We got up early and heard that a local gas station was giving out gas. We got there as soon as we could and left a boy there with the gas jug. In the meantime, I helped direct traffic around the gas station so that emergency vehicles could get gas. After an hour of directing traffic, I had the satisfaction of seeing an ambulance drive out of the traffic jam and get on it's way. I also helped an older gentlemen get his car started by giving him a jump. Then I went back up to see where we were in line. I found out that my young friend was in a line that they had just changed to vehicles only. All that time waiting in line was wasted! I talked to some employees of the station and he said they were giving out numbers. Just then, they opened up another pump to give out diesel which is what we needed. Because we were right next to it, we were like the 6th person in line. So after waiting 4 hours, we were able to get 8 gallons.
After that we took Ricky over to his friend's house to check on them. We found out that their neighbor's house had completely collapsed, but that they were all OK. They also had a working internet connection, so we were able to communicate with our loved ones that day as well.
I left Carol there and wanted to drop Ricky off at his friend's house. On the way I saw some QCS teachers walking down the road and asked them where they were going. They said they were going to help out at a medical clinic at our church, Quisqueya Chapel. So I gave them a ride. When we arrived at the clinic some folks came running over and asked if I could transport a child with a broken femur to a hospital. I took the child over to Hope Hospital but they said they were full. So I talked to the director who allowed me in with the girl. When I stopped by later, I found out that she was in line to be x-rayed.
On the way to Ricky's friend's house we saw a woman running down the street waving her arms. We stopped and found out that her husband who had Alzheimer's had “escaped” and he was too strong for her to bring him back alone. So we chased after him and brought him back to the house. The lady named Georgina explained that some of the walls of the house had broken down and he could now easily get out. We found a place where we could easily pile up some blocks to stop up one dangerous area. While we were doing that, the man changed into an impeccable suit and tie and said we should take him with us! We got him sitting down in his car and then prayed with her and gave her some encouragement. Later that night when we dropped off Hendi, we stopped in and visited her and things were fine. Later that week I stopped by at her house several times just to encourage her and see how she was doing.
When we arrived at Ricky's friend's house, we found out that his Uncle, who was a doctor, died because he did not receive any emergency care. His legs were trapped under rubble, and he bled to death. The funeral was that day, and Hendi's Dad was the only one who could go because of the crisis. So we invited Hendi and his little brother to come over to our house.
That night a friend from Northern Haiti called and asked me if I could help him get his sister out of Port-au-Prince. I said I would try and he said he would meet me at QCS the next day.
When we got home that night, Carol and I started to look around or clothes, shoes and anything else that desperate people might need. I remembered that I had a traction unit that I used to use or my neck. So I grabbed it and took it to the hospital. The next day I saw that they had used it to hold up the two broken legs of a little boy who eventually stayed with his family at QCS.
Saturday Jan 16, 2010
Since I had heard from Elysee, Ronald and Sylvain over the phone, I wanted to go and see them at Bolosse which is about 40 minutes across town. But Carol and I talked it over and decided because of the security risk, it was not wise. (Earlier on the radio they had said that 4,000 prisoners had escaped from the city jail when it was damaged in the Earthquake, and that many were robbing people throughout the city – later we found out this mainly happens at night). So we decided to go to QCS and find out what was happening. On the way we saw that another gas station was selling gas, so we had our Haitian friends get in line for it. Unfortunately, by the time they had their turn, they were not giving out diesel anymore.
We also learned that Margaret and Mitou were OK. However, Margaret and Mitou had just paid a year's rent on their house and the earthquake had now rendered it unusable. (The custom in Haiti is to pay an entire year's rent in advance for one year). All of the board members of YABT Haiti were OK as well: Daniel, Jimmy, Kerlande and Guerier. Jimmy's house was severely damaged, but they could at least get their things out of it, unlike many who lost everything.
In the meantime, I took Ricky to say goodbye to his friend who is a girl named Axel. They were supposed to drive to the Dominican Republic and then fly to the US from there. However, they told us that their driver and car had never returned from an errand, and that he should have been home hours ago. (The next day, I went by and found out that they never did find the car or driver and that they had taken a helicopter over to the D.R!)
