January 24, 2010

Hi Everyone,

Things are happening so quickly in Haiti that everything here is a race against time.  After almost two weeks, the Haitian government has ceased efforts in the search for survivors, with 150,000 buried in mass graves and an unknown number lost or buried privately.  There will still be no way for months to come to determine an accurate figure for the dead.  Whatever figure the government arrives at, there will be so many others that die in weeks and months to come from injuries they received in the quake.  Others will undoubtedly die from the inevitability of disease that follows a tragedy of this proportion.

The first wave of doctors that Aslan is working to bring into Haiti arrives this Friday.  Some of you know our friends, Luberto and Nadaleth Velez, who worked in Ouanaminthe for 18 months.  Dr. Juan Padilla, a friend of Luberto’s and ours is arranging for 5 teams of 20 doctors, nurses and medical personnel to begin coming to the hospital in Fort Liberte beginning this coming Friday.  Each week, a new group of 20 will arrive to replace the others.  This is a massive effort on Juan’s part, and we are pleased to be a part of it.  Luberto is helping coordinate the effort from Puerto Rico, and Joseph Israel, the main coordinator of all of Aslan’s efforts in Haiti, is working with the mayors of Fort Liberte, Ouanaminthe and Cap-Haitien to insure that this massive relief effort works smoothly.  Wounded earthquake victims from Port-au-Prince, who are currently in the hospital in Cap, will be brought to Fort Liberte (about 40 miles) to be treated by our doctors.  Colleen Ward-Mujica, one of Lynn Ann’s and my dearest friends on earth, is coming on Saturday for a week.  Colleen lived in Haiti for 6 months and is fluent in Kreyol.  She is completing her degree as a Nurse Practitioner, and is such a gifted and compassionate person. Please pray for Juan and all his team, and for Colleen, that this will work quickly and with a minimum of problems.  So many things can go wrong here.

Meanwhile, Joseph will be purchasing quite a lot of cement and iron to store so that we can complete the block work on the fence across the front of our property in L’Acajou in February and March.  Two church teams will be joining us to help with this project.  Because so many of the rice depots in Ouanaminthe are low on rice or completely empty, we are also purchasing as much rice as possible to feed our Aslan families in Ouananaminthe and L’Acajou.  Tomorrow I am sending Bob Michel, one of our students, to Port-au-Prince to rescue his father and several family members.  Bob lost two sisters (both Psychologists) and a brother (a Political Science major in his senior year) in the quake.  I am also sending Manigat Panel, a student we are supporting in school at the University of Port-au-Prince, to Port-au-Prince to see if his books and papers survived the quake.  He is a senior working on his thesis, and fortunately his supervising professor lived through the devastation.  Unfortunately, many of his classmates and other teachers died.  Miraculously, Panel was waiting for me in Ouanaminthe before returning to school.  We exchanged emails the day before he was to return to Port-au-Prince, where he would undoubtedly have died with his fellow classmates in their small apartment that was completely destroyed.  I fear that his books and papers are demolished, but he still must return to be sure.  Although books and papers are so minor in comparison with human lives, this still serves as an example of how the loss goes far beyond just lives.  Can you imagine working in a university for 4 years, and all your research, papers and books being gone in an instant?  If they are destroyed as I suspect, I have no idea how long it will take for him to complete his degree.

On a much more serious note than this, there is a widespread call for psychologists and psychiatrists to help the survivors.  So many people lie wounded in hospital beds in shock.  Many are missing limbs.  Others lay for days waiting to be pulled from the rubble, aside dead or dying family members.  The horror will stay with them for the rest of their lives; and without help with their emotions, they will find no hope or comfort in their grief.

I must go for now, but I want to leave you with the tiniest ray of hope that I witnessed first-hand yesterday.  Joseph took Stephen Seymour and me to a small village called Dilaire.  There is a marvelous organization from Ireland called Haven Partnership that has built 400 homes there for the poorest of the poor.  All the small duplexes have three rooms plus a flush toilet, shower, sink, electricity and small outside room for cooking.  I have never seen this kind of hope for the people of Haiti!  Each family is required to pay 100 gourde per month (about $2.50/month U.S.) for 5 years for rent.  If they are faithful to make their payments and care properly for their home and for the homes of everyone in the village, they are given a deed for the property at the end of the 5 years.  What a model and example for rebuilding throughout the earthquake stricken area and around the rest of the country.  I’ll send pictures of this soon.

Much love to you all.  Many thanks to all of you for your prayers and for the generosity of those of you who have contributed to our Emergency Fund For Haiti.  It is a minor thing to ask for your prayers for my personal strength, and I hesitate to even mention it.  I do, however, want to remain well and strong.  There is so much to be done.

Craig

P.S. Below is a picture I took of a little one I met in the hospital in Cap-Haitien whose leg was badly injured in the earthquake.

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