02/07/2010, Caribbean Sea
It was great to hear that our boat and crew arrived safely in Jacmel, Haiti yesterday late morning. They had an uneventful docking at the main cargo dock there. After some interesting dockside negotiations between various organizations, some whom our load of cargo had been designated for and others to whom it was not, the cargo load was discharged and handed over to those to whom we had been commissioned to give it. The off-loading process itself only took a few hours with the help of our awesome crew and by afternoon yesterday the boat, minus the few crew members who disembarked in Haiti for further relief work, set sail again for Jamaica. We have already made preparation for them to dock in Jamaica for a couple of days to rest and reprovision, as well as to pick up a fresh new crew member, before returning to Miami, via the Florida Keys. We are expecting them to arrive in Jamaica by first light tomorrow morning. I can't wait to speak with them once they get there.
Thank you all for your continued support and well wishes during this time. If any of your would like to be involved by supporting financially or in any other way in preparation for our next trip to Haiti, please comment on the blog or email me at liberty.schooner@gmail.com.
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02/06/2010
Latest news: Liberty has arrived in Jacmel, Haiti.
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02/06/2010, Miami, FL
As the Liberty is approaching her port of destination, I am sipping on my morning cup of tea and remembering all the events that led up to her departure. One of the stories that many of you may not have heard yet is definitely worthy of blogging. This eye witness account was written by crew member, Greg:
"Ship steward Monica and I had a simple task: go to a specific address, pickup the two pallets of medical supplies and food that we found there, bring them back to the ship. This would have been easy, but I'll tell you the punchline first: we were given the wrong address.
We drove across Miami, searching for the address we'd been given, and finally found it: a Haitian church in a decaying neighborhood. We drove up and said that we were here to pick up the medical supplies and food. We didn't realize that we were at the wrong address. And the Haitian church community there didn't yet realize that we, a heavily tattooed girl and a guy with videocameras wearing camo shorts, weren't the people from Dade/Broward County who they'd been waiting for who were SUPPOSED to pick up the supplies. Regardless, this church happened to have pallets of food and medical supplies too. We backed our workvan up to where they told us to go and started loading the supplies.
Soon enough, the looks we were getting became less friendly and more critical and we didn't understand why. We don't speak Creole, and my french only goes as far as fries, so we didn't yet realize that the people there had begun to question if we were really County officials afterall. We were oblivious and kept loading our van, oblivious to the fact that about twenty church-going folks now were becoming convinced that we were criminals, stealing the supplies that they'd so faithfully amassed for Haitian relief.
A man approached with a cell phone and asked me to talk into it. The pastor of the church was at the other end of the phone. He told me that we'd need to unload and leave the supplies. Monica and I were completely confused. We didn't know why they'd changed their minds. They didn't know why we were stealing their stuff. It was about ten minutes into that conversation when Monica realized that we were at the wrong address. Instant conundrum: do we unload and leave, thus letting the church think that we really WERE criminals, caught in the act and who then bid a hasty farewell? Or do we stay, while the pastor called the County to see if we could take a vanload, since we were bound for Haiti within hours (and the County has spent two weeks determining when/how/who will even pick up the supplies that were there). We decided to sit tight.
A few minutes later, the call came in. We were clear. The pastor felt that the supplies getting to Haiti was a better call than to let them sit, regardless of who we were. The attitude of the churchgoers changed instantly, to all smiles. They invited us into the church and gave us the best of the medical supplies and we loaded the van full, essentially playing Tetris with boxes until not a square inch of space in the back of the van remained. Then we drove away, waving goodbye, with a vanload of medical supplies that weren't intended for us, and two pallets of supplies still somewhere else in Miami, sitting waiting for us for another day. We'll get them for the next trip! Keep in touch and please support all of us on this incredible endeavor. Go Liberty Schooner!!"
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02/06/2010
Latest update from crew member, Geert's wife from last night:
The following comment was left on your SailBlog:
Olga says:
Hello Sharon, I talked to Geert at 8:30 pm and they still have 80 miles to go to Jacmel. The were off Ile a Vache. The tradewinds (from the East) are slowing them down. Tomorrow 9 am wind is to turn to SE and at noon to S. They should be in Jacmel before noon. The mayor and others are expecting them. Best regards, Olga
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02/05/2010
I am proud to announce that Greg, one of our volunteer crew members en route to Haiti, is going to be on the Peter Greenberg radio show via satellite phone from the ground in Haiti tomorrow. He is going to describe his views of the trip down aboard the Schooner Liberty and his initial experiences in Jacmel, the cultural center of Haiti. If you'd like to listen to the show these are the details:
Saturday February 6th at 11:05 AM EST.
The Peter Greenberg Show
http://www.petergreenberg.com
There is a link on the right side of the screen which will allow you to listen to the live show.
Top 3 stations:
WNYM-AM 970 - New York
KLAA-AM 830 - Los Angeles
KVON-AM 1440 - San Francisco
About the Radio Show:
Our show incorporates breaking news, topical talk, listener interaction, high-profile guests, honest commentary, trend analysis, straight-forward advice and the inside scoop, as well as experts from each area locally to give a first hand account of the people culture of the city we are broadcasting from. The show broadcasts nationally each Saturday from 10a-1p ET over 300 stations around the country.
About Peter Greenberg: *(www.petergreenberg.com)
Peter Greenberg is America's most recognized, honored and respected front-line travel news journalist. Peter is Travel Editor for CBS News, and appears on The Early Show and across many CBS broadcast platforms. An Emmy award-winning writer and producer, Peter is also Travel Editor at Large for AARP, Contributing Editor for Men's Health and Best Life magazines, a contributor to The New Yorker magazine. Recently, Rodale published Don't Go There! The Travel Detective's Essential Guide to the Must-Miss Places of the World, which quickly became a New York Times best-seller. His newest book Tough Times, Great Travels, offers his expert advice and insight on how to travel effectively during these tough economic times. Finally, Peter trains six times each year in state-of-the-art aircraft simulators, and he remains active as a volunteer fireman in New York. He lives in New York, Los Angeles, Bangkok, and most major airports around the world.
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02/04/2010
Our crew and vessel are fast approaching their destination port in Haiti. The crew are all on full alert tonight as they draw nearer to land. The ground support here in Florida has been in communication with our contacts in Haiti via the Haiti Aid Network to ensure a smooth discharge of all relief cargo. We are arranging for all of the supplies to be received from our team and allocated to the specific organizations that are connected to the Haiti Aid Network and a few other specific NGO's that some of our crew members are in relationship with there.
The crew are all looking forward to docking in port safely, under the guard of some valiant Canadian armed forces. Once the precious cargo has been discharged safely and is in the hands of the local leaders, a few of our crew members will be leaving their comfortable bunks aboard Liberty to continue the relief work in Haiti itself. One of these gentleman, Tom is putting out a request for anyone who has any information regarding refugees that have gathered in South Haiti, to please text him their location and how best he can serve them while he's down there on 501 412-7144.
Look out for the next blog as it will probably have news of the team's arrival in Haiti!
May God be with them.
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