Well it's been awhile since I've updated. Seems we've been so busy the last few months. Lenord and I got married May 1. I will try and upload some pics soon. We spent a month out in Pas Boi domme then came to Leogane to help with earthquake cleanup. My parents and younger brother are here to coordinate the clean up project. Since they don't know the language we are here helping with translating and also helping in the kitchen.
Please continue to pray for us. The work here is enormous and sometimes we feel like we are being stretched to the limit. But God's grace is sufficient.
Have a good day of worship.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Clean-Up in Leogane
Life in Leogane stays interesting with many visitors coming and going. There are still 3 doctors that come and stay here every week. They continue to work here in the community. They've started leaving on Friday giving us a weekend break. Clay and Omi came yesterday and are filling in for Dwayne and Heidi while they're at home. Water for Life has been here several nights since they are drilling wells here in the area. Emily is back as well after being gone for 2 months.
Clean-up seems to have started here in Leogane. Some of the schools and government places have been cleaned away. The UN is working every day at removing the debris as well as other groups. People have been dumping lots of debris in the street so that the governmnet comes to pick it up. For awhile there we had only a one way street here on the main road in Leogane. There are still many, many houses that need to be cleared away or torn down.
Yesterday we had another LOUD tremor. Normally we hear them before we feel them. This one came roaring in sending us scurrying out of the houses. It was hard enough that we could hear people in the street yelling out of fear. It brings back so many dark memories and makes the heart beat ten times faster. When will the tremors be over??? Most of us sleep inside except for the little girls and our Haitian yard ladies. They slept inside for several weeks and then decided they'd rather sleep outside again. I'm sure there are many people that will live in tents for several years. Either because of fear or because they have no means to reconstruct another house.
Please breathe a prayer for Haiti as you read this blog...
Clean-up seems to have started here in Leogane. Some of the schools and government places have been cleaned away. The UN is working every day at removing the debris as well as other groups. People have been dumping lots of debris in the street so that the governmnet comes to pick it up. For awhile there we had only a one way street here on the main road in Leogane. There are still many, many houses that need to be cleared away or torn down.
Yesterday we had another LOUD tremor. Normally we hear them before we feel them. This one came roaring in sending us scurrying out of the houses. It was hard enough that we could hear people in the street yelling out of fear. It brings back so many dark memories and makes the heart beat ten times faster. When will the tremors be over??? Most of us sleep inside except for the little girls and our Haitian yard ladies. They slept inside for several weeks and then decided they'd rather sleep outside again. I'm sure there are many people that will live in tents for several years. Either because of fear or because they have no means to reconstruct another house.
Please breathe a prayer for Haiti as you read this blog...
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Rice Project
Thank you to the ones that contributed to the rice project.I was able to buy ten small bags of rice and a case of cooking oil.
I gave 4 bags of rice and the oil to this pastor who's church was destroyed in the quake only a mile or so down the road.
I gave 4 bags of rice and the oil to this pastor who's church was destroyed in the quake only a mile or so down the road.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Life in Leogane
Well things have fallen into a new norm around here. Everyone except the doctors are sleeping inside now. A Haitian organization came yesterday and set up 2 tents. They had come thru several weeks ago and asked what we need the most. So now they came and set up tents and brought us 2 boxs of supplies: cook stove, kettles, plates, silverware, cups, mats, blankets, mosquito nets, hammer, saw, gallon jugs, and a few toys for the girls. Pretty much a survival kit. They are going to all the orphanages in Leogane to see how they can help. Now that the girls are sleeping inside we don't really need them unless there would be another hard tremor. The girls are begging to sleep in them just because they look nice. :)
Currently we have 2 doctors from Heart to Heart here. The missionaries from Labaliene are also here with a group of around 10 or so. They are here to build the little wooden cabins at a tent city close to here. They are sleeping in the upstairs of the main house and use the downstairs kitchen. Us girls are too scared to move in plus it still needs a good scrubbing. The last group that was here painted most of the rooms so none of the repaired cracks are noticable anymore. I'm still not completely convinced that the house is safe but everyone acts like it is so I guess we'll pretend so.
