So, I’m finally here; 6 airports, 4 flights and aeroplanes that became smaller and smaller. And luggage that became lighter and lighter. Our last flight from the Haitian Capital of Port au Prince to Cap Haitien in the north, where the hospital is, was a little six-seater Cessna. We were a team of 4, although… Read More »
At the moment I am preparing to deploy to the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola for the charity Hope Health Action (HHA) to run their Operations in Haiti. In 2007 HHA co-founded a hospital in Cap-Haitien, in the north of Haiti, and their support to the community continues, and in fact grows in pursuit of their mission, which… Read More »
I do the induction brief for all new volunteers and the thing I say at the end is always on the same theme, along the lines of; “I’ve been here a week or so now and it has been truly fulfilling and very rewarding. I have had a great experience, I really hope you do.” … Read More »
Today was actually a day off, within the context of limited stocks of PPE, we did a double run yesterday so there are just a couple of folk in today to load up the delivery vans.With the time I decided to come home and sleep in my own bed, watch some TV, do some chores,… Read More »
First up, wished our good school-friend happy birthday. She was born between Polly and I, always made it easy to remember, if that’s not too thoughtless of me. I decided that I can’t be bothered with my birthday any more; just another day.The distribution hub was good today, lots of new volunteers too. It was a… Read More »
Highlight of today was distribution of 10,000 Easter eggs (proper ones, not crème eggs) to hospitals and schools, plus 18,600 Hot Cross Buns (from Tesco’s ‘Finest’ range, don’t you know) alongside the core product delivery targets to our fantastic NHS staff. We had an ‘early’ shift (0700 start) and ‘day’ shift (1000 start), obviously I… Read More »
The highlight of today was getting 12 new volunteers arrive and onboard the mission and seeing their enthusiasm and commitment. I actually ‘had a moment’ though not sure if any of them noticed. Added to my role is induction into the mission, so it starts with the usual admin points and then I go into… Read More »
Another tiring day, but enthusiasm remains high in view of the purpose. We set up the production line for our third ‘product’, a 5-Day Home Isolation Pack of meals, snacks, fruit and brownies (probably for morale more than nutrition) and sent 33 of those out. It is still really small volume but a remarkable achievement for… Read More »
First tranche of volunteers arrived today, great boost. We prepared and dispatched fewer meals today, but in accordance with our target as we had lots of training with our volunteers. And it was still 165 people who don’t have to worry about shopping and cooking tonight. We also made a few teaks to our systems in… Read More »
Awesome. We got our first 200 meals out the door today. What a feeling of satisfaction. The driving force is F1 pedigree and it shows. We are only allowed to have the chilled items out of refrigeration for a very short time, and so it is all about the set-up and getting everything and everyone… Read More »