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On Valentine's Day, Omar Rafik kissed his wife goodbye in Manassas and left for Haiti on what he thought would be a three-day trip.

He returned nearly two weeks later, "emotionally, mentally and physically drained," and claiming he had seen things that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Rafik, 50, is a Technical Sales Manager for McLean-based Spacenet Integrated Government Solutions.

The company, a division of Spacenet Inc., provides the Department of Defense, Homeland Security and other intelligence community agencies with portable, independent satellite communications networks.

When the company heard the communications infrastructure in Haiti had been demolished in the recent earthquake, it contacted the American Red Cross and donated its services.

In early February, Spacenet asked its 130 McLean employees for a volunteer to travel to Haiti.

Rafik immediately raised his hand.

"I wanted to do some good in person, for my own sense of self-worth," he said. "It's one thing to send money, but it is another to actually help with your own hands."

Along with a partner -- Echostar Satellite Services -- the company shipped small dish antennae and two-way ground stations to Haiti, said Jon Douglas, marketing director of Spacenet IGS.

"These systems are transportable and can be deployed quickly, providing a wireless link completely independent of the local Haitian infrastructure," Douglas said.

Rafik traveled to the earthquake-ravaged country to set up the equipment. In addition to 90 pounds of wires, batteries, connectors and other installation equipment, he brought 7 pounds of candy.

"The level of sheer, genuine gratitude that a Haitian child displays when you give them a lollipop is just heartbreaking," Rafik said.

Entering Haiti from the Dominican Republic, the border between the two countries was like a huge "medieval-like" gate in which assorted vendors on both sides had lined up to sell their wares, Rafik said. "The very first thing I saw was a landscape of white," he said of his entry into Haiti. "People, trees, animals, roads; they were all covered in white limestone powder from collapsed buildings. It was one of the strangest, most surreal things I have ever seen."

He soon realized accomplishing his objectives was going to take longer than expected.

"There is so much devastation in and around Port-au-Prince that traveling 30 miles by car can take nearly four hours," Rafik said. "I knew immediately after I arrived that I wouldn't be going home anytime soon."

With minimal local help, he began the arduous task of setting up several "non-penetrating" satellite dishes, first locating stable ground and then clearing away rubble. That meant disposing of huge concrete slabs, cinder blocks and other heavy objects. Heavy objects then had to be placed back on the bases of the satellite dishes to keep the wind from knocking them down.

"For dishes placed on roofs of surviving buildings, we had to manually carry cinder blocks up a ladder one at a time to hold the satellite dishes down with," Rafik said. "Then, of course, once they were set up, I had to make sure they all worked. That took the majority of my time."

In the evenings, often traveling three hours or more back to his temporary residence, Rafik would try to sleep. But recurrent aftershocks in the evenings made it difficult.

"Overall, I experienced five aftershocks," he said, adding that one "was like a freight train was rolling right by my bed. That one scared me a little."

His efforts supplied four Red Cross relief sites with wireless Internet service that allows the 250 International Red Cross workers in Haiti to communicate their medical and personnel needs and requisition supplies. It also allows volunteers to communicate with their families.

"It has honestly been a lifesaver," said Colin Chaperone, the operations manager for International Red Cross Association. "We are now able to access real-time information from our headquarters and other hubs, enabling us to work more efficiently at saving human lives."

Rafik, who returned home Friday, said he will not forget his time in Haiti.

"The trip has truly enriched my life," he said. "Even with the ever-present smell of decomposing bodies, the swarms of mosquitoes, and the insufferable heat, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It was the experience of a lifetime."