The girls started school a couple weeks ago. We set up a tarp out under the mango trees and set up their benches and chalkboard. It's nice to have them on a schedule again and keeps them occupied.
Today a pastor and his son from Indiana stopped in for an hour or so. I met the pastor in Aucayes the other weekend and he was intrested in interviewing people that had been trapped under the rubble of the quake. So I arranged for Remy (our gate guy) to bring his sister to be interviewed. She recounted the story of how she was trapped at her Nursing school for approx 7 hours just down the road from our place, and across the road from my house. Normally there were 30 students in that class but they weren't all there that day. All but 5 of them were crushed to death. She was the last one pulled from the rubble. Her head was swollen so much they didn't recognize her. I will try and post a picture of her before and after. She fell face first with her head trapped against the ground and 2 dead people laying on her arms. She could hardly breathe until she pulled her one arm out from underneath the one corpse. She kept kicking her legs so that people passing by might see her and know she is still alive. By God's grace she survived! A couple of her brothers pulled her out of the rubble risking their own lives to save hers. She needed to do some skin grafting since she had a terrible wound on her upper arm. Her head also had several wounds. There are many stories like hers but there are also many that never survived to tell. Many are still suffering and hurting not only from physical wounds but also from loss of loved ones.
Being here in the yard it's easy to forget the suffering that many are going thru but you need only walk up the road a few short steps and you remember...remember the day when our lives changed forever.
May God bless each of you for praying.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
We've been having some weird weather. Lots of wind and chilly nights. When I say chilly I mean like 70 degrees. Its actually just perfect at night. I started sleeping inside now the past week or so. There haven't been that many tremors and its not very comfortable sleeping under a tarp. Lots of mosquitos, no fans, plus 7 little dogs running around. Makes for a long night. The yard women and the 7 girls still sleep outside. The even have a recliner out there.
Right now we have a group of doctors here from Heart to Heart. Sometime there are as many as 10 of them here at a time. We mostly just give them a place to sleep and shower plus meals. We have a work group here from Bellville, Pennsylvania right now. 7 guys and 1 girl. They have been doing a lot of painting plus put the barbed wire up on the wall. Most of out repair work is finished here in the yard. Hopefully we'll be able to help people in the community before too long. There are still many people sleeping under tarps. It has rained quite a bit. There are also many that only have sheets or blankets over their heads.
Please continue to pray for the Haitian people.
I will try and update more frequently...
Right now we have a group of doctors here from Heart to Heart. Sometime there are as many as 10 of them here at a time. We mostly just give them a place to sleep and shower plus meals. We have a work group here from Bellville, Pennsylvania right now. 7 guys and 1 girl. They have been doing a lot of painting plus put the barbed wire up on the wall. Most of out repair work is finished here in the yard. Hopefully we'll be able to help people in the community before too long. There are still many people sleeping under tarps. It has rained quite a bit. There are also many that only have sheets or blankets over their heads.
Please continue to pray for the Haitian people.
I will try and update more frequently...
Monday, February 22, 2010
I am once again headed for Haiti. I arrive in Santo Domingo, DR tonight at 10:30 and meet a group that's coming down an hour later. I had my ticket before they started flying in to Port au Prince so that's why I'm taking the long "trail".
This morning i talked to Doudou and he said there was a hard tremor around 4am. It registered a 4.7. Makes me kinda nervous about going back but everything is in God's hands. God is still good. Please keep praying!!
This morning i talked to Doudou and he said there was a hard tremor around 4am. It registered a 4.7. Makes me kinda nervous about going back but everything is in God's hands. God is still good. Please keep praying!!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Rebuild Haiti
Dear Friends,
The magnitude of the destruction in the Haiti earthquake is overwhelming at times. There are so many people that need help in the form of food, water, clothing, medicines, and rebuilding supplies. It’s hard to know who and where to help.
Rice Project
I am going back to Haiti on Monday, February 22nd and am trying to raise some funds to buy rice for some of the people around us in Leogane. Many have no homes and are living in the street or in fields in temporary homes constructed of sheets or tarps. Many of our church people as well as our employees lost their homes and are also living under some makeshift tents. If I could supply one family with a 110 lb bag of rice that should hold them over for 2 months or more. The cost of one 110 bag of rice is $65 US. If you are interested in assisting in this way please send your check or cash to my home address before the 22nd at Trish Mullet, 1399 Ragersville Rd. SW, Sugarcreek, OH 44681. Please put “rice project” in the memo.
