As many of you know, Sharon and I were in Haiti for the earthquake January 12th. We didn't go there thinking about earthquakes. Haiti had not had a noticable earthquake for two hundred years. Had we known what was about to happen we might have stayed home.
We did, however, go to Haiti for a disaster. Haiti was a disaster already and well before the earthquake. Half the people not eating on any given day, 400,000 orphan children, hurricains and floods, poorest nation in Western Hemisphere,etc. The only problem was that hardly anyone was noticing. The world media and the general populous of the US just kind of ignored this island of disaster.
You have probably read or seen much about the earthquake so I may be redundant for you. Please forgive me but I must share our story. As I said, we were in Haiti for a disaster and we were not disapointed.
Tuesday the 12th around 5pm. We had been in country about four hours and just getting to know this new-to-us guest house and some of the fine servants of Jesus that we were sharing it with. We were sitting at patio tables beneath the second floor of our guest house. A cool shady spot with a little tropical breeze. Very pleasant. We were awaiting four US members of our team who had arrived at the airport and were being driven to the guest house.
Then the earth started heaving. Sharon and I, old California earthquake veterans that we are (if one ever gets used to these things) looked at each other, taking a moment to gauge the strength of the quake. We realized quickly that it wasn't abating but getting significantly stronger each moment, we decided to get out from beneath the overhanging floor and clear of the building. You could not walk straight as the earth was moving too much. We got clear as the rock wall seperating the guest house property from the one next door collapsed explosively toward us and the swimming pool tried to throw all its water out. Patio chairs were flipping into the pool and the three story building next to us partially collapsed, trapping its elderly residents. A great cloud of dust rose around the neighborhood and the cries of the injured and trapped began to fill the air. Many people just wailed in fear, never having experienced an earthquake of any magnitude in their lifetime. We couldn't know the extent of the damage beyond our street and immediate neighborhood but the numbers of injured who came seeking treatment showed that the scope of destruction was quite larger than any of us had experienced.
The folks at our guest house became a medical team and some of us assisted in rescue operations next door. We had triage in the street and clinic without medical supplies in the yard. We hosted over a hundred injured and their now homeless families in the courtyard for two days. No one wanted to be in buildings.
Our team members arrived within an hour of the quake, alive and shaken. We emptied the van and some of us set out for My Father's House I and II to check on the children & staff. Darkness was decending and the streets were full of shocked and wandering people. As we slowly drove through the destruction we we astounded and grieved.
We found our children, at My Father's House II, whole and excited and without injury, their mattresses dragged outside into the courtyard.. All of our staff was fine, physically, and the building unscathed. These are the older children and it seemed quite the party atmosphere. We encouraged everyone to move their beds back inside. Promising to return in the morning we moved on to the second House and the younger children. My Father's House I was in the same condition as the first house and the children here too had moved into the courtyard. Every one was so excited and we were impressed by the numbers of little ones. This house survived undamaged and our staff without injury. The church, half a block away, which houses the school was damaged and is unsafe. It must be rebuilt or repaired.
We returned to the guest house and stayed awake most of the night listening to the voices of the people in the courtyard and in the streets. Singing, chanting, weeping, wailing throughout the night. Occasional outbursts when aftershocks rolled through.
Wednesday early some of our team went to the Montana Hotel sight to assist in rescue and recovery and to search for three men we had met at the guest house an hour before the quake. The Montana fell down with much loss of life and a few miraculous escapes. Two of the men mentioned died, one is alive and severly injured.
We were able to go back to the Houses with boxes of stuffed animals, underwear, sox, toys and candy for the two hundred younsters in our care. What a joyous time with the kids! Even as many of our staff grieved the loss of family.
Later we toured much of Port Au Prince and got a clear first hand look at the devastation, the masses of wandering people in the streets, the bodies everywhere, the futile rescue efforts with no heavy equipment, the frustration at not being able to treat the injured for lack of supplies, the heroic efforts to free the pinned or trapped.
Another night of little or no sleep, chanting crowds, aftershocks, no phones, occasional internet, an hour of blackberry at one o'clock in the morning (Praise God!), electricity on and off......
Thursday am, we made the decision to get out of Haiti if possible. US Citizens were supposed to go to the airport. Some of our team went early with others from the guest house. We went later and were told to not go to the airport but to the American Embassy. About five hundred folks ended up there, air conditioned, water, bathrooms, later.. meals ready to eat, crying children, prospect of sleeping in chairs or on the floor, some sleeping outside on lawns, a dear friendly man sharing a working cel phone, we sharing a charger, finding some of our new friends from the guest house......late... they called us by name and took about a hundred out (we had to leave any luggage beyond what would fit on lap) and put us in armored SUVs and convoyed us to the airport for evacuation. We got to fly out in a US Air force C17 transport (really cool!). They flew us to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey where we were welcomed with cots, food, coffee, donuts, showers, sleeping bags and pillows, phones and free transportation to Philadelphia or Newark Airports. What a blessing. Sharon and I continued to our original destinations that were planned before the quake. She to Germany for grandma duty and I to Wisconsin to minister the Word. My hope is to return to Haiti as soon as possible.
God has covered us, our children and staff. We praise His Name.
Haiti continues as the basket case of the Western Hemisphere. Where there had been poverty and hunger, malnutrition and hundreds of thousands of orphans, there is now a million orphans, three and a half million displaced and homeless, perhaps a quarter of a million dead, another three hundred thousand seriously injured and in danger of dying for lack of care & medicines.
A nation of wailing and hopelessness.
A nation truly humbled. I have never experienced anything like it.
We still have two hundred children that we need to get food and water to. We are working at meeting the needs of our children. It is very difficult but God spared them and God will provide for them. They are His children.
These children are also the hope of Haiti and her future. If we can win these children to Christ, raise them and train them for life, they will change Haiti. They will build this land in righteousness to the glory of God.
We plan, in the Lord and by His enabling, to open a third house as soon as possible. Then a fourth as soon as possible. Then as many as the Lord provides.
We were investing in the children of Haiti before the earthquake. Haiti mattered before the earthquake. We were planning and praying to meet the needs of twenty thousand orphans in Port Au Prince before Tuesday the 12th of January. Our vision must now increase to meet the greater need of today.
Please pray for Haiti and her children.
Thank you
In Christ with you
For all of His friends
Even the least of these....jason