Hello all:

This Sat. evening my thought drift to Hamilton where my family and a number of good friends and the Board of the Canadian Friends of Hopital Albert Schweitzer ( my former employer in Haiti) are putting on a huge fund raising dinner. This year because of the attention due to the earthquake they sold over 500 tickets.......I know it will be a busy evening for all, but the effort is always worth it when you know where the money goes. We are so blessed to having so many people working for Haiti. Speaking of which we have your share too as I welcomed Julie Hupp's team from Joyful Spirit Lutheran Church from Bollingbrook, Ill this evening.

We got to the airport extra early to get a parking spot..and a good thing too as I lost all of the oil in my car due to it all shooting up the little pipe where the gauge is that you check the oil level.. For some reason it was loose and the hot oil went spewing out all over everywhere. Joseph came to the rescue and we were able to find more oil nearby to fill it up again. Things were not so harry this time getting out of the airport but it was a madhouse around the truck and pickup as fellow were fighting over putting the bags in the truck. I had organized 4 fellows and there must have been at least ten holding their hands out for money. I finally got some order that I could pay the four I had organized and then had to just jump in the car to get away from the rest of them. I paid two guys from the window and even that was something as a so many hands appeared in the crack of the window. Then we were "outta there".

It has been a long day for the group who have been up since 2:00 AM. We enjoyed a quick dinner and now everyone is relaxing and heading to the shower or their bed. Unfortunately one of their members took ill at the Ft Lauderdale airport and had to be taken to the hospital there. He was doing fine but everyone felt it was best that he get attended to there instead of coming on to Haiti....a wise decision for sure!

On the news today:
. Haiti doesn't get a break...Les Cayes a large town on the south coast wasn't affacted by the earthquake but now is floating in water after two days of rain. The main part of town is inundated which included the local is ...where I had a broken wrist set several years ago. In PAP it has been cloudy and overcast.....our area didn't get rain but I know it did in othe sections of town.
. The International Organisation for Migration is in the process of a pilot program doing census intake at the camps. They did two days worth of work at the camp in the Center of Town by the palace. Thus far they have regisered 4,700 FAMILIES......so if each family has an average of 5 people that means 20,000 people + are camped out in that parc area......talk about a press of humanity.

We have a full day planned for tomorrow so I wil say tira for this evening and go to attend to a few items to get ready for the day.....one of them being putting together a nice fresh fruit salad.......mangoes, papaya, pineapple. bananas, mandarins etc.......are your mouths watering yet?

Have a good rest of the day
Debbie

Feb 24, 7:00 pm Hi Folks: A full and productive day today: changing money, grocery shopping, dropping of medications at FFTP and checking on Jean D's FFTP house to be built, making lunch reservations for the upcoming Mission team, visit to the MSPP office, stop at LCJ to finalize mission team work and back to HH for paper and finance work and OF COURSE correspondence!

Each day I go out I see signs of progress being made with the relief efforts.....another camp of ramshackle lodgings has been switched to proper tents (the one by the airport), land is being cleared at Santo 17 for another camp or parc communautaire as they are being called here. There is a private boys school with a large piece of property that has been turned into a parc comm. Joseph was telling me that the Minister of Ed'n is planning to put 160 large tents on the grounds and it will be used as a central school to send kids to. The only problem now is that according to what Joseph has heard all of the people who have settled on those grounds refuse to leave unless the city hall folks find them a piece of property that is just as nice as this one for their lodgings.....and the fun begins!

The team that was just here brought one tent with them and I think I mentioned already that it was given to Joseph since he was driving them around and I knew for sure he was living on the streets with little protection. He was telling me today that the neighbours in his area are giving him a hard time because he has a tent and they don't. They felt that whoever gave him a tent must have more and that he should have fought harder to get more for to give to them. With the nice tarp he got as well..they really were at him. He said some people were even refusing to talk to him! ....can you imagine? Here you are thinking you are doing something nice for someone and sadly at the same time it turns out to cause them grief! He did appease several folks as he made them a gift of the large piece of plastic sheeting that he had first recieved. Sadly it ust goes to show once again how careful one has to be when handing out gifts of any kind.