Then we had to go back and pick up the people who were trying to buy gas and that's when we found out they did not get diesel. However, I reasoned that I might be able to trade someone for Diesel if I had a few gallons of gas and so I sent two strong young men to get in line for gas. They succeeded in getting 4 gallons! Later I gave two gallons to my co-worker Denny Day for his car and two gallons to another co-worker for his motorcycle.
We decided to wait for them at QCS and just as I turned into QCS, I saw that ahead of me was my Crossworld supervisor's truck. In it were David Schmid, my supervisor in Haiti and our fellow Crossworld missionaries Bruce and Cindy McMartin. These were the very people I wanted to see at Bolosse! It was a happy reunion. But they were at QCS on business. The UEBH seminary campus was overrun with over 2,000 refugees and they were desperate for medical aid, food and water. So we all met with Ted, the head of coordinating the medical missions and talked about their needs. I was also fortunate to see the Day family there. These are our other Crossworld missionaries in Port-au-Prince.
Susie Day (The wife of Denny Day, a teacher at QCS and fellow Crossworld Missionary) was at her parent's house alone when the earthquake hit. She was in the office and somehow escaped the house falling on her by digging her way out of the rubble. She had horrible black and blue bruises on her face, arms and back, but had no broken bones! In fact, since she was a nurse she treated other victims the next day. Since then they have all gone back to the US for some rest and recovery.
While driving around we saw someone with a sack of rice, so we stopped and asked him where he got it. It turned out that he got it just around the corner and so I sent two of my Haitian helpers to go and buy a sack. They squeezed their way up to the front and the guy took their money and threw them a sack, even thought they just got there and there were tons of people waiting. So now we had rice and Spaghetti to eat!
As we finished up the meeting with our fellow Crossworld missionaries, my friend Wilfrid Lilite showed up at QCS. We then took him to his Uncle's house and drove a long way to pick up his sister who had a badly sprained ankle but was otherwise OK. By the time we got back to QCS to pick up Carol it was dark.
As we left the school to go home after a long day we found a man on a stretcher outside the QCS gate who needed medical attention. He had spend 2 days under the rubble of his house and seemed badly dehydrated and probably had several broken bones in his legs as well. His name was Ralph. They said they had been refused entrance by Hope Hospital because they had too many patients. By now it was dark, so I took them over to my friend's the Mannaseros who were running and emergency clinic with one doctor.
While at the clinic, my friend told me they were desperate for some medical supplies which they had a QCS. They told me to get a catheter for someone who had not urinated for 2 days and was very uncomfortable. So I went over and got the supplies and the catheter. However, I did not realize there are many types of catheter's and so I got the wrong type. The type I needed was called a Foley Catheter, and the people at QCS said they did not have one there, but that they could get on. Unfortunately I ended up waiting and hour to this.
When we got back with the RIGHT Catheter, we found out that the doctor had not yet looked out patient. So they treated him and let him spend the night.
However, he had a friend with him who only had a sprained ankle but now had no ride home with his family. We were all tired and hungry and really needed to get home so I flagged down a motorist who was going their direction and he graciously gave them a ride home!
During all of this activity, Carol was having a meeting with our friend Elysee Vaillant who had come to QCS looking for help for the same refugee population as our co-workers David and Bruce. She introduced them to the coordinator and he said he would do his best to help them. We gave them some first aid supplies and sent them on their way.
When we finally got home, we had to make up beds for Wifrid and his sister who stayed with us so we could take them to the bus early in the morning.
Sunday Jan 17, 2010
I got up early to take Wisly and his sister to the bus station all the way down town. I told him we didn't have much diesel left, but we would try and save gas by going down a long hill in neutral. On the way we gave two families and a pregnant woman a ride. They got the bus just fine, and on the way home, I stopped and checked on the family with the man with Alzheimers.
