HCJB Global Hands Aids Haiti Quake Victims

I set out the Marantz recorder and began showing its features to Martin, who would fly out for Haiti the next morning (Thursday, 14 January) with our disaster response team.

The recorder, microphone and mic cable lay beside small model planes on an airstrip that Martin and his young son had built together.

This little coincidence wasn’t lost on me less than 24 hours later when Martin wrote from Florida,

“Big problem is getting to Haiti. Airspace is clogged with aid flights and very limited parking space at airport in Haiti. Fuel shortage also means that FAA have halted flights into Haiti for now. It looks increasingly probable that we will fly in tomorrow now.”

On Friday, the team arrived in Haiti, to relieve a surgical team that had already put in 48 hours. Sheila tells of her team's work :

Martin, who has kept communications flowing, along with his real specialty – water.

I have helped to tell this story, mostly with a computer screen in front of me or a phone receiver to my ear.

Martin's photos are displayed as part of his "Aid Worker's Diary" on the BBC website. Please click here.

See more of the Haiti medical response by clicking here.

What I Did During Vacation

Billy wants a pair of skates; Susie wants a dolly.

Sally wants a story book; she thinks dolls are folly.

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And the trombone player wants a trombone shiny and new

Not the old one that her brother always blew

Her dad's suggestion: "Let's repair and renew."

There is, of course, the question of the "how-to"

Quite honestly, Dad had not even a clue.

And so it was that Billy (not the one mentioned above, but pictured above) instructed me how I might remove the lacquer from the trombone, then proceed, shining it up with Brasso, applying degreaser, then spraying on a new layer of lacquer.

He also loaned me an unrepairable that cannot be damaged by my experiment.

(The steel wool was my own solution to stubborn lacquer, but likely would not be endorsed by a professional restorer.)

I have made a start on this project. So far it convinces me that there may be an easier (albeit costlier) to give our daughter a "new" horn.