Reconstruction
My heart cries out with many of our Haitian friends gazing at what once used to be their home now condensed into a twisted mound of concrete and rubble. Their life savings has been reduced to nothing within seconds. Some of them try to salvage a few pieces of wood and tin to construct a small shelter to sleep under. They have no one to turn to as everyone is in the same boat. How will they rebuild unless someone is willing to share with them? Many had little to start with and now life has become even more difficult. How can I stand by and watch them suffer? I have nothing to offer as my house too has collapsed, but I can be their voice in asking for assistance. If you feel led to help in rebuilding I am collecting gifts of money to buy supplies as soon as the rubble has been removed and construction gets underway. For many this will be the only light at the end of the tunnel. You may not be able to help all of Haiti but you can make a difference in the life of one family.
For all tax deductible contributions please send your checks to Blue Ridge International: 570 S 700 E, Montgomery, IN 47558. Be sure to put Trish/RBH (ReBuild Haiti) in the memo. If you don’t need a tax-deductible receipt you can send it to my home address: 1399 Ragersville Rd. SW, Sugarcreek, OH 44681.
Please keep the Haitian people in your prayers.
Trish
The magnitude of the destruction in the Haiti earthquake is overwhelming at times. There are so many people that need help in the form of food, water, clothing, medicines, and rebuilding supplies. It’s hard to know who and where to help.
Rice Project
I am going back to Haiti on Monday, February 22nd and am trying to raise some funds to buy rice for some of the people around us in Leogane. Many have no homes and are living in the street or in fields in temporary homes constructed of sheets or tarps. Many of our church people as well as our employees lost their homes and are also living under some makeshift tents. If I could supply one family with a 110 lb bag of rice that should hold them over for 2 months or more. The cost of one 110 bag of rice is $65 US. If you are interested in assisting in this way please send your check or cash to my home address before the 22nd at Trish Mullet, 1399 Ragersville Rd. SW, Sugarcreek, OH 44681. Please put “rice project” in the memo.
Reconstruction
My heart cries out with many of our Haitian friends gazing at what once used to be their home now condensed into a twisted mound of concrete and rubble. Their life savings has been reduced to nothing within seconds. Some of them try to salvage a few pieces of wood and tin to construct a small shelter to sleep under. They have no one to turn to as everyone is in the same boat. How will they rebuild unless someone is willing to share with them? Many had little to start with and now life has become even more difficult. How can I stand by and watch them suffer? I have nothing to offer as my house too has collapsed, but I can be their voice in asking for assistance. If you feel led to help in rebuilding I am collecting gifts of money to buy supplies as soon as the rubble has been removed and construction gets underway. For many this will be the only light at the end of the tunnel. You may not be able to help all of Haiti but you can make a difference in the life of one family.
For all tax deductible contributions please send your checks to Blue Ridge International: 570 S 700 E, Montgomery, IN 47558. Be sure to put Trish/RBH (ReBuild Haiti) in the memo. If you don’t need a tax-deductible receipt you can send it to my home address: 1399 Ragersville Rd. SW, Sugarcreek, OH 44681.
Please keep the Haitian people in your prayers.
Trish
Please Pray
Dear Friends,
The house I was living at in Leogane has also been destroyed in the earthquake. Currently I am staying at the mission compound in Leogane. As many of you know I am planning to get married in May to a wonderful guy named Lenord Bonnegre. We had plans of living in the house that I was renting but obviously that has now changed. The option of renting a house again is almost non-existent at present. There is the option of buying some land and building a small house on it. Currently there may possibly be a piece of land available within walking distance to the mission compound which would be an answer to prayer. We are checking into that at this point. Land in Leogane however is not cheap. For the amount of land we would need to build a small house costs approx. $10,000(US) plus the expense of building a small house which we could possibly do for $8,000 - $10,000(US). Is this what God wants for our future? We are asking you to join us in prayer concerning this idea.
