Kimmie in Haiti

The last few days in Hispaniola

2010-02-03T19:07:00.000-08:00

I realize I've delegated blogging to Johnny...I guess I can wrap up our adventure tonight :)

What a week. Yesterday was pretty eventful because one of the Haitian staff at the school fell while hopping out of a pick up truck and broke his wrist. The staff member, "Boss" Solon, was unloading fuel and then slipped while getting down. Everyone at the school is tired, and on top of that, he lost his son in the earthquake. He hasn't slept well since. Luckily there are 150 doctors staying on the school's campus. Of that 150, there were a few German orthopedic doctors that wrapped his wrist immediately and connected us with their team at one of the local hospitals that is still functioning. We got him there and into the xray room within 20 minutes of arriving. I guess that means 1 of 2 things...1 we were hooked up pretty good by the Germans, and/or 2, the initial emergency is taken care of so hospitals aren't as crowded. After some turf issues between the American and German ortho surgeons on site, Boss Solon was given local anasthesia as they set his broken wrist. We re-xrayed and everything looked great. Mission accomplished.

When we got back to the school, I did some data entry and talked with students during their breaks. I was able to see a few new faces around campus--more students seem to be coming back to Haiti. Unfortunately many are also leaving, so it is a constant cycle of kids in the school. Meanwhile, Johnny helped carry cokes to the Army guys stationed on campus. He was happy to report that he carried the cases all the way from the trucks to the Army tents, while the army guys had to take a break. Haha.

Oh, I've also been dealing with a cold that has definitely been a distraction. Yesterday, I had to blow my nose every five minutes or so then rub a little hand sanny in to protect everyone else :) I'm slowly coming over it now, but it's still driving me crazy.

This morning we decided to catch a ride back into Jacmel to hopefully meet up with our pilot. When we arrived, we found out our pilot changed his plans. That meant we needed to get on whatever flight we could out of Jacmel or stay there over night. We found a great pilot that took us into Santiago. You meet a lot of interesting people involved with disaster relief. We rode into the Domincan Republic with an ER doctor that has been all over the world. Very neat guy. Then we found out that a hotel near the airport has reduced rates for relief workers. What a relief :) We met more interesting people here that have been bringing supplies into Haiti since the first 30 hours after the quake. Amazing.

Our plan is to get up early and head back to the airport tomorrow. We should be on the first flight to the US and on our way back to Dallas by the afternoon. I am sad to leave Haiti behind (again), but excited about the prospects of raising support and awareness of the continuing needs there. No doubt CNN and Fox News will drop news coverage of the situation (if they haven't already), but we need people to continue to pray for and support Haiti. The worst may or may not be over....we are now in what we call "secondary infection" stage. Not to mention there will be needs that will emerge as time goes on. Please don't let your interest in Haiti wane with the news coverage!

Day 6 in Haiti

2010-02-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

Today I got to speak in the school's chapel... What a great thing. I can tell that I will be in ministry because when I go a while without preaching I get an itch. After I spoke in chapel we got to spend time with the kids again...more came to school that day. Then I went down to the military side of the campus and worked on organizing all the school books that were moved to downstairs rooms. Kim was helping in the medical tent counting pills and putting them in bags. I did that for awhile and then Kim and I went to the market. After we got some supplies from there we went back to Quisqueya and dropped off the supplies. We bought some treats and 'wish list' items for the teachers and staff here on campus who have been going non-stop since the earthquake.
Later we visited Ceable, a good friend of Kim's who was the guard at her old apartment. His family lost there house in the earthquake, so now they are staying in a concrete storage shed. It is about 12 feet by 8 feet. I will try to get pictures to show you. The best part is that after we were done visiting with him he prayed for us. It was a good prayer--the best I have had in a long time. He started the prayer off by singing a song to God. He was singing his heart out to the one he loved most. After the song he started praying and while he was praying it reminded me of when I was in Nicaragua. When we were about to leave Nicaragua, the community we were helping pulled all of us Americans in one of their houses. They had scrounged around and put a very small meal together for us to eat. By American standards it would have fed only 3 people but it was all they had and they offered it to us. On top of that they made us sit down and they went around and prayed for us individually. How humbling to have someone who has nothing thank Americans who seem to have so much and offer us a meal. I was broken that day. The memories of that moment in Nicaragua once again flooded my mind when Ceable, who lost his home in the quake, was blessing me more than I have ever been by anyone else. I kept thinking of how God uses the humble and the foolish to confound this world and how inverse the laws of the kingdom of God are compared to this world. I was once again brought to tears as Ceable prayed for Kim and me.

Lord help me to stay broken, you never use those who are not!