While riding I heard over the radio that the president of Senegal had offered free land in Senegal to any Haitians who wanted to emigrate there. He said Senegal was even open to creating a “little Haiti” in Senegal depending on how many wanted to emigrate. As I thought about this I realized that God has a bigger plan than any of us could imagine. First of all, Senegal already has a Haitian missionary couple there, sent last year by the Haitian church and working alongside some of our Crossworld collegues. Second, Senegal is the gateway to North Africa which is 90% Muslim.
At 9, we went to church at Quisqueya Chapel which was miraculously undamaged. It was a very emotional service as many had lost houses and relatives or were injured in the quake. I was asked to lead songs and God lead me to just the right songs: It is well with my soul, Be still my soul, Great is Thy Faithfullness, Our God our Help in Ages Past, etc.
Before church a man and a woman on a stretcher had asked if we could help them. We asked them to wait until after church. So after church, we took a look at the woman. Her foot had been crushed by a cement block and had never been washed or treated and was badly infected and leaking pus. I was afraid it might have to be amputated. So I took him to Hope hospital and at first they said they were full, so I went in to try and find Natalie, and instead found her Mother who is the Director. I begged her to at least look at th woman and tell me if she needed an amputation. Thankfully, she said she would and when she did, it turned out that she just needed to clean and properly dress the wound. So I left her there, but left my phone number in case thy needed help. Later they called and said everything was OK and they thanked us.
While dropping her off, I saw a traction unit that I had donated to the hospital in use. A young boy had broken both legs, and they were holding her legs up. God never lets anything go to waste!
There was also food and water distribution going on at our church and we stopped by, just helped a bit but were encouraged to see things going so smoothly.
We were exhausted from the night before, so we took a nap in the afternoon and fixed a few things around the house. We removed 4 batteries from our inverter so that they would charge faster and soon we hope to repair our plumbing system so that we have running water. Bucket showers get old after a while!
Monday, Jan 18, 2010
Monday Carol, Ricky and I all went to Quisqueya Christian School to see what needed to be done. The Director told us that we needed to clean out all the classrooms of all teaching material and papers. Since Carol has been teaching there now for over three years now, she had collected a lot of material. This is especially true because for many of her classes, she has had to create her own curriculum.
So we all worked together to separate her own books and materials from that of the school. I (Rich) got the idea of forming a chain of young boys who were playing to help us move all the books from the second floor of the school to the first floor closet where thy would be stored. This worked like a charm and we got all the books moved from two classrooms very quickly.
What took a while was going through all the papers left by previous teachers to see if they would be useful in the future. So we really didn't finish until after lunch which was graciously provided by the school.
While at school, Carol got talking to another teacher and she told her about the free outgoing flights for missionaries thanks to Hendrick's racing, a NASCAR company. Later we talked about it with Ricky and decided that we would try and get him on a flight the next day.
I also hooked up with two of my AIS leaders at the school. Lucas and Ronald William. Lucas said that his family's house was leveled and he could not even get any of his clothes out, so he asked me for some clean clothes which I will give him tomorrow. Lucas was doing pretty well emotionally considering many of his friends and neighbors died and his family lost everything, including their truck which they used as a taxi. Thankfully, none of his immediate family died. He also asked me if we could help him pay for transportation for his family so they could move out to live with relatives, but I told him I was down to my last 200 US, and he would have to wait until the banks open for me to help him. (Later in the week, thanks to a gift from a former missionary, I was able to give him $60 to help his family evacuate).
Ronald William showed up late in the afternoon and said that his house was OK, but that many houses and buildings, including a beautiful Wesleyan Church near him were leveled. He said that no international aid had been received in his area and that many needed medical care, food and water. I put him in touch with the man coordinating the relief efforts out of QCS and he said if he can provide a place to hold a mobile medical clinic, he would try and supply doctors and nurses.
Lucas also told us that no one had visited his neighborhood either and many were hungry and thirsty.
Then later that afternoon another acquaintance called me and told me the same information about his area.
Then I took Ricky over to say goodbye to a friend who was leaving Haiti to go to school in the US.