That is pretty much it for today...wishing you all a pleasant evening.
Debbie

Hello all:
Peace and quiet reign! The team should have arrived at their homes by now and I am sure they are already sharing stories of their adventures in Haiti. Probably one of the first stories will be about the after shocks they experienced last night....2 around 1:30 AM. Me....I was sleeping like a log and didn't feel a thing. Andy even came knocking on my door to see if I was all right. He must have knocked very lightly as I didn't hear a thing either. This AM when he was telling me all of this he said it was probably just as well as all of the fellows had scurried out of their rooms in their skivvies..what a site that must have made!!!

Sadly these rather large tremblings (4.7) caused a lot of panic among folks around PAP. Some people had decided to enter their houses for sleeping and they raced outside with great fear. It was quite the talk with everyone today and the radio stations had call in shows asking people about their experiences. Jean told me one of his friends called him just after the action took place and said he had had it and was heading to his hometown of Jeremie. I imagine there will be others like that too.

Things were relatively calm as we dropped the gang off at the airport. The airport admin. had already made some changes with the logistics and it helped out with the traffic circulation around the airport...still a little slow but nothing like the othe day. They left with a bit more luggage than they anticipated as they helped to get luggage left behind by the "earthquake team" one step closer to home. Andy's folks go back and forth to Pennsylvania so for a while they will play mules carting the pieces of luggage back to their owners. They also took items that were for Larry and Margaret.

I did some banking business on my way home from the airport and then headed back to Hope House. Since then I have alternated between sitting at the computer and doing odd jobs with the staff. Tomorrow we will start preparing for the team from Joyfull Spirit Lutheran Church who will arrive on Saturday from Bollingbrook, Ill, as well as start getting is materials to fix the next portion of the wall. Jorel will start next week with getting the next stage of the work on the new depot underway.

Photos:
AH....my nice neat and tidy depot work area...just one of the "miracles" the Men of Fire worked.
What a shock I just got when I looked at the wall clock and saw it was already going on for 7 PM.....I think it is time for a new watch....mine reads 5:25.

tira for now......Debbie

Hi all:

As I write the team members are scurrying around to get last minute items and chores taken care of before they head out tomorrow AM. It was a very packed day. Jorel arrived at Hope House early and had the team enthralled as he shared thoughts about Haiti today, after the earthquake and what may come to pass in the future and all related to his faith. Then we headed out to Little Children of Jesus. Mme Passe standing in for Gladys gave us a wonderful and then the highlight of the day..joining Jorel for music hour. What a site it was to see these big "hulking" guys up singing and dancing with the kids! I know it was a very moving time for them as they interacted with the children.

Next stop was the craft shops in Croix des Bouquets to see the iron workers. One of the young fellows I see regulary latched on to me ....thankfully because he helped me find the owner of the one shop I needed access to so Andy could get the crosses he was looking for. He told me that all of the artisans faired okay during the earthquake...very little damage and no loss of life.

Returning home we wended our way through the inner streets of the Santo area, in order to take Dumas the tarp we had for him, since a miscount meant he missed out on Sunday when we took some to the staff at the school.

Last stop was at Marie's for a 10 minute visit which lasted more than an hour as some of the fellows helped to rig up the new tarp we gave her along with one she had so that the girls would be better protected from the rain. They did a top notch job and Marie was quite pleased with the results. Since all of the guys couln't help with the "roofing" the others sang and played with the younger girls. Again it certainly touched their hearts in a much bigger way than they ever anticipated.

It was quarter to five by time we rolled into Hope House and the fellows wolfed down the grilled cheese sandwiches that were prepared for them. It wasn't much but at least it filled the gap a bit before I served them dinner. I felt terrible because with everything going on I forgot to arrange for lunch for the house staff and no one called me to ask about it so they didn't get any lunch either. By time I realized what I had done, it was too late to cook anything so they too ate a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

The highlight of my day was sharing devotional time with my "Men of Fire" team after dinner. To be with these 11 men as they lifted up their voices with a song of praise was very moving......I felt honoured and privileged to be a part of this special time they spent together. It was an evening I will not soon forget.