Day 5

2010-01-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

This morning, we woke up and had breakfast, tore down our little "camp," and left for church. Watching the rubble does not fail to shock you as you drive through the streets. We sang some songs and listened to Andy Stanley. What was really cool was I was thinking about Romans 8 and Andy Stanley talked about it also, about how nature groans and is subjected to futility in hope. One day we will no longer have to worry about earthquakes. At the end of the chapter the writer of Romans asks.."What then shall separate us from the love of Christ?" The cool thing is the first thing listed is death. Isn't it awesome that death is not a problem for Christians? C.S. Lewis said that when we get to heaven it will be so glorious that when we look back on our life, we won't see that heaven has supplied a solution to death and pain and tragedy but we will look back and see that there was no problem at all. How awesome that when we get to heaven EVERYTHING will be made right. The thirst we all have will finally be quenched, the itch will finally be scratched, the injustice will finally be made right and life will be lived as it should. I was brought to tears this morning reading that chapter. The amazing thing was after the message we heard this morning, one of the young guys on a visiting construction team here said, "I have never been a religious man, but right now I feel the closest I have ever been to God.." Even people in our team are having their perceptions of God radically impacted and they are seeing God like never before.

After the service we went on the top of the house so we could get reception for the satellite phone. Kim's church set up a live transmission for her to talk to the congregation. While we were up there we got to see the houses in the ravine behind the missionary's house. Before the earthquake, there were an estimated 75,000 people living in that ravine. Now it looks like at least half of those homes are destroyed and the badly damaged ones are still falling. The eerie thing is that there used to be so much noise in that ravine. Now, it is mostly silent. Many of the survivors moved to this side of the ravine and have set up tent cities all around teh missionary's home.

This evening, Kim was updating the blog and I was chatting with the missionaries about their salvation stories. And just 15 minutes ago a man came to the front gate with a broken arm that needed help. Kim helped translate to find out that he needs surgery on the arm but is afraid that the doctor will amputate. We had to explain why there were so many amputations the first week and why this doctor will be able to fix his arm. We were able to help and direct an appointment for him with an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow morning. We prayed with him before he left and were excited to find out that he is a believer.

There is so much going on it is hard to even write it all and in a way I almost feel like I am cheapening the experience and not doing it justice. But I am reminded of one thing: that Jesus knows all these people personally, and knows each one of their stories even better than I do. I'm so thankful that our God is not an unsympathetic high priest.

Also, please be praying for me as I will be preaching tomorrow in the chapel service to all the students and staff at Quisqueya. They have all had a crazy two weeks so far!

Johnny

Day 4 (and 5) in Haiti

2010-01-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

Saturday we took a tap tap to the school at 6am. Our goal was to help the crisis relief staff by documenting every person living on the campus at the time. Our task was cut short when we had to walk someone to a nearby house. The teams started leaving, further delaying our job. We then took a tap tap to the CSI guest house (which is also heavily damaged). We met with Greg Benson and his wife Kathy to catch a ride to Croix des Bouquets, where their clinic and orphanage buildings are. The orphanage is heavily damaged, so Tim and Toby (the directors) and all 20 girls are living in two small rooms by the clinic (which was not damaged). There is a work team in Haiti helping to pour new support columns and replace walls at the orphanage, hoping to save it. Johnny and I helped the orphanage directors by cleaning and packing things to move into the new orphanage building that will be built in the next few months. We also learned different theories of why some buildings collapsed and others didn't. Of course there are many factors, one being the way the houses were built. I'm not just talking about the reinforced concrete, quality of construction, etc. Obviously that is a huge factor, but another interesting aspect of the earthquake is that houses that were longer east and west (long sides facing north/south) were typically damaged the worst, while homes that were longer north to south (long sides facing east/west) were spared. The best analogy that was used to explain this is that in an earthquake, the tremors move like waves. Now picture a boat on the ocean; if it is facing a wave it can go right through it, but if a big wave hits its side it will capsize. The same is true with some of the buildings here.

Towards the end of the day we got to play with the girls. I (johnny) got to run around and chase them and have them chase me and Kim got in on the fun also. We taught them some games and played them for awhile before dinner. We ate and then after some great conversation with Toby we went outside set up our tents and spent the night under the stars.

