Bay City's Andrew 'Opie' Ouillette Doing His Part to Help in Haiti
February 7, 2010
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Andrew Ouillette poses with a member of the Haitian Military. "I haven't encountered any dangers yet," said Ouillette.
(MyBayCity's Mary Fork interviewed Bay City's Andrew Ouillette -- via Facebook -- concerning his relief efforts in Haiti. Questions & Answers are below:)
What exactly are you doing in Haiti?
Basically anything we can. We got there Saturday, Jan 16th to take some orphaned kids out of a town called Jacmel which is south and west of Port Au Prince. We left on short notice and didn't have time to round up a load of supplies in San Juan, Puerto Rico so we went in with what we had. We had no idea what we were in for until we got there and realized that Jacmel was completely cut off from any supplies in Port Au Prince due to destroyed roads.
We gave the director of the orphanage what we had which was a bunch of snacks that we carry for executive charters and a case of bottled water. They were happy to get anything and we left with the orphans and promised we would be back with more supplies. On Sunday, we hooked up with a mission group in Santiago, DR called Go Ministries.
Initially all they had was a van load of tarps, food, water and medical supplies. By the time we got back from our fist trip they had a warehouse secured at the airport for them and things just started to roll in there. We started flying to Jacmel exclusively about three times a day until we heard about Leogane.
Where are you spending most of your effort?
Leogane was I think less then 10 miles from the epicenter. I heard from one doctor we flew into there that the UN was estimating that the town was 90% destroyed. We were contacted by the University of Notre Dame's Haiti Program located in Leogane and were told about a road there once used by drug smugglers that we might be able to land our Cessna Caravan on.
They were very desperate and also cut off from the main port of Port Au Prince. After one of our trips to Jacmel, which is only a 15 minute flight to the south of Leogane, we decided to overfly the road we were told about and it looked doable so we went and got a load from Santiago and went for it.
We landed with no problem and were greeted with cheers from not only the people camped out with whatever shelter they could find but also the UN. They came up to us with cameras and smiles and it was pretty humbling. Taking off was another story. We tried to depart in the same direction that we landed but half way down the runway we realized that we just weren't going to make it.
We stopped in enough time before the trees and shut down the engine and hopped out to asses what we were going to do. In no time after talking to our contact on the ground we had about 15 Haitians with machetes chopping down brush and some pretty thick trees. After that we had a little extra room and we were off just before it got dark. It was pretty crazy!
Since then we brought another aircraft into the relief effort and have been flying to both Jamel and Leogane since the 16th. We have been taking groups of doctors in and out of Jacmel and Leogane as well as food water and tarps for shelters. I have been in San Juan, PR for the past two days but am headed back to The Dominican Republic to fly into Haiti for anther week tomorrow.
Have you encountered any dangers in Haiti?
I haven't encountered any dangers in Haiti directly aside from the dangers of flying into the road. Some colleagues of mine have witnesses fights breaking out over people trying to steal food off the trucks that we were loading it on to though. We have been told by some of the doctors we have flown out to make sure we had bug spray applied to ourselves because of reported outbreaks of malaria.
Have you met any locals?
We have met a few locals. Our contact Jean Marc from Notre Dame Haiti Program is there every day to meet up with us and take the doctors and other supplies that we are bringing him and he is a Haitian national. Also we have people come up to us if they can sneak by our security and ask us for food, money or a ride out of there. We can only do so much for them and we have been taking people out with the proper paperwork but many do not have passports or visas due to the fact that it is all buried under the ruble that was once their homes. It is very difficult to turn someone away with a baby in their arms because they don't have the right paperwork but necessary because it could stop the whole operation of bringing supplies in all together.
What does a typical day look like?
We wake up around 5:30 and grab some breakfast. Then its off to the airport and normally depart just after it gets light out which is around 7:00. We fly into the road or Jacmel depending on who needs what, fly back, get fuel and reload the airplane with supplies. Then we depart again at 10:30am, 1:00pm, and finally the last trip of the day at 3:30pm returning to Santiago just as its getting dark. After we are done we usually get the plane ready for the next day by doing a post flight inspection, receiving fuel, and loading up supplies so we can do it all over again the next day. Normally we are back at the hotel around 8 or 9 and its time for dinner and a beer and some much needed rest for the next day.
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