Carolyn Walker took some time on Monday night to look over her photos from a three week trip to Haiti. The school nurse from Rome describes hardships and suffering few could imagine. She worked to distribute food and medical supplies to a local hospital - a hospital that only has forty beds but treated four hundred patients in temporary tents.
Wise says she was incredibly impressed by the lengths the Haitian community would go to in order to help each other.
"They would accommodate 16 or 20 people in their little two room houses just because they care for each other," said Wise.
A small alley with charcoal fires was the main kitchen for the hospital and local women worked for hours over to provide food for the patients. Wise says much of the country is still in a state of crisis and doesn't want people to forget that as time moves on.
"There were still lines waiting for food and water and that you could not see either end of the line and people would wait hours and hours for a meager amount of food," said Wise.
Wise also assisted with food distribution and says she learned quickly that giving food away in a disaster zone is more complicated than she thought.
"I thought that as soon as I got there I could just take my money and buy bags of rice and start distributing it and get out those medical supplies but I was advised by the people who live there on a regular basis that it was not safe to do that. vigilantes are out and people, if they hear that you've got it, that they will do anything to get it."
Carolyn Wise has more supplies she plans to ship to Haiti and is looking for help with shipping. She also plans on giving a presentation to the students at Ridge Mills Elementary in Rome about her trip.