Day 3 (and 4) in Haiti

2010-01-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

We have had random opportunities to use the internet...but we were too busy yesterday to get on and update the blog. I think we last updated through Friday AM. Here is a recap of Friday afternoon:

We spent time with the students again, listening to their stories and offering words of encouragement where we could. One young Haitian girl was at the school visiting, hoping to talk with a counselor. She was happy to talk to me instead since she knew me before I left Haiti. She told me her amazing story...I'll try to remember all of the details:

Erta (the young woman) is 21 years old. She was taking afternoon college classes the day of the earthquake. Her younger brother was in school during the day and had asked to stay after to work on homework. He was working in a classroom when the teacher said he had to leave the room. He went on the balcony to finish his homework instead. Meanwhile, Erta was in class when the building started shaking. The roof collapsed on her when she tried to get out of the room. She was flat on her stomach trying to crawl out of her destroyed classroom. She said there was so much dust--yellow dust--and she couldn't see. Finally she saw a chair that had miraculously held up part of the roof. She pulled herself under the chair and through the opening to escape the building. After a few minutes of searching for her brother, she found him alive but injured. The two of them walked away from the collapsed school where many others were killed. They spent the night in a nearby park, unable to reach their parents. They later found out that everyone assumed they were dead after hearing that their school collapsed. The next day they tried calling their parents again, but were unable to hear anything. THey decided to tell their parents, "we are alive in Champs Mars, if you can hear us, hang up the phone." They heard the click, and a few hours later they were reunited with their parents!

Erta's story is just one of many that show God's hands at work in the midst of the tragedy. The Haitian staff at the school are all accounted for, but some have lost close family members. I was particularly worried about two families at the school, however I have been reunited with them in the last couple of days. Both families lost homes, but not close family members. Their stories are pretty amazing too. I am learning that for every story of tragedy, I hear 4 or 5 more stories of miracles. Every staff person at our school is alive, and all but 1 student survived the earthquake. That Tuesday morning, I remember waking up and praying for the kids and staff at QCS. I didn't know why they were on my heart that morning until I heard the news that there was an earthquake that afternoon. I am amazed at how God works things out. It's easy to look at a situation like this and assume he is distant, but the longer I'm here and the more stories I hear, the more I realize that He works mightily in the most difficult times.

Day 2 (and 3) in Haiti

2010-01-29T08:53:00.000-08:00

Johnny typed yesterday's post, but I have a little to add :) As of 3 days ago, the director of the school decided to begin classes for the few students still in-country. A handful of teachers are here teaching 65 students from Pre-K to 12th grade. School is the best way for them to begin getting back into a normal routine (even though school is very very laid back). I have been able to sit and talk with them--to hear their stories and to encourage them as they deal with the emotional aftermath of the earthquake. While I will never be able to completely understand what they went through that day and what they have dealt with since then, I do understand them as a friend who experienced Haiti BE (before earthquake). It has been a privilege to serve them in this way, and Johnny and I are working on ways to help relieve them so they can get some rest. Johnny is pretty good at comic relief and the school has asked him to do a chapel service on Monday (the kids always asked me when he would come back to do another chapel!).

When I am not at the school helping with random errands, counseling, or stress relief, I am translating as needed. Last night I rode up with a team of Dominican doctors and a few American nurses to guide them to where they'll be staying. The driver spoke Spanish but he did have a Haitian translator with him who spoke Creole and Spanish. I spoke to him in Creole and he relayed the directions in Spanish. It was quite an experience! We got to the house (my friends Tim and Paola's house) after dark and I helped them unload their supplies. It was hard being back in Tim and Paola's home knowing they had to leave soon after the earthquake (Paola is 7 months pregnant!). I slept at their house the first night after Katie died, so there were a lot of memories there.

I realize that living in Haiti I have experienced a lot of tragedy. I know that this is a hard place, but at the same time I can really see the Lord moving here. Haiti is a very spiritual place indeed, but not a completely lost one. There are forces of darkness because of the voodoo, etc, but we know that Jesus has power over all of it! The believers here know it too, and they know who to thank for their blessings. I've been told that the night after the earthquake that you could hear Haitians singing and crying out to God. The director of the school told me that the people in the ravine near his home were singing "Count Your Blessings." What an amazing example of faith in the face of terrible tragedy.

Please keep praying...that is the number one need in Haiti right now!

Kim

PS--I will get pictures up asap. We borrowed a computer the first night in Jacmel and this morning I thought I loaded pictures on a jump drive so I could leave my laptop at the missionary's home we are staying at. Apparently I didn't...I'll get them posted soon!

Day 2 in Haiti

2010-01-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning to a great sunrise. We were in Jacmel waiting for our ride to Port-au-Prince. He showed up at 7 o’clock, just in time to grab a little breakfast before we were off. I forget our drivers name (he didn’t talk much at all) but our co-driver was a guy by the name of Junior (all I could think of in my mind was cool runnings). He was awesome and almost talked to us the whole ride in. Kim would ask Junior about certain places she remembers from living hear before. His answers were usually either “It’s flat” or “it is there but it is very badly damaged.” We talked about the future of Haiti and what his story was and we even talked about why the Canadians were so mad (we don’t know if they this is true but he said that the Americans kicked out the French and the Canadians and took over the Port-au-Prince airport and that’s why our Canadian neighbors didn’t give us a ride…there is no way we can confirm this but it made a lot of great jokes as the day went on). Junior lived in New York City during 9/11 and lived in Haiti during the Baby Doc’s departure, all the riots and coup d’etats, the school collapse, the bad hurricane season, and now the earthquake. Needless to say he had several amazing stories.

