Jean-Benoît, one of our preachers, told us what happened on January 12th. “I was sitting in 
a taptap (a local transportation) with my wife Mona. Suddenly, the taptap starting jumping in the air and falling back to the ground like a wild horse. At first I thought a vehicle had hit us. But someone sitting with us yelled: ”earthquake!” When all the shaking stopped, everyone got off. Mona and I walked for an hour and a half to get back home. The road was covered with fragments of everything that had collapsed and the air was filled with thick darkness. While we were moving through this apocalyptic scene, we could see houses collapsing, heads and torn arms being strewn over the street. It was horrible!”
The medical teams are working around the clock to take care of the sick and wounded. There are three million inhabitants in Port-au-Prince. It is estimated that 200,000 have disappeared which is one person out of fifteen.
Today, local banks and many stores have re-opened their doors, which allowed us to buy food. At this point, we are feeding our leaders and their families, as well as the kids and we offer medical help to the needy. Please pray for our security. The most urgent need is to help rebuild destroyed or cracked houses, so that the families can go back to living indoors before rainy season that should be starting at the beginning of March.
Sunday we held two meetings on the street because the wall behind our pulpit has been shaken up by the earthquake. Our youth is tearing it down so we can rebuild it. 242 people attended our 
youth meeting and 177 came to the kids’ service. On Friday, 750 children and youth came to our service.
Many who are sponsoring a child through Child Care Plus have been asking if their child is still alive. Three factors are hindering us from determining who is alive and who isn’t. First of all, many families have fled to the countryside, secondly some are living in the camps for the disaster stricken, and finally so many houses are distroyed or their walls are cracked. Our leaders will start visiting the people of our church to do a survey. They want to find out who is alive, who is injured, whose homes collapsed and whose homes need repairs. Please be patient with us.
We are serving meals daily. We also have to rebuild two walls that are surrounding our yard as well as a wall at the new church building that all fell during the earthquake.
We are shaken up emotionally, but we are doing well. Now is the time to rebuild.
Michel and Louise
P.S. Some of the pictures have a copyright on it. You may not use them for commercial purpose without contacting the author.
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.
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.