Our local gas station has a small store and we noticed it was open, so we stopped in to get some essentials which fortunately they had: TP, Laundry detergent, margarine, salt, etc. We were also thrilled to see that they are filtering water again since clean drinking water is another essential!
When we got home we found that our internet was not working. In the meantime we counted our last gallons of diesel and saw that we have 6 left. Pray that they will open gas stations and banks soon!
Finally we started to make dinner and it appeared that the meat we had counted on for dinner was spoiled because of not having any power. However, the Mother of the Haitian family we are staying with washed it with boiling water and some bitter orange juice and saved it from going bad! When you are in need, God shows you a way!
That night we helped Ricky pack for his trip back to Florida, and then purchased a ticket for him on the internet to go from Ft. Lauderdale to Philadelphia.
Tuesday, Jan 19th, 2010
We packed up the car with all the things we wanted to take to Bolosse for Elysee and the refugee camp of almost 2,000. However, we had to stop at the QCS command center to see if there were any urgent needs there. When we got their, Scott, who was with Crisis Response International (CRI) introduced me to a medical team and told me he had met them at the Haitian – Dominican border just that morning. They had come back with him from the command center looking for a place to set up their mobile clinic. I told them I would lead them over because it was hard to find, but first I had to pick up my son and take him home so he could pack because he was going to be leaving that day.
It turned out that it took longer than I thought to pick up Ricky and get him packed before we returned to QCS, so the medical team had left before us. Later we found out that they got lost for an hour, but found their way after they called us at the airport and got directions.
When we got to the airport with Ricky, we found out that they had completely changed the airport around and that there was only one entrance with heavy security. Since everything at this point was standby we didn't know what flight Ricky would get on. We only knew that their were supposed to be 4 flights that day. The first flight was full, but the second had plenty of room, so Ricky got on a 40 passenger plane with only 10 passengers on it and got treated like a king at 5 PM that night.
Carol was trying to contact a friend in south Florida named Lisa to ask her to pick Ricky up in Fort Pierce. Lisa asked a friend of hers to pick Ricky up, but it was hard to stay in communication so we didn't know for sure that he was going to get Ricky when when we left for the airport. Then we got an e-mail from MFI, the mission that was coordinating the flights saying that since Ricky was an unaccompanied minor, “family services” would take care of him. “Family Services” turned out to be a part of the Florida State government, and they would not release Ricky to our friends. When Ricky said he had to catch a connecting flight in Ft. Lauderdale, they drove him 2 hours south to the airport. Fortunately by that time we had heard what happened from our friend Lisa who then went and found Ricky at the airport and thanks to the wonders of wireless internet was able to show the Family Services officers and e-mail from us authorizing Lisa to pick him up.
The next day Lisa got him on the flight and then his Uncle Fred picked him up at the airport. The next day, Uncle Fred took him on a shopping spree to buy winter clothes for school. Then our home Church's Pastor, Tim, and other friends arranged for him to get into Calvary Christian Academy which he had attended from 2003 to 2006. What a great blessing our friends and family have been during this transition time for Ricky!
Wednesday, Jan. 20th, 2010
Around 6:30 AM on Wednesday morning there was another major aftershock in the 5.0 range. We heard a house crash in our neighborhood and some screaming. I was supposed to pick up a nurse and her translator to a hospital near the epicenter of the first earthquake, but took a quick tour around the neighborhood to see if I could find the person who was injured.
We did find the person's house, but fortunately he had already been taken to the hospital with a broken arm.
So I went over to QCS and picked up the nurse and her translator and drove them across town to the Adventist Hospital. When we got there, all the doctors and nurses were outside listening to an engineer evaluate if the building was safe after the big aftershock that morning. He said it was basically OK, but that the operating room was one of the most dangerous places in the building because it was far from the exits.
While there I found a team of doctors who had working all night in the operating room and only stopped at 3 AM, only to be awakened by the tremor at 6 AM! They were exhausted and I was happy to give them a ride back.
While we waited for the doctors to get ready, Ecdes and I handed out tracks to patients in the courtyard.