The ride over was …. I don’t know if you can put it into words. To me its like explaining to someone the Grand Canyon--how big and massive it is—but you are only able to show them a picture of it. They walk away thinking they know but you can only feel the “realness” of it when you are there in person. I had heard reports and seen pictures and video on TV but when it is something you hear and smell and breathe and it encompasses you it takes on a whole new form.

It is only maybe 25-35 miles (as the crow flies) to Port-au-Prince, but crows can fly over mountain ranges. We had to drive through one, which made the ride three hours long. The road was damaged the whole way, but as we got closer to PAP it worsened. In some parts there were hummer-sized boulders that had broken off the mountain and rolled down to block the road. In other parts there were mountain slides and some areas where the road had cracked and dropped up to 2 feet. Junior tells us that everyone knows this road will someday break off and slide down the mountain. It is the only (passable) road between Jacmel and PAP.

As we moved through the mountain you could see some houses reduced to rubble and some that were heavily damaged but miraculously still standing. Once we started to hit heavily populated places it was unbelievable. It was the Grand Canyon affect on me. About 60% of the houses were completely destroyed. Another 20-30% were damaged but still standing. We drove through Leogane, perhaps one of the hardest hit areas. It is just a few miles from Carrefour, the epicenter of the quake.

In my minds eye when I think of a building collapsing I think of bits or pieces falling or maybe half of it but that was not the case here (only a very small percent had minimal damage). The most common way I saw how building were crushed was this. Picture the ground and foundation then about 1 foot of rubble then the concrete roof on top of that. It seemed that the walls just disappeared and roofs where staying intact but had compressed everything below to the floor. You would see a 2-story building that was once 15-20 feet high; the roof would be intact only 3 feet high. The roofs are also not like ours. They are made of heavy concrete—perfect for hurricanes but deadly in an earthquake. Those that survived the collapse of their homes are now making tent communities. Anywhere there was a park, there is now a tent city. The Prime Minister’s home in Bourdon, the large parks in downtown, and the Petionville golf course now serve as refugee camps for the displaced.

I could go on a lot about all the disaster but we need to move on to the school. We arrived at the school and there we finished the day doing a several random errands for the staff. The first task that was given to me was to find a box of underwear….still haven’t found it. The army is also using half of the compound as a base so it looks very impressive. I believe there are over 250 medical personnel working out of the school. So much to say but we will cut it short there and say that even though it has been crazy it has also caused me to question God. Which is good. On the way down here I read A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis. In it he talks about our faith in God and how real it is to us. He likens it to rope--he says if someone asks you if you believe rope can tie a box shut, of course you would have faith in that rope. He goes on to say but suppose someone asks you to hang over a precipice? Would you have that same faith in that rope? I really believe as Christians we need to ask ourselves questions about our faith and what do we do with suffering when we are confronted with it. I don’t believe there is a set answer to this but I do believe I can point you in the right direction, and that direction is Jesus. I can never relate to these people and what they lived through. Right now as I speak I am in a house and the Haitians we are with won’t sleep in it even though there is room. They are sleeping outside for fear of another earthquake. The bible does say though that we do not have an unsympathetic high priest. Who better knew pain than Jesus? In the garden we see agony. On the cross we see questioning but through it all he didn’t sin and he ended victorious. That’s the key: he ended victorious (and it so happened that he got victory after death, is the same for some of us also? I believe so) Let us not forget we were promised hard times.

Let me leave on one more thought. I think back to my very good friend who said this in his testimony once. I find it comforting to me and a good reminder to keep things in perspective. He said, “God calls all of us to be a Bull that is ready; whether it is for the altar (laying our lives down) or the plow (a life long journey of ministry) is up to Him. So let me ask you, are you ready for either?

Johnny

Back in Haiti AE (After Earthquake)

2010-01-27T15:45:00.001-08:00

After 2 weeks of trying to get into Haiti, we finally made it. It wasn't without it's challenges (of course). Almost all of the supplies we brought to be loaded on the plane in Addison had to stay on the ground. Why? Well to make a long story short, the wonderful pilot that came to pick us up already had a plane FULL of med supplies bound for Haiti (including an X-Ray machine). We grabbed what we could and hopped on our PC-12 bound for Fort Lauderdale. The only seats on the plane were the co-pilot seat and one seat surrounded by cargo. Yep...I got shotgun :)

Our pilot was a wonderful 6'7" English man from Vancouver. He handed me maps and had me help navigate for him. I got to wear the headset and everything! Arriving in Fort Lauderdale was easy enough. We stayed with Johnny's friend (Uncle Tony) for the night and had a wonderful time trying to stay awake chatting.

