“Into Haiti” update Jan 30th

I was amazed to learn from our medical team, most people in Port-a-Prince did not know what had happened when the earthquake hit. They had nothing to relate it to. Even well educated locals had no idea what they had just experienced. It took hours for many to learn they had just gone through a major earthquake. Josue said he was walking home when it hit. Everything around him crumbled. When he got to his home he found his wife holding their child, in shock, just standing in the doorway of their house, which was leaning precariously.

The self-funded medical team from Augusta, Georgia, was able to make it all the way up to our courtyard near the orphanage. They set up a hospital tent and an operating room tent where they began treating the first of several hundred people. Night would find them sleeping on the concrete surrounded by protective Haitian families. Early morning would find them delivering a baby girl.
The neighborhood where they set up still hasn’t seen aid from any other source and they do not expect to because in Haiti there is no infrastructure for emergency response. Distribution of aid of any kind is bottlenecked with agencies and government near the airport. The team bought rice and beans at the Haitian-Dominican Republic border. Ironically, it was food that had been sent over from the U.S. to be distributed as aid.

I am leaving for Haiti this week to plan out the logistics of placing safe and easily erected structures at several locations. We are considering fabric-covered buildings, metal-sided structures and mini houses (8’x12’) of wood.

I always look forward to my trips to Haiti. I am not looking forward to this trip. It will be hard to see a city, a nation and people I have come to love so much be in such a state of shock and devastation. I do hope to be an encouragement. I pray for wisdom and grace. I believe it will come.

As funds come in from donors, I want to communicate how we use these and how we expect to continue.

1) Food and emergency supplies.

2) Shelter. The criterion is: safe, durable, earthquake resistant, hurricane resistant, relatively inexpensive and easy to erect.

The estimated cost of a fabric covered, long lasting multi-purpose structure (30x35) is $8,000.
The estimated cost of an 8’x12’ mini-house is $600. (Much of life in Haiti such as cooking and socializing often happens out of doors.)