A second possibility is to build a small house in Pas boi’domme (where Lenord comes from) and start our own little outreach there.
A third possibility is coming to the states for several months or a year until we have saved enough money to build. That would of course depend on Lenord’s ability to obtain a residence visa. There are so many unanswered questions as we try and wait on the Lord patiently.
Please do not let the memory of what has happened in Haiti fade from your prayers. There are many that are still homeless, hungry, and mourning the loss of their loved ones.
Because of God’s grace,
Trish
The house I was living at in Leogane has also been destroyed in the earthquake. Currently I am staying at the mission compound in Leogane. As many of you know I am planning to get married in May to a wonderful guy named Lenord Bonnegre. We had plans of living in the house that I was renting but obviously that has now changed. The option of renting a house again is almost non-existent at present. There is the option of buying some land and building a small house on it. Currently there may possibly be a piece of land available within walking distance to the mission compound which would be an answer to prayer. We are checking into that at this point. Land in Leogane however is not cheap. For the amount of land we would need to build a small house costs approx. $10,000(US) plus the expense of building a small house which we could possibly do for $8,000 - $10,000(US). Is this what God wants for our future? We are asking you to join us in prayer concerning this idea.
A second possibility is to build a small house in Pas boi’domme (where Lenord comes from) and start our own little outreach there.
A third possibility is coming to the states for several months or a year until we have saved enough money to build. That would of course depend on Lenord’s ability to obtain a residence visa. There are so many unanswered questions as we try and wait on the Lord patiently.
Please do not let the memory of what has happened in Haiti fade from your prayers. There are many that are still homeless, hungry, and mourning the loss of their loved ones.
Because of God’s grace,
Trish
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Earthquake
Tuesday, January 12
“I’ll help you fold the laundry if you take it to the living room”, Heidi told me a few minutes before 5 on Tuesday afternoon.
The day was busy with several of the staff girls getting ready to head out to Port for the night and then head up to Creve the next morning. I had plans to go to my house after lunch and do some much needed cleaning thinking I would take Nadia along to help me. Well lunch came and went and the day just kept getting busier. I had started cleaning out the medicine cupboard that morning and wanted to finish before heading out. So after lunch I finished that and decided I would be on evening duty for Ang since she was flying around there getting ready for their road trip. Duty was at 4 but Tuesday is always “combing day” for the girls so there wouldn’t be much to do until 5. At 3 Ang and I and Pastor Duval headed out to make a money transaction at Western Union. We didn’t have all the information needed to make the transaction so we left that and headed to market to buy some last minute things for the trip. We arrived home soon after 4 and I thought I would help take the laundry off the line yet so the girls could get packed and ready to leave sooner. I took the last basket of laundry inside when Heidi said she would help me fold it if I stayed downstairs in the living room. So I set the basket down and folded one towel and was reaching for the second one when God decided to rock the island of Haiti…
Earthquake!!