This morning we left for Jacmel (yes...we were originally supposed to fly into Port-au-Prince, but things aren't super organized right now). Richard also assumed we'd be able to get a ride with the Canadians on their helicopter back into Port-au-Prince. More on that later...
I took the copilot seat again excited at my newfound understanding of aviation (very very limited understanding). Our pilot, Richard, told me once we got close to Jacmel we'd be flying VFR. Not sure what that stands for, but it basically means flying without relying on air traffic control to keep you from hitting other planes. Yes, that means I was looking out the window watching for anything that could pose a threat to our little PC-12. Sure enough, a huge cargo plane started turning towards us. I saved the day of course by pointing it out to Richard who promptly took evasive action. Eh, we dropped in altitude a bit. Nothing fancy.

When we arrived in Jacmel (after the sketchy air traffic control warned us of the 'dark spot' on the runway to avoid), there was no helicopter. Instead we were greeted by several Canadians in camouflage. Canadian flags were everywhere...I was definitely kicking myself for not wearing my Canada shirt Heather sent me. We asked if we could get on the helicopter coming to take the medical supplies. "EY, ah, we can only take Canadian citizens or people who need emergency medical care, EY". Yeah...neither qualification applied to us. So, we were stuck at the airport without a sure ride to Port-au-Prince (or place to stay in Jacmel). Dang Canadians.

After I asked everybody and their mom about getting a ride back to Port-au-Prince (and while Johnny juggled rocks), we basically found out we would not get a ride today. Sometimes American helicopters land, and maybe they'd be able to take us. But no one knew when or if they'd come back. Dang Americans. Oh...wait. I then went into asking about a place for us to stay tonight. Johnny guarded our stuff by giving stern looks at anyone who came close. He was also in a bad mood about the whole Canadian pride thing.

We found a place not too far from Jacmel and will stay here until tomorrow morning when our ride comes. The earthquake definitely affected Jacmel too; large parts of the downtown area collapsed. We passed a few homes that were destroyed along the way. I've been able to talk with a lot of people here who have told me their stories. Many have lost family members and friends, but still have a positive attitude about what the Lord is doing here. Please keep us in your prayers and check back tomorrow for another update!

Kim & Johnny

Gonaives, DC, National Palace...

2009-03-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

So the last time I 'blogged' was in January. That was 2 months ago. I'm good at updating facebook....so be sure to add me on there if you haven't yet. So what have I been up to the last few months? Well, I finished the school's yearbook with my students, visited Gonaives, took 6 students to Washington DC, took 21 students to visit the National Palace in Haiti, hung out with Johnny on his quick 3-day visit to Haiti, and recently had an all-night campout with 75 middle and high school students.

So here is a summary of everything from the past couple of months:

I went to Gonaives with Pam because her brother works with an NGO out there involved with disaster relief. Gonaives was severely damaged by the hurricanes this past fall and recovery has been slow. It was neat to be able to visit another part of Haiti and to see the efforts of so many people working to get the city back on its feet. We toured projects that the UN and IOM were working on and saw the damage left from the storms.

The trip to Washington DC was exciting because my students and I were able to get an inside look into the US government. We met with an official from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who talked with us about how the US is working with Haiti. The students learned a lot and were able to see how open our government really is. We visited museums, the Library of Congress, monuments, and were able to sit in on the House in session. Hopefully the students will learn from the experience and become more engaged in their own government.

In fact, I was able to take my government class to visit the National Palace (Haiti's White House). We took a tour of the palace and met with the Secretary General and learned a lot about how the Haitian government works. We also visited the national museum and saw some neat artifacts from Haiti's past. The students loved seeing the personal belongings of their revolutionary heroes. That was the first time most of them had ever seen the inside of the Palace or visited their nation's history.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Johnny was able to visit for a couple of days and see a quick glimpse of Haiti. He spoke at school chapel on Wednesday morning and had all of the kids rolling in the aisles. They loved his message and still ask me when he's coming back to speak in chapel again.

