Bruce Dean Curran can’t get Haiti off his mind.
“It was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere before. Now the situation is devastating,” he said.
Curran is not the only Maine resident haunted by memories of friends and places, triggered by the chaos following the Jan. 12 earthquake, but he may have the most intimate knowledge of that Caribbean nation.
Curran served as the American Ambassador to Haiti from 2000-03.
The Portland native, who moved to Damariscotta a year ago after a world-trotting career that spanned 32 years in the foreign service, has been in touch with some friends in our government and outside.
In a wide-ranging interview, he talked about the rugged Haitian countryside and her people, as he stared out his back window peering down a gentle snow-covered hillside to the river.
His conversation was staggered, as he frequently stopped in mid- sentence to glance at a large TV set, where CNN was reporting the latest news from Haiti.
“I just can’t turn it off. I just can’t,” he said.
In his restored home, built in 1790 and filled with Haitian art including carnival masks, Curran explains some of the structures where he spent hours negotiating on behalf of the U.S. are now just piles of rubble.
“The Hotel Montana is gone, as is the modern supermarket where I shopped,” he said. He smiles as he said some market patrons were rescued from the rubble after surviving eating grocery store merchandise for several days.
“The American Embassy is new and it stands, although one American employee was killed as were several of the embassy’s Haitian workers.
“One of my friends, the minister of justice, was killed when the ministry collapsed. The presidential palace fell, as did the Catholic and Episcopal cathedrals,” he said.
“It [the quake] happened at about 5 p.m. when everyone was in the palace. They got some out, but there are more than a hundred others missing,” he said.
One prominent casualty was the Catholic Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, whose body was found in the rubble of his collapsed office.
Many Maine residents have pitched in to help the relief effort as the parishioners of several churches, including the Episcopal and Catholic faiths have joined in an effort to raise money.
Under the direction of Bishop Richard Malone, all the Maine Catholic churches, including St. Patrick’s in Newcastle, donated proceeds of a second collection at Sunday’s Mass to the Haitian relief effort, Catholic Relief Services. The total amount raised will not be known for several weeks, according to Sue Bernard, a spokeswoman for the diocese of 141 churches.
A number of churches, including Sacred Heart in Portland have a long relationship with Haitian churches.
Episcopalian churches, including St. Andrews in Newcastle, which has a long association with the collapsed Holy Trinity Cathedral in Haiti, also is engaged in fundraising efforts.
Sunday’s NAACP Gospel concert at Portland’s Merrill Auditorium raised more than $2800 for Haitian relief through Konbit Sante, a Portland headquartered relief organization that has worked on Haitian health issues for more than 10 years.
Konbit Sante donated $25,000 to start their Haitian relief efforts.
As the American Ambassador, Curran worked on health issues including efforts to combat HIV-AIDS, high infant mortality, and malnutrition.
“That is when I became acquainted with the great work done by Konbit Sante. He now serves on the group’s board of directors.
“We sent our executive director, Nate Nickerson, to Haiti, where he is working with officials of Justinian Hospital in Cap-Haitian,” said Curran. The town is located on the nation’s north coast about 90 miles from the shattered capital, Port-au-Prince and was not involved in the earthquake.
“The road to the capital is impassible but victims are now being brought in by helicopter to the hospital, the second largest in the country,” he said.
While there are reports that as many as 200,000 may have perished in the 7.0 earthquake centered west of the capital city, Port-au-Prince, American military units are leading the international community to coordinate the relief effort.
“The American Military is the best in the world at this type of task. They can move tons and tons of materials long distances in a short time frame,” he said saying he observed their work first hand in 2000 in Mozambique where floods and a cyclone required the evacuation of more than 100,000 residents.
“They [the military] took control of the Port-au-Prince airport because there was no one else there to do it,” he said.
Under orders from President Barack Obama, the military has started a massive assistance effort involving sending huge C-17 cargo planes, the aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, 3000 soldiers from the 82d Airborne Division, the USS Bataan, a Marine amphibious ship with more than 2000 Marines, and the USS Comfort, the navy’s largest hospital ship.
They are prepared to distribute more than 500,000 food rations and 100,000 water containers.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is also working to deliver nearly $50 million in other food assistance.
As his two lovable Labrador retrievers, Aida and Thabo sat at his feet, Curran wondered aloud what happened to villages located to the west of the capital. “Some reports say they were more than 80 to 90 percent destroyed,” he said.
A favorite spot for Curran, an art collector with many friends in the international community, is the ancient coastal city of Jacmel, home to more than 50,000 residents.
“These people should be getting ready for Carnival, which is two weeks away. They should be readying their huge papier-mâché masks and colorful costumes for the parade,” he said.
Of particular interest to Curran is a Danish man who lives in Jacmel. “I heard that his son chartered a helicopter in Santa Domingo, flew to Jacmel and rescued his father.”
While the world is working to meet the immediate needs of the survivors of the Haitian earthquake, Curran worries the nation will need massive outside assistance to help rebuild their shattered country.
“Once they are fed and rescued, then the real help will be needed. I hope the world won’t forget Haiti after the rescue effort is complete,” he said.
As Curran’s television set barked about the relief efforts, Curran said although he had planned to visit Haiti in two weeks, he cancelled the trip.
“The wonderful people of Haiti need doctors, medical supplies, food, rescue workers, and search dogs. They don’t need a retired diplomat,” he said.
Major relief agencies included with their websites are: Konbit Sante of Portland at www.konbitsante.org; Catholic Relief Services at www.crs.org; Episcopal Relief & Development at www.er-d.org; C.A.R.E. at care.org; Doctors Without Borders at www.doctorswithoutborders.org; and, the American Red Cross at www.redcross.org.