Back at QCS, I went and used the internet and also made some calls to the US. I talked to Dwight Lehman, my Crossworld Director who said they were bringing in US cash so we can have money to operate since the banks are still closed. I also talked to the pastor of our home church, Tim Smith, who was looking into schooling options for Ricky.
Then I was assigned to take a team of doctors over to another big hospital in town. When we got there it was full of tents in its courtyard and you could hear the cries of the wounded all around. It was so overcrowded that they had refused to see a wounded child who needed his dressings changed. Thankfully he was one of the few who had received stitches, and they were healing well and were not infected. So I cleaned his wounds on the sidewalk and also showed his mother how to clean them as well, and gave her enough supplies to take care of her son so she wouldn't need to go back to the hospital again.
Then I decided to go and visit Ronald William's neighborhood. The day before I had asked him and his committee to make a summary of how many people were in refugee camps and also make a list of people in the camp. What they showed me was fantastic. They had counted the number of people in their four camps, accounted for the wounded, and told me how many had lost their houses. He also showed me the list of families that were in the camps, some with up to 15 family members with no home. In order to assess the medical needs, I went around and looked at the worst cases. I changed their dressings and cleaned their wounds. Almost every one I thought, would still require stitches. One boy had a deep cut in his hand – down to the bone, and it was getting infected.
When I was done, I went back to the big hospital to see if the doctors were ready to go home, but they said they needed at least an hour to finish up operations they were in the middle of. Since they said it would be at least an hour, I went back to get the worst of the wounded from Ronald's neighborhood and rushed them back to the hospital. Unfortunately, the boy with the bad hand did refused to come with us. When the nurse looked at the first person who had a deep gash in her leg, she said I had done a good job of cleaning and dressing it. When I asked her how come she could not do stitches, she said that you can only do stitches within 6 hours of when the wound occurred, otherwise you sew up the germs in the wound and it gets infected. I never knew that, and it really made me upset to think about all the people who would be left with ugly scars because they did not receive proper care.
In the meantime, a hospital worker who had overheard me saying I needed a nurse or doctor to help me evaluate the needs of the refugee camp I was working with introduced me to Marvin, a Mennonite missionary from Titayen, a town just outside of Port-au-Prince. He said he had a mobile clinic and was looking for another place to work after finishing up with another area. So I told him I had to take some of the people I had brought back to their neighborhood and he said he would like to go with me and check it out.
When we arrived, the community leaders were eager to talk to him and arranged a time to meet him at a local landmark and lead him up to the refugee camps the next day.
This means that in two days, God provided medical care for both of the refugee camps I was concerned about!
We returned to QCS with the doctors late in the afternoon, but there was still a bunch of doctors who needed to get back to a hospital close to where we lived, so once again, I played chauffeur and drove them over to L'hopital Espoir.
Thursday, Jan 21, 2010
We packed up the car hoping to that we would be able to finally make it across town to Bolosse. When we got to QCS we were asked to take a team of Doctors to a hospital quite close to Bolosse. So after we dropped them off, we arrived at Bolosse around 10:30 which gave us about an hour before we had to pick up another team of doctors and take them to the airport.
When we arrived at Bolosse, it looked as beautiful as ever, filled with trees and nice and green. But when we got to the top of the hill and saw the Bible school that was built in 1946, our hearts dropped. It was crumbled and in really bad shape.
Thankfully, we were able to talk to our two missionaries who live there, The McMartins and Schmids and give them all hugs, etc. since we hadn't seen everyone yet. Then we found Elysee and he shared with us how they were trying to organize the refugee camps on campus. They had divided them into 4 zones. His committee was operating under the authority of the UEBH and he asked me for some advice.
I suggested that he assign leaders in each zone to be responsible for Medical Care (Medic), Pastoral Care (Chaplain), Food & Water, Security, etc.
I made it to the CTDI hospital at noon to pick up the doctor I had met yesterday and take him to the airport as I had promised, but he was still in scrubs and had to finish up an operation. He said he would be ready in 20 minutes, but it turned out to be more like an hour. During that time I tried to help organize the medical supplies for the hospital by simply putting like supplies together. I was happy when I found a specific item that a doctor said he really needed.