Lastly (for now), we just had an all-night camp out for the middle and high school students. We 'locked' them in on campus for the night. We played capture the flag, soccer, basketball, kick the can, and a variation of hide-and-go-seek. Each kid was to bring a can of soup or bag of Ramen, which we mixed all together in one huge pot. Our 'soup surprise' was actually very good!! We also built a campfire and made s'mores. We did have to explain s'mores-making again as last year there was some confusion as to whether the chocolate needed to be roasted with the marshmallows :)

There are a lot more activities coming up and I'm super excited about them. Currently, I am planning a girls' retreat for the young ladies in high school. My goal is that the seniors will mentor the younger girls into becoming strong leaders at the school next year. Keep that in your prayers as the details come together :)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back in Haiti after a nice, restful time back in Texas with the family. The first semester ended well, and I enjoyed spending two weeks in colder weather. Well, I enjoyed a couple of days of it...then I decided I needed my tropical heat back! School started up on Monday and it was great to see my students again. We swapped Christmas break stories and reviewed some from last semester. I also have a new roommate! Pam, a fellow teacher and friend that lived in the apartment next to mine, is now living with me. We are sharing a one-bedroom apartment and loving it! She and I get along great...well, at least for now! haha. We'll see how well we do after being together 24/7.

Today we had a picnic out at a family's house in Croix de Bouquets. We had great food, fellowship, and plenty of Guitar Hero World Tour! We also had the opportunity to visit Double Harvest, a ministry here in Haiti that is involved in conservation and reforestation projects. They grow all sorts of plants--from ornamental to vegetables and trees. Pam and I bought tomato plants and marigolds to plant in our little flower bed.

When we got back home, we decided we needed to go ahead and plant the tomatoes before they died. Without proper gardening tools, we had to improvise. Pam came out with a soup spoon and bread knife and started going to town in our less-than-fertile dirt pile. Our guard just watched and laughed. He then gave me this big stick, as if I knew what to do with it. I just gave him that "I'll stick with my silverware, thank you" look and kept digging. He broke the stick and started digging his own holes--twice as fast as me of course. I realized the broken stick was a much better gardening tool than knife and spoon, so together we all finished planting the tomatoes. Our cat, fiendish as he is, thought it was his job to dig up the tomatoes after we planted them. Needless to say he got squirted with water.

Overall it was a great week. The weather is beautiful here this time of year and our garden is off to a great start. Oh, and my new year's resolution is to update my blog more regularly :)

Happy New Year!

school collapse survivors

2008-12-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Miquette and a little boy from the school

Me with Danilove and her mother

A few weeks ago a school collapsed in Haiti, killing 90 and injuring a hundred more. I had the incredible opportunity to visit L'hopital General in Port-au-Prince with Miquette Denie and Denise Blesh, coworkers and friends of mine at QCS. Together we were able to bring bottles of water, stuffed animals, cookies, crackers and candy to the kids recovering from the collapse. We saw nearly 20 kids spread in 4 different rooms. Many of the children lost friends, teachers, and siblings in the collapse. Miquette was able to organize over a thousand dollars in donations for the families of the victims to help with hospital bills and, if necessary, funeral costs. We had the families come two weeks after our visit to the QCS campus. Here they received $500 HTD each (roughly $65 US). Many of the children were still recovering in the hospital. The families were thrilled to have help in the midst of such an awful tragedy.

The Aftermath Part III

2008-10-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

Better late than never...

When we were leaving Cabaret there was a young woman in the back of one of the trucks. One of the other missionaries asked why she was there and he was told that she needed a place to recuperate and eat good food. He said the orphanage was full so Pam and I offered our house. We found out that the night Cabaret flooded, she woke up and ran for her 3 month old baby. As she was trying to get to higher ground, the flood waters came. A banana tree washed by and knocked the baby out of her arms. She was swept down the raging waters and into a tree where she fought through the night. She was found the next morning in the tree, alive, but her baby was not.

She was 17 years old.

We brought her home and got her some soup. She had no energy and was bandaged from the many cuts on her body. We set up a bed and table for her in the living room. Later, however, we discovered she didn't just need a place to recuperate from the trauma, and it wasn't only food she needed. When we felt her forehead, we discovered that she was burning up. After fighting with her to let us take her temperature, we discovered she had a fever of 104.3. We immediately tried to get the sheets off of her and put a cold rag on her head. She refused. We tried giving her tylenol, but she refused. After nearly an hour of trying to calm her fears of foreign medicine and wet rags, she finally let us get her temperature down. Little did we know that the next few days of our lives would look just like this!

The poor girl was very, very sick. On top of losing her baby and getting stuck in a tree during a flood in the middle of the night, she was daily fighting a nasty cough and an even nastier fever. We took her to a clinic that diagnosed her with pneumonia and prescribed anibiotics among other things. Of course, more pills. From day 1 she refused to take any pills, so Pam and I had to smash the pills and put them in various beverages. One day it would be sprite, another day coke, and still others, just water. She was very, very picky and changed her mind constantly. We decided it was a combination of her age (teenage girl!), recent trauma (losing a baby), high fevers (delirious) and the foreign environment (different house with 2 foreigners taking care of her). After 4 days of battling with her to have her take her meds, eat healthy food, and bathe, we decided it was best for her to return to her family. We were able to get her back to her village where her sister took over nurse duties.

