Helping hands

I haven't yet blogged about Haiti, in large part because I find the international aid effort as horrifying as the underlying natural disaster. I kept thinking of my dentist, who for years has taken his vacation in Haiti, pulling teeth and filling cavities. While Bill Clinton and the UN stumbled around, the 900-pound gorillas who must have confused the aid effort more than they helped, where were the private-sector volunteers who could actually get things done? Well, Tom Ricks has an account by and about Team Rubicon, which nobody has ever heard of, and which for that reason probably did more good than Mr Clinton could ever have done, had not a medical emergency fortunately removed him from the scene. Team Rubicon consisted of two US Marines (not on active duty, but it's considered bad form to refer to anyone as an ex-Marine), two doctors, a physician's assistant, two firemen, and a Jesuit brother. They write:

At every turn, big aid organizations not only rejected our team's offers of assistance, but even attempted to dissuade us from going to render assistance in Port au Prince. With creativity and conviction, Team Rubicon, as we came to be called, found a way to put our original eight members into the devastated city, found a partner eager for our helping hands, and found that, contrary to everything the big aid bureaucracies were saying, small and skilled teams of military combat veterans and seasoned first responders were exactly what could render immediate, life-saving assistance in this situation.

They also paid their own way. An inspiring story. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford