People have asked for details about how they could do it, and how I got here to do some Guerrilla Aid - here are a few tips:

1.  Find a local contact before you go.  I met Gwenn Mangine (on Facebook) who lives in Jacmel, and I asked her if I could come and volunteer with her group.  She said yes, but that there was nowhere to stay and that they were sleeping in her front yard - so I brought a tent and sleeping bag.

2.  Arrange travel to the closest point.  Flew to Santo Domingo, DR and started asking everyone I met how to get to Haiti, and finally found a girl in my hotel lobby who had information about a Navy Red Cross Boat at Cabo Roja (five hours away) that I may be able to get on.

3.  Find a travel buddy.  I met a journalist named Patrick Adams in the same hotel lobby trying to get there as well, so we decided to work together.

4.  Internal travel.  We found two guys with a car who were heading to Pedernales (next to Cabo Roja) who allowed us to tag along.

5.  Be patient.  We arrived to Cabo Roja, but the boat wasn’t leaving until the next day, so we found a rough little motel in Pedernales to crash for the night with our sleeping bags.

6.  Final destination travel.  We got on the Navy boat the next day and travelled for eight hours to get to Jacmel and meet Gwenn and Nick Mangine (incredible people).

7.  Get to know as many people as you can, and figure out where you may be useful based on your skill set.  

8.  Find your place.  Patrick speaks Spanish and had become friendly (REALLY friendly actually :-)), with a girl on the ship working for the Red Cross, and when we got here found out that the Dominican Red Cross had no liason and interpreter - so all of a sudden he took on that role.

9.  Utilize your local contact.  I spent a few days collecting and distributing food with Nick and Gwenn (they distributed 30,000 lbs actually) - and they introduced me to a doctor who was slowly becoming in charge of operations here in Jacmel.  We started talking and when she realized that I had experience with volunteers and projects - she asked if I’d take it over, while helping her run the airport (although it wasn't part of my skill set).

10.  Overcome any fears.  I got back on a motorcycle.  

11.  Start working.  So here I am, in our makeshift office at the airport, developing projects and coordinating volunteers with locals, greeting all the arriving flights and processing volunteers and first responders through our “customs,” and assessing which situation can take volunteers.

It's rough here.  There are thousands of people in dire need, and we've been working on immediate relief, but this will not be solved anytime soon.  I'm currently developing ways anyone can jump on a plane and come volunteer with us, so stay tuned because we need some help. 

Come to Haiti and volunteer...  and bring me some tents... 

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Here's my disclaimer and my "Don't try this at home" speech...

This may look disorganized and cavalier, but I want to be clear - in order for our project's success, I follow certain rules to make sure our efforts are beneficial to those we are trying to serve.  If you want to volunteer in times of crisis, there are few key things to understand...

First of which, don't be stupid.  Don't try to volunteer in an intense or volatile place unless you are specifically trained, and sent there with a specific purpose.  

For example:  I am not a nurse, a doctor, nor emergency first responder, and for me to go to Port Au Prince right now (on my own) would be ridiculous.  I hear stories of do-gooders who show up at the airport wanting to help, only to cause more trouble when they realize THEY have no water, nothing to eat, no where to buy anything, no way to get anywhere, and then they start taxing the system by requiring their own aid.  It's not like you check into a hotel and then head out to help - and if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

I will be starting in Jacmel (currently one of the safest towns in Haiti), and meeting up with a local group that knows I'm coming.  I've also made sure that I will not be using anything meant for the victims of the disaster by making sure I'm as self-sufficient as possible (I have a sleeping bag, power bars for a week, and water purification tablets, among other supplies). 

Guerrilla Aid is incredibly beneficial and worthwhile, but it can be tricky during a crisis.   I'm here to plan projects for volunteers to come to when they won't be part of the problem, as this effort will take many months and years to address.

As soon as I can I'll start posting places and organizations that not only need, but welcome, volunteers who just want to show up and help guerrilla style.  Until then, send donations to those groups in urgent need like "Doctors Without Borders" - after that, you can be damn sure that I'll be hitting you up for help with phase two...

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