I am happy to report that a week after staying with us she was regaining her strength and doing much better. I am waiting to find out the most recent update as to her mental, emotional, and physical condition.

The Aftermath Part II

2008-09-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, nearly a week after Ike churned past Haiti, I was able to join some other QCS teachers on a trip to Cabaret, Haiti. Cabaret is a town not too far from us that flooded very quickly in a very short amount of time. Built next to a small river, the town was overtaken by a rush of water from the tree-stripped mountains. The house in the picture serves as an eerie reminder of the destructive forces of nature. On either side of what's left of this house were more houses and shops that were carved out of the earth by the raging waters.

Our team of 3 trucks full of volunteers, doctors, food, water, medicines, and clothing passed through many areas of flooding on the way to Cabaret. Very few places in the country were left untouched by the back-to-back storms this month. On our way out we had a UN escort. Once we got to their base--a few miles from our destination--we were surprised to see our small UN jeep escort upgrade to two large armored personnel carriers.

Along the way, one of the vehicles in our caravan had a flat tire and overheated. That's usually par for the course when going anywhere in Haiti. Soon after we all got out to stretch our legs, Pam and I became instant celebrities to the Jordanian peacekeepers escorting us. We had to pose with different soldiers in the group as they took turns taking pictures. As strange as the experience was, it still helped to lighten the mood before experiencing difficult sights ahead. Plus, we got to hold a big gun.

When we arrived in Desca, a small village just north of Cabaret, we were amazed by how much water was still rushing through. A stream that is easily crossed had cut a huge path through the middle of the village. Even more difficult is the fact that the waters started to rise at 2am-- without any warning.

We arrived at a point where our tank escorts could not squeeze through. After our nice upgrade, they were forced to back up and turn around to find smaller vehicles to take us the rest of the way. We weren't allowed to begin food distribution until all of the caravan made it safely to the distribution point.

Finally we were able to organize the families of victims to hand out food, water, and clothing. We also had a clinic with two doctors examining those wounded or sick from the storms. Lastly, Pam and I were documenting the many school children who would now need sponsorship.

Sadly, about 20% of the children from the school were killed in the flood.

When we left that day we were all stunned by the gravity of the situation. At the same time, however, it was so amazing to be able to contribute in some small way to help a community get back on its feet. A lot of media attention is focused on Gonaives, and rightly so. But the smaller communities affected are sometimes forgotten by the rest of the world. I have been so encouraged by the number of people who heard about the devastation here and were ready and willing to help. Haiti is a very small country, but there are a lot of very needy people here. The poorest are always the most affected by disasters such as these.

The story doesn't end here...check back soon for part III!

The aftermath Part I

2008-09-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here in Port-au-Prince, we were largely spared the worst of all of the storms. In my neighborhood, we sustained some strong winds and rain, but no major damage. The rest of the country was not as lucky. Most of the reports I've received are terrible. Here is a recap of the aftermath of the storms:

Hanna flooded Gonaives, an area that was also badly flooded in 2004. Over 3,000 people died then, and the city still was not ready for another heavy storm. This year less people died but thousands were still left homeless. Two weeks ago we got word that 12 orphans and their caregivers were rescued off a roof and brought here to Delmas. At midnight the water came rushing into their orphanage, leaving them only enough time to get to the roof with a day and a half's worth of food. They were there 3 days before a pastor from Port-au-Prince was able to get to them. Once rescued, they weren't able to bring anything but the clothes on their backs, which, for most, were soiled pajamas that barely protected them from the wind and rain. Several teachers from QCS and I were able to meet the kids and find out their specific needs. We went to the market to buy basic groceries, arranged for a doctor to see the sick, and brought over some much-needed clothing. We have also brought the children to the soccer field on our school campus to play games with the students. What an incredible experience to see two worlds--the wealthy students of QCS and the poor orphans of Gonaives--come together in such a difficult time.

May the Lord bless these relationships to brighten Haiti's future!

The worst flood

2008-09-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

I got a text message this morning from a fellow teacher informing me the Gonaives was flooding. Hurricane Jean drenched Gonaives in 2004, killing thousands unable to escape the rising waters. Now it is happening again, and what's worse is that no one expected it! Hanna was projected to pass far north of us and head for Florida. Eerily enough it stopped north of Haiti and started heading directly south towards us. The outer bands have been drenching Haiti all day. The storm is still projected to head north, but it hasn't changed directions yet. My area is still safe--we've had rain and strong winds on and off all day.

Please pray for Haiti...this has been the hardest hurricane season yet! In three weeks we've had Fay, Gustav, and now Hanna. There are 2 more storms forming in the Atlantic as well--Ike and Josephine--and they are likely to pass close enough to Haiti to continue the pattern of flooding.

