Haiti Relief Efforts: Update #6

To the Bay Area Christian Church,

Dear brothers and sisters,

In the words of the apostle Paul let me say to you that “…you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.” 2 Corinthians 8:10.

On behalf of the disciples in Haiti, I thank you for the love and compassion you have shown them in their time of need.

Dr. Mark Ottenweller and I were in Haiti this past week.  We travel from the U.S via the Dominican Republic-where the disciples offered tremendous help to get us to Haiti.  We brought with us food, water and medicine in considerable quantities for the victims of the Earthquake.  Here is a report of what we were able to accomplish:

1. Establish contact with the church.

2. Provide supplies

3. Make an assessment of what the needs, immediate, midterm and long term are.

4. Help develop a plan of action-for the present and the future- that can be implemented immediately.

1        Establish Contact With the Church:

·         As you all know, in the first hours and days that followed the Earthquake in Port-au-Prince the lack of communication threatened to paralyze all our efforts to bring relief to Haiti.  Information came trickling in and was insufficient to help us understand the priorities when it came to the needs and the logistics to meet them.  Travelling to PAP gave us the information we needed to help put our relief operation together

·         We also were able to make contact with PIH (Partners in Health and other organizations on the ground already doing something in Haiti.)

2        Provide Supplies:

·         Food, water and medicine in enough quantity to last a whole week were brought from the Dominican Republic directly to the church.

·         Dr. Mark Ottenweller-along with a medical student from DR, Ramon, provided medical care for people on the church’s site and also in the community.

3        Make an assessment of what the needs, immediate, midterm and long term are:

Immediate:

·         Food, water and medicine will continue to be the most pressing needs as the infrastructures in Haiti are completely down. Even though certain items can be found-at a higher price than before (double or triple)-it is necessary, at least for the next couple of weeks, to make supply runs to the church. Wilner Cornely from Chicago is travelling, via DR, to Haiti this Saturday with food medicine and other supplies.  I believe this may be needed for the next couple of weeks until they are able to buy stuff in Haiti.

·         Medical attention.  There are wounds to be treated…and as disciples are located there will be more.

·         Locating missing persons.  Out of 300 disciples in the PAP area about 50 are unaccounted for. Those brothers and sisters, prayerfully still alive, are most likely on their own trying to survive.  They need to be located immediately and provided for. There are many logistic hurdles to getting this done quickly. I will mention the three that I consider most important: i) phone lines for the most part are still down; making it necessary for people to travel to a person’s house in order to connect with them; ii) most houses are destroyed and survivors have evacuated them; they tend to stay in the neighborhood or go to other areas where they have relatives; iii) public transportation is very slowly coming back.

·         Energy.  The church has been able to stay in contact with the rest of the world via Skype.  As there’s no electricity in PAP, they used an inverter with batteries to supply electricity for the phones and laptop computer.  The charge on the batteries will go out in a couple of weeks according to their evaluation.

Midterm:

·         Help disciples to get a new start in or outside of PAP.

·         Physical therapy for those of have been injured

·         Grief Counseling, therapy and psychological care.  There is much trauma as most have lost loved ones and a few have lost multiple relatives and friends.

Long term:

·         Adequate housing

·         Education

·         Jobs

4        Help Develop a Plan of Action for the Present and the Future that Can be Implemented Immediately:

Phase 1: help the disciples

·         Evacuate 160 of church to other provinces and assist-financially- individual disciples to do that

·         Assist 200 disciples who may choose to remain in PAP with family etc…

Phase 2: Help the community

• Open a HOPE clinic

• Open schools and expand existing schools

• Develop Safe Places for Children

• Develop a program which will help organize and coordinate volunteer doctors

• Connect local disciples to the Red Cross and other service providers on the ground

The needs are still great! Yet they are matched equally by the desire of so many to help.  Thank you for your prayers, love and support.

Stanley Dumornay

Evangelist, New York City.