When we were finally ready to leave, it ended up that we took 5 doctors and nurses to the airport.
We got to the airport on time, but had to wait around a long time until the person who could make reservations was available to talk to. I wanted to make reservations for Carol and I to fly out the next day.
In the meantime I saw some other missionaries saw me and asked for a ride back to QCS.
By the time we got back, it was almost dark and so we went home to start packing and talk to Ecdes about our plans. We needed to tell the refugees that were living at our house that they could not stay there any longer, and so we sat down with them and asked them how much they needed to move out to the country. Thankfully, a fellow missionary had giving me some money, so I had enough for them.
Then we collapsed in our beds.
Friday, Jan 22, 2010
Friday morning we threw some clothes in a suitcase and went over to QCS to tell the command center that we were leaving for a few days. We left our truck there for them to use while we would be away, and they got us a ride in a World Vision truck that had come over from the Dominican Republic.
When we got to the airport we were very grateful to find out that we were scheduled for the first flight out, and thanks to our friends at MAF, we were able to send an e-mail to Carol's cousin Patsy in Ft. Lauderdale to tell her what time to pick us up.
Still we waited around the airport for several hours but connected with the Mother of Joy's best friend from Canada at the airport.
Just as our plane was finally boarding, I saw three people who had just gotten off the plane approach some Haitian policemen. I saw that they were struggling to communicate and went over to see if I could help. They explained that they were 3 neurosurgeons who were trying to get to the CTDI hospital where I had been driving doctors all week. I ran over to my Crossworld colleague who was there picking up some packages and two disaster relief specialists. He said they had to go close to that hospital on the way home and would be happy to drop them off. I also had them call Ted, the head of the QCS relief effort and he said they could stay there as long as they needed and that he would also provide food and transportation for them! In less than five minutes God used me to put 3 neurosurgeons to work helping the wounded of Haiti!
When I got on the plane I was excited, but tired. I introduced myself to my seat-mate who was named Walter. Walter had been a para-medic in the army, but now was an executive that worked on Park Ave. in NYC for Wells Fargo Bank. He felt God wanted him to go down to Haiti and just up and took a week's vacation to go and help with no group sponsoring him. We talked for a while, but I was so tired I took a little nap.
When I woke up, Walter and I spent the rest of the trip discussing what I should be buying in the US while I was there.
When we got to Ft. Pierce, Carol's cousin, Patty was there to greet us. She even graciously offered to take Walter with us down to Ft. Lauderdale airport, a 2 hour drive. Of course Walter was thrilled and he later wrote us that he was able to get a late flight home to NJ that night and was in his bed by 2 AM!
Sat., Jan 23
Carol and I slept in for the first time in a looong time. We actually slept until 10 AM! When we woke up, Patsy and her husband John had fresh bagels and coffee waiting for us. After breakfast we made an appointment in the afternoon to go to the chiropractor since our bodies had been feeling the stress of all the events of the past 10 days.
That evening Patsy and John arranged a cookout with all of Carol's relatives who lived in the area and so we had a great time seeing family we hadn't seen in years, and of course eating ice cream!
Sun. Jan 24
In the morning we went to Patty and John's church: Christ the Rock Community Church. It was a great time of fellowship and worship with wonderful music. During the service they said that four members of the church were going with a medical team to Haiti, so we went to a meeting of the whole team at another church. It was so encouraging – there were 23 doctors and nurses in all who were going to a small hospital just in Haiti close to the Dominican border. They were very organized and well prepared, so we just shared a few suggestions with them.
Later in the afternoon, John and I went to an auto parts store to get an oil filter for my Toyota diesel truck. They do not sell this model in the US, so I was afraid about not being able to find the right one, but when I asked the salesman he said he was Jamaican and that his father had the same truck. He called a friend and looked it up on the internet and gave me the right filter!
The other salesperson at the store turned out to be Haitian and she asked me to help her get money to her relatives who live in Petionville which is only about ½ hour from where I live.
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