Tropical Storm Gustav

2008-08-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well it has only been a week since Fay hit Haiti, and already there is the threat of another tropical storm. Just south of Haiti is Gustav, the ugly younger brother of Fay, who has targeted Haiti's southern peninsula. Like the typical younger brother vying for attention, Gustav is following closely to Fay's path. That means we are under a hurricane warning until Wednesday.

For those of us up the hill from Port-au-Prince, the risk is only that we will see some strong winds and thunderstorms. But for the southern part of Haiti the risk is much greater. They haven't even recovered completely from last year's hurricanes and storms, let alone from Fay's damage last week.

If that wasn't enough, food prices are going up again and there are threats of protesting. Some of our students weren't at school today because the overall security situation is not that great.

Please keep Haiti in your prayers as we get ready for more storms and protesting.

Tropical Storm Fay

2008-08-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

I just received this email from a family that works in Deye Mon, Haiti in the south. Their area is usually the hardest hit during hurricane season. Please pray for the people affected by the storm's damage, which long outlasts the storm's passing:

Friday afternoon David realized that Storm Fay was heading to Haiti. He called Dinel (assistant mission director) to tell him to warn everyone. Dinel had not heard anything about the storm. Dinel and his wife just returned from harvesting their corn. After Dinel heard from David he went back to continue his garden work, storms destroy gardens.

Sunday morning it was still raining on the mountain. Madam Dinel reported to David that gardens and animals were lost. A large cargo truck from Jeremie was washed down the Ice River, killing 37 people. The river is a 45 minute drive from our mission. When we are out of water David goes there to fill out water barrels.

You may remember that last year the hunger was worse than ever due to gardens and animals being destroyed, by storms, in October and December.

From January to May we added 100 severely malnourished children to the nutritional program. When gardens are lost hunger increases. Starvation multiplies.

We will be returning to Haiti on August 28. Please pray that God will give us wisdom as we return to this situation.

Partners for Haiti,

David and RaeLeen

My trip to Nigeria (photos coming soon!)

2008-07-29T21:48:00.001-07:00

I first found about the trip to Nigeria last year. I was so excited to have the opportunity to not only visit another country and culture but to also meet people who had the same heart and vision for Nigeria that I have for Haiti. I wasn't sure how I was going to raise enough support to continue my ministry in Haiti AND travel to Nigeria, but I knew that God would provide. I started working at an American school in Port-au-Prince earning a small monthly stipend to help supplement my support. Earlier this summer I found out that my trip was going to be paid for, and I was amazed at how God did indeed provide the means for me to travel! I could only imagine what He would teach me while I was there.

When I arrived in Nigeria, I was surprised at how similar to Haiti it was. Once we left Abuja the similarities became more evident. As we drove through the villages, I loved seeing the people smiling and waving at us to welcome us to their country. When we arrived at the orphanage, I was struck by how excited the kids were to see the families that had visited them in the past.

I had the opportunity to play, dance, and sing with the kids while I was there. One night a little girl named Oma (Igala for 'glory') fell asleep in my lap. It was so heartbreaking to know that most children have laps to fall asleep on whenever they want. The children at MOM don't have that comfort available to them, so they take advantage of it when it's there. When I was holding her that night I was reminded of the call that God has given all of us: to love the orphans and widows in their time of need. It also reminded me of why I am in Haiti. I want to be a source of comfort and security for the orphaned, abandoned, and neglected children of Haiti. I want to direct them to the ultimate source of comfort and security found only in the arms of Christ.

Over the course of the week I served in the pharmacy, an experience that both encouraged and humbled me. I was encouraged because I felt like even though I have little medical training I was able to be used in the clinic. The other team members and I filled prescription after prescription after prescription, and learned more about milligrams and bad handwriting than we ever thought possible! It humbled me to serve behind the scenes like that. Our pharmacy team worked really hard for the hundreds of people waiting for their medications, knowing we probably wouldn't be seen or thanked by most of them!

Finally, I am so thankful for the opportunity to meet with Chrystal and Daniel. I loved learning from Daniel and swapping missionary stories with Chrystal. Hearing from sisters in Christ is wonderful, especially sisters on the mission field! I know the Lord will honor those relationships and use them to better my ministry in Haiti.

Visiting Nigeria made me miss Haiti. I miss the people, the language, even the traffic! What better confirmation than missing even the most difficult aspects of the mission field! As my furlough draws to a close, I am more than ready to head back to Haiti. I thank Zoya for the incredible opportunity to travel to Nigeria and reach another people group for Christ. It's amazing how God works things out for his Oma (glory)!

My new blog!

2008-07-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

After many months, I have finally given in to the world of the blog. I will be updating this very soon so check back then!