NEWS

MOZAIC PARTNER RUSHES TO HAITI'S AID

January 20, 2010 - Mozaic vice president Pat Bradley landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Tuesday night after facing a multitude of transportation hurdles. The goal of his humanitarian organization, International Crisis Aid, is to provide help where there is none. In this case, they are headed to Carrefour, a town of 400,000 that has yet to see any aid workers.

The following is an excerpt from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Post-Dispatch Reporter Phillip O’Connor and chief photographer J.B. Forbes are accompanying Bradley on his relief mission to Haiti.

January 19, 2010 - Pat Bradley from International Crisis Inc., picks up his luggage at the Miami Airport while trying to make connections to get to Haiti. Photo by J.B. Forbes

HURDLES THWART ST. LOUIS-BASED RELIEF WORKERS

By Phillip O'Connor

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH [VIEW FULL STORY]

MIAMI — Pat Bradley… founder of International Crisis Aid, a St. Louis-based humanitarian organization, has been trying to reach Haiti since last week's disastrous earthquake. Like many aid workers rushing to the scene, Bradley has encountered a series of roadblocks, much of it due to the limitations of the country's damaged main airport, ports and roads.

On Monday, Bradley gathered around a table at a suburban Atlanta hotel with a Victory church official and two representatives from Hospitals for Humanity, another aid group that had assembled a team of 55 health care workers for Haiti.

They laid out their plans for when they hit the ground. They had seen the disturbing television images — bands of machete-wielding men roaming the streets, crowds fighting over provisions being thrown from American military helicopters.

All of the aid workers working with Bradley agreed the potential for violence would be greatest when they attempted to distribute food or water.

The group agreed that a top priority needed to be the removal of the thousands of corpses from the area. In addition to the health threats they posed, the decomposing bodies were contributing to the psychosis of those forced to live among the dead.

Still, Bradley had to get to Haiti first. So he was back in Miami late Tuesday with the other relief groups, wondering if this flight would be the one to get him there.

Then, at 9 p.m., he was walking down a jetway to board his charter flight. His wait was finally over.