…All of a sudden there was a tremendous roar that sounded unlike anything I have ever heard before. The whole house started shaking…the walls, the door, everything!! I froze for a split second until I realized it was an earthquake. I jumped up forgetting everything and ran for the door which was only several feet from where I was sitting. My mind was spinning and all I could focus on was opening the door to the outside world. I tried several times to pull the door open but was rocked back and forth so much that I was unable to pull it open. I tried to brace myself and finally after what seemed like minutes I managed to open it and stumbled outside onto the porch with Heidi on my heals. She ran past me searching for her children. I scrambled off the porch trying to run but everything was such a blur and shaking so hard that I just stood where I was for several seconds trying to figure out where everyone was running to. I glanced over and saw Heidi sprawl out on the ground. I looked beyond her and saw the wringer washer go shooting out from the wall with a cloud of thick grey dust enveloping it. Everyone running past me looked like a blur since the ground was still shaking violently. All I could think of was that the earth would open up and swallow us. The horror and the realization of what was happening took the strength out of me. I staggered to the center of the yard where everyone else was gathering. Everyone was screaming, crying and clinging to each other. We tried counting the girls to make sure they were all there. After trying to count several times we decided they were all there. We looked around us and watched as a cloud of grey dust rose up from the town of Leogane. Part of our wall collapsed and we could see one of our neighbors houses had crumbled to pieces. I wondered if anyone was trapped or killed inside. A silence settled over the yard until another tremor shook the ground once again and another cry of “Jesus save us” soared to the heavens. The main house (two stories)literally shook back and forth and the vehicles rocked as if someone were trying to push them. The girls sang and prayed and cried out to Jesus. One of the girls who is known to be very rowdy cried out in a loud voice, “Jesus save me. I will always live for you”. Normally there may have been some chuckles hearing this from her but at that moment our lives hung in the balance. Would we be swallowed up alive? Would we live to see morning? The girls and yard ladies sang until they couldn’t sing anymore. The sun was starting to set and cries of distress could be heard coming from all around us. All I could do was sit there unable to move or cry. I couldn’t sing or pray. The only words I could utter were “God save us”. We sat on the ground in shock. Was this really happening? Surely we would wake up soon and realize this was all a horrific nightmare. Every so often, what seemed like perhaps five to ten minutes another tremor would shake the very ground we were sitting on. Such a helpless feeling I have never known. Finally we decided to pull out a few mats from the girl’s dorm to sleep on. We grabbed some blankets and everyone huddled together to try and get some sleep. Sleep was a long ways off but there was not much we could do but wait till morning. Dwayne started a fire to give us some light. At 8 or 9 o’clock that evening a group from a mission further west of us stopped in. They had picked up a group from the airport that afternoon and were on their way out when the quake hit. They came through some horrible places and actually seen a wall fall on a gentleman. They stopped to try and rescue him but to no avail. Their first aid kit didn’t seem like very much after they saw some dangling limbs so they kept on going. We pulled out a few more mats for them and they settled down to try and get some sleep. The sky above us was bright and the stars seemed to twinkle overhead. Did anyone know what was happening in Haiti? If Port au Prince was hit, how was the rest of the country? Was Doudou and his family safe? I tried not to let my mind wonder too much. All night the aftershocks kept coming and each time I knew the house would collapse only yards from where we were laying. How can a house shake so much without falling?? I tried to rest in the fact that if God had allowed us to escape perhaps He would not allow any harm to come to us. If the house collapsed now, praise God he had given us a chance to run. The night seemed alive with tension but dead to the reality of the situation. We could hear someone screaming somewhere beyond the wall. Had someone just discovered a family member beneath the ruins? Was someone trapped underneath a pile of rubble? We could only speculate as we felt the earth grunt and groan beneath us all night long. I dozed off for only several minutes until once again the ground trembled and the drowsiness seemed to disappear.
Morning does come…
As the sun started peeping out over the horizon we started to get up and wondered what the day would hold. Where was the pastor? What about the church people? Were our neighbors alive? There were so many unanswered questions. Was my house still standing? I wasn’t ready to go look so two of our yard women walked down the road to see. They came back shaking their head and almost in tears. My house had collapsed along with many other houses and buildings. They saw several dead bodies that had been pulled out of the rubble and laid on the side of the road to await family members to remove them. I decided I want to go see my house so several of us walked down to see it. The destruction that we were about to see along the way was almost overwhelming. Almost every house we walked past had some kind of damage if not totally collapsed. We passed several dead bodies covered with white sheets before we arrived at my house. Normally, as you walked to my house you could see it peeping out over the top of a gas station wall but there was nothing. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had just left my house that morning like usual, locked the door and expected to return at lunch. Does God know what He’s doing? Did He know why he gave me so much work to do that day? Yes, I believe God fully realizes what He is doing. I had lived there for one month. As I stood and stared at the ruins I wondered if anyone was underneath the rubble. My house sat up on the second story and was still intact but the first floor was flatter then a pancake. I asked some onlookers if anyone was in the store underneath my house and they didn’t think there was. I couldn’t believe the roof of my house hadn’t collapsed. And then I thought of those inconvenient pillars that always got in my way every time I wanted to mop my floors or the pillar that took up most of my kitchen counter and I thought “Thank you Lord for those pillars”. But I know it took more than those pillars to hold up my house, it was God Almighty who supported