Over 217,000 families and friends are mourning their lost loved ones. We must remember that God did not abandon us. He is here with us and he wants our hearts.
A lady told us that the house where she worked on the day of the earthquake collapsed on her. She was captive under the rubble for fifteen hours, her body was folded in two and her right arm was hooked on some debris. After every aftershock, she thought she would fall deeper. The night before, she had a dream. In her dream, she saw a person who held her by the waist and pushed her to fall forward. And she saw a valley of straw hats, representing the valley of death. But all of a sudden, a supernatural power helped her to straighten in a sitting position, and the dream vanished. Her brother with some friends went to her rescue by breaking the cement roof that covered her. They also cut the metal bar that kept her captive. When she came out, everybody believed it was a miracle.
Four weeks after the disaster, a man was found under the rubble of a market. How did he survive? He said that a man wearing a white coat would bring him water from time to time. Several bodies have been found, and teams work to clean the streets from the rubble. Michel said that downtown many buildings have collapsed and that the smell of death is still in the air.
According to Radio Kiskeya, the number of casualties is estimated at 217,000. No one can estimate how many people have disappeared. Over 300,000 people are wounded, of which 4,000 are amputees, and 1,3 million people have been displaced.
The rainy season is coming. How will the parents protect their children from the heavy rains with a bed sheet as a roof? CRI (Crisis Response International) gave us food, medication and fifty tents that can house ten to twelve people each. People sleep in the streets, parks, gardens and parking lots.
Our plan:
1- Provide shelters to the disaster’s victims, such as tents and tarps.
2- Fix the houses that can be fixed and rebuild those which have collapsed.
3- Build a school at our new site by the month of September. In Port-au-Prince, only a few schools are presently functioning. 75% of the schools are destroyed.
As funds come through ERDO, we will continue to provide food, clothing, and medical care and start rebuilding and fixing houses.
Tents, for the homeless, stand up like igloos under the tropical sun.
Dr Ed Amos seeing patients at a camp site where 50,000
disaster victims live.
Yesterday we discovered many camps for the disaster’s victims at about 15 blocks away from our home. One of them was hosting 15,000 to 20,000 people on a golf course between Delmas 40B and Delmas 48. They sleep outside. The American soldiers are there. They’re offering food, water as well as treating the wounded.
On Wednesday, we will be receiving a medical team made of 20 doctors, surgeons, and nurses as well as ERDO staff. They will be coming in through the Dominican Republic, since all international flights have been cancelled in Haiti. They will bring food for them, for us, and for the Haitians so we can help them. Stores are closed for fear of looting by the starved population. We found water to drink and to shower.
We sleep inside the house, on the first floor close to the outside door. It was so hard for me to fall asleep for fear of another earthquake. However, we think the worst is behind us as far as earthquakes go. The journalists from Paris that sleep at our place sleep outside. It is their choice. People sleep on the streets and in yards far from every building or concrete walls. Armed and unarmed thieves are roaming through the streets in search for food and valuables they could sale. We hear a lot of gun shots throughout the night and because one of our yard’s walls has fallen, we are not safe. The wall that felt, is not the one that connects to the street but to our neighbours’ yard. His yard is also surrounded by a wall. Last night the dogs were constantly barking. Our night guard thought we were getting attacked so he prepared to shoot. We don’t know what was going on. Sleeping outside makes us an easy target for thieves and gun shots, while sleeping inside makes us a target for wall collapses if there’s an earthquake during the night. Our nights are short and very agitated. The thieves that have stolen are being shot. It’s the law of the jungle.
ERDO is sending a substantial amount of funds to assist the refugees. If you wish to bring a contribution, please send you donations to ERDO at PAOC and inform us when you do so. Thanks for your financial gifts.
The third floor of the Pierre Larousse school (pictured to the right), where approximately 400 sponsored children attend, was destroyed. As many schools and colleges no longer exist, the school year may be cancelled.
Bob Thornley, our project manager, returned to Haiti on November 3rd. A donor from Ontario has given us a big amount of money which is allowing us to continue working on the first Phase of our building project.
Haiti Ministries is a Christian organization that has been working in Haiti since 1996. Our goal is to bring the youth of Haiti into a relationship with God.
Michel & Louise Charbonneau are the missionaries who started the ministry. They lead the church, prison ministry, feeding program, clinic and child sponsoring program.
