A Montgomery woman and her mother, who helped establish a school in the town of Coco Beach, Haiti, plan to leave Tuesday to film a documentary about the school and the daily struggles of the people in the small town.
Their travel plans have not changed despite Hurricane Ike, the latest major storm to rake the island recently. But the purpose of their visit has changed dramatically.
"Initially we were just going strictly to film footage for a small documentary on the school, but because of the storm we've changed what we're doing," said Stephanie Reynolds, who along with her mother, Anne, started "All Children Are Children," the only school in the rural Haitian community.
Now they will be filming the massive devastation on the island and offering as much aid as they can, Reynolds said.
They plan to leave from Montgomery for Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday -- they will take a commercial flight from there to Port Au Prince, the capital city. They will then take a charter plane to Cap Haitian, near Coco Beach -- but all that depends on the weather and the devastation on the ground.
"We're scheduled to leave Tuesday," she said, "and we still plan on going."
Forecasts show Ike off the southwest coast of Florida on Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, officials said the death toll in Haiti from the four storms that have hit the country in less than a month stands at more than 300.
President René Préval called the state of the nation a "catastrophe."
Some estimate that as floodwaters recede it will reveal the real damage of Tropical Storm Hanna, which pummeled the island with rains last week. Many fear the toll will be worse than that of Hurricane Jeanne, which killed more than 3,000 in Haiti in September 1994.
The Reynoldses will be travelling with five members of Bedouins International, a non-profit organization based in Birmingham. The group will include a photographer and a camera crew.
"They will be there to help us physically but also to document our efforts," Reynolds said.
The storms of the past three weeks have already stalled one phase of their effort -- a container they packed in Montgomery with food, medical supplies and other essentials was shipped weeks ago so that it would be there in time for their arrival.
Reynolds said the last she heard, the container is still in Nassau, Bahamas because of the bad weather, and she does not think the supplies will be there by Tuesday.
Reynolds said crowding and shelter for her party are big concerns. They are booked at a hotel in Cap Haiti, which is about an hour and a half from Coco Beach. But they don't know what they will find.
Thousands of people have fled the city of Gonaives, one of the hardest hit areas. As many as 10,000 have walked miles, wading through dirty floodwaters to try to reach Cap Haiti, according to a news release from Daniel Rouzier, Haiti chairman of Food for the Poor.
"We all heard people are fleeing Gonaives and coming to Cap Haiti for shelter and there is not enough for everyone and that's what we're concerned about," Reynolds said.
She said friends in Haiti have said the conditions are terrible.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report
