports of difficulties, there are many signs of progress. The Glasses were able to visit several dozen of the new family homes that HOM and volunteer teams from North America have been building since March. 103 of these two-room homes have been completed, with the building program continuing into 2011. Teams of Haitian workers have been trained and, with visiting American and Canadian teams helping, the process has achieved efficiencies and improved designs – better construction, better natural lighting and better natural ventilation. Each completed house moves a family from under a blue tarp into a permanent home.

Medical care in the poor areas has actually improved with the establishment of additional clinics. HOM is sustaining its free clinic, staffed with Haitian professionals, with frequent visiting American teams augmenting care throughout the communities. Samaritans Purse, a North Carolina-based organization, has established a permanent clinic in HOM’s facilities. Available care has gone from 20 patients per day before the earthquake to a capacity for 150-300 per day now. When the cholera outbreak started in Haiti, HOM began distributing Clorox in the communities and increased production from its water purification system to aid in clean water.

Schools completed the earthquake-shortened year and are in session for a normal school year. All of HOM’s schools survived the earthquake and the organization is expanding them to accept more students, since many schools in the area collapsed.

In order to support reconstruction efforts in a poor area near Port au Prince, HOM obtained truckloads of rubble from the collapsed buildings downtown and has improved the access roads to allow vehicle access. With government efforts sketchy and often missing such areas, more localized efforts, such as HOM’s, have to be self sufficient to open up access to the communities, set up assistance centers, and start the work of rebuilding. For example, in addition to the house projects, HOM is rebuilding its Cite Soleil clinic, rebuilding one of the nearby churches, and building a new school to better help the communities. Just as in the US, each project means not only a new building, but also immediate jobs and an infusion of hope in the communities. While 2011 will be another year of challenges, the Glasses are optimistic that it will see more Haitians moving into permanent homes, getting jobs, developing skills, and improving their lives.

2011 will be another challenging year for Haiti.

AYS Eagles2 Photo:

Dave McLaughlin/LFA
FORCE PLAY… AYS second baseman Ethan McPherson makes the force out at second base, last week, in the Prep Division championship series at Hippach Field.

Photo: Bill Glass

CLEAN WATER — Cite Soleil Christian Church compound's water purification center. It has a filter/UV treatment system that provides clean water to the compound and community. Each resident can obtain five gallons of pure water each day. At the same time the small Clorox bottles, provided to residents so that they can add some to their non-potable water to ensure that it is safe for cleaning, will also be refilled.