Haiti relief news - RAJADHIRAJA YOGA

Haiti bound: ‘I’ll see the best and worst’
By Wanda Combs
Published: March 4, 2010
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by Colleen Redman

Asa Pickford was laid-off and snowed-in when he made the decision to join up with an international disaster relief organization bringing aid to victims of January’s catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. “I was ready to help and I had the skills,” said the Floyd Countian.
Pickford, who is a metal fabricator, pipe welder, and blacksmith, learned about the Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT) from his friend Aaron Staengl. Staengl is a member of Ananda Marga, a social and spiritual movement based in India that focuses on personal development through meditation and yoga and emphasizes service to others. For decades AMURT has been assisting underprivileged people all over the world to become more self-sufficient in the basic necessities of life: food and water, education, shelter, and healthcare. “They were already in Haiti before the earthquake,” Pickford said.
In Haiti, Pickford will be distributing food and first aid and will be helping to build needed infrastructure. “Mostly I’ll be entertaining kids,” he said, adding that he packed “pennywhistles and goodies to hand-out.” As the father of 5 year old Indigo, Pickford is practiced at interacting with children. “That’s going to be the hardest part. I haven’t been separated from her for more than a few days,” he said about his daughter.
Scheduled to be in Haiti for a month, Pickford said he’s prepared for the physical and emotional challenges that are ahead of him. He’ll be living in a tent in the Boudon neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. “I’ll see the best and worst of life,” he pointed out.
In preparation for Haiti’s warm weather climate and rustic conditions, Pickford had his shoulder length hair cut. “It’s the start of the rainy season. It will be miserable there,” he said. As another perquisite to his journey, he received immunizations for Hepatitis C and A, typhoid, tetanus and malaria. He also received an outpouring of support from family and friends. “Within an hour of posting his intentions to go to Haiti, weeks ago on Facebook, he was getting donations,” his father, Steve Pickford, said.
Steve Pickford explained that many of the items his son packed for the trip were donated or bought locally with discounts. These include power snack bars, sturdy boots, a backpacker’s hammock, tarps, cords, tent stakes, a water purifier, and a waterproof digital camera. The camp items will be left in Haiti when Pickford returns to Floyd. “He’s hoping to set up a sturdy camp that he can leave for another aid worker,” his father said.
On Monday, February 22, Steve Pickford drove his son to the airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, for the first leg of his plane trip, but not before making a stop to say a last goodbye to India in her classroom at The Blue Mountain School.
Armed with a donated electronic netbook and a GPS device for navigating Port-au-Prince roads, Pickford, who speaks fluent Spanish, said he hopes to set up a blog to document his experiences and so that his supporters can follow his progress.
By Wednesday morning, February 24, Pickford was settled in Haiti and had posted a message to his Facebook friends, along with some photos of smiling Haitian children, work sites, scenes of wreckage, and women hand-washing laundry.
“I will be working with some engineers as project manager to install a retaining wall behind the school to keep the hill side from moving any closer,” he wrote about his first job. He thanked everyone for helping to make his trip possible and promised to tell all the wonderful people there about the people in Floyd and beyond who are wishing them well. Colleen Redman
Note: Donations to cover the expenses of Asa Pickford’s trip can be sent in care of his father Steve Pickford at 2239 Lick Ridge Road, Check Virginia, 24072.
http://www.swvatoday.com/news/article/haiti_bound_ill_see_the_best_and_worst/7002/