One story I forgot to relate the other day was in regards to a donation of $42.00 we recieved. The gift was handed to me by Rick and it was from two 11 girls, one of whom was the daughter of a team member who unfortunately at the last moment was unable to come. Gracie and her friend Skylar had a lemonade stand and their donation was the proceeds from that endeavor. Another donation of $47.00 was recieved from Matt and Alexis Hafer (11 & 7 respectively) who raided their piggie banks and passed another one around at several community events they attended. Donations of all sorts are without doubt VERY appreciated but recieving them from young children such as these is extra special.......thanks kids!!

We had two aftershocks today..one around 4:30 AM and the other around 8:30. I slept through the first one but it had Andy up and rushing to get his pants on to get outside. None of us felt the one at 8:30.

The following is news gathered by a friend of mine:

General news... Of course the biggest need right now is to provide protection from the rains. It has rained here almost every night this week. As one of our employees said, he had had to 'domi kanpe', meaning he had to find a way to sleep in his tent so as to minimize getting wet. The Shelter Cluster estimates that each family should have two tarps or a tent. They are still advocating for tarps over tents, though, they believe that they will serve the people better in the long term.
To date over 93,000 tarps have been distributed. If that is two per family, then about 232,000 people now have some rain protection. Also about 17,000 family-sized tents have been given out. As I go by the two main camps on my way to work, most do have tarps now. The goal is that every family will have sufficient coverage by 1 May. Also the Government of Haïti has made a plea for families to host others without shelter. Families continue to leave PAP for the provinces, and some have even left the camps--though they may just be migrating from one to another.
Sanitation at the camps is still a major issue. Slowly organizations are chipping away at the problem by providing more and more toilets; but at present only about 12% of the real need has been met.
The Shelter Cluster has also begun to propose designs for the temporary shelters that should last for up to 3 years. They expect that 120,000 shelter kits will be distributed. They are also hopeful to speed up debris removal so as to provide more room for displaced families and proper shelters.
I personally would like to see some areas receive needed materials to rebuild their homes instead; but that is adventuresome. The transitional homes are expected to cost $1,000-$1,500 each, compared to the price of a single home of somewhere between $4,000-$5,000. Again, there will be many land issues to settle before home reconstruction can begin.
The airport is now functioning fairly normally and commercial flights began this week! It appears that landing slots for humanitarian shipments are now readily available. Also, the floating docks at the port have begun to facilitate sea freight--now up to over 500 containers disembarked per day. That's an important and good development!
Food prices are high, some items as high as 50% more than before the earthquake. But with the food distributions the last few weeks and the continued opening of the airport and sea deliveries, some have begun to drop slightly. Over 3 million persons have received at least one food ration.
The Haitian Government has officially begun a Post Disaster Needs Assessment of the earthquake affected areas to look at sanitation, food security, water, debris management and removal and transitional shelters. This will form the basis of the early recovery phase activities. They hope to have results in time for the large donor's conference at the end of March.
UNICEF and other groups are providing some tents where children can gather and perhaps will return to school. They are looking at an accelerated program to permit children to finish classes at the same time as their peers in other areas of the country. Hopefully their analyses will show a way to do this for many of the children. They really, really need to get back to a routine, it will help them to feel more secure.

Finally: we unfortunately have had to change our idea about opening school on March 1. Clovis was all set to do it, and had psyched up the teachers and notified the students. However, after hearing reports from the Ministry of Ed'n on the radio forbidding any school director from opening his/her school, Clovis did a little more checking around and regretabbly had to change his decision. One school up in the Kenscoff region that did not recieve any damage decided to open up but were immediately shut down by inspectors from the Ministry...so now we sit and wait for the proper authorization.

Photos: Paul and the roof in progress
The "roofing team" and Marie under the finished product.

I can't believe it is after midnight as I close this off....where did the day go??

good night all
Debbie

February 21, 2010

11:00 pm Hi folks: I am getting a late start to this days report due to continuing Internet challenges caused by all of the extra gadgets and computer wear being used by my guests. I am feeling lucky that I have this little reprieve in order to get the message to you.

Pancakes got the fellows stoked up for their days activities..the first one of them being loading up the truck with the tarps and plastic sheeting we were handing out to the school support staff after church today. We were all loaded up and on the road by just after 8:30....a little early for church but we had filming to do and orientation to give as all of the members of the team, except one are newcomers to Haiti. Joseph was zipping along but I asked him to slow down a little so that pictures and filming along the route could take place. He slowed down all right....we then crawled the rest of the way to the school.

The church service for the fellows was as touching for them as it had been for Nick and John two weeks ago. I also was very moved as I listened to their version of Amazing Grace.....it gave me goosebumps....they didn't tell me they had some singers in the group.

The staff were so appreciative of the tarps and sheeting that they distributed. To all who participated in making this gift possible I send a great BIG thank you! Knowing the comfort that those tarps will bring to they and their families is also a comfort to me.

After church we did a little circuit tour of a section of PAP. I know the team was anxious to see some of the ravages of the earthquake but I was also wanting to be sensitive to our Haitian brothers and sisters and not just have us traveling around as a bunch of blanc tourists. I am pleased with how the day went and everyone was quite respectful of the situation. Seeing the real thing with your own eyes, does make the reality of it all sink in a bit deeper and I know all of them were very affected by what they saw today. Jorel and Elysee two of the church school leaders joined us for lunch at Epi Dor a local bakery and fast food restaurant.

The Scouts from Todd's church donated a tent and it was decided to give it to Joseph as a "tip" for the driving he has been doing for the team. He and his family have been living under a tree and have only been able to recuperate very limited items from the rooms they rented. I think he was nearly in tears as he was recieving the gift and saying his thanks to Todd. He left one VERY HAPPY man knowing that he would be better able to provide for his family having this tent in hand.

I will have a picture of that presentation for you tomorrow. Tonight you get a picture of me happy as a clam, BBQing our dinner hot dogs on the newly fixed up and repaired BBQ. The second picture is of the fellows singing Amazing Grace at the chapel.



and there you have it for another day.

Debbie

Hello all: Has this team only been here 1 day!!!......with the amt they have achieved it feels like it could be a week or more. It is incredible what they have achieved: ceiling lights working and tiles replaced, hardware supplies and tools all sorted out and organized, my office cleaned up, shelves repaired, new shelves set up, the damaged wall to the depot taken down..so it wouldn't fall down and hurt anyone; my toilet fixed, the BBQ fixed (yahoo 'BBQ hot dogs for dinner tomorow). The biggest part though was taking down the damaged part of the roof and shoring up the part that is still standing. They worked HARD. I was so busy answering to calls of "Debbie" from various directions and doing some housekeeping myself that I didn't get to take any pictures today of the busy beaves, except one. They say too many cooks spoil the broth but the fellows all helping with the roof, seemed to make it work....as you will see with my one loan picture. I asked Christophe to come today and he was also a big help to the team.

Paul had the most frustrating day as he tried to deal with the Internet service which came to a halt last night and wasn't working today. Finally after a call to Ron in Washington, to get Darrell's phone number in Florida we were able to make progress. Paul called Darrell and I managed to find a phone number for Hope House ( which I accidently came across two days ago). That information helped out when Darrell managed to set up a three way conversation between Paul on his fancy cell phone, himself and a Hughesnet Tech support person in India......isn't that just incredible when you think about it!!!....modern technology does reduce the size of this world that is for sure.
At any rate they found out the problem was these guys coming with all of their fancy phones, computers, skype etc ended up exceeding our 24 limit of gigabytes and we were "cut off". Luckily we get one free reset every month, so that is why I am now able to send this message out to you.

Andy's big experience was going "shopping" with Jean for hardware supplies, soft drinks and other refreshments and changing money to boot. He got to see how the system works and the many different stops that one has to make to get everything you want.

All in all it was a very productive day....I think the fellow are pleased with the accomplishments...I can tell you I DEFINATELY am!

and that my friends is it for this fine Saturday evening....wishing you all blessings for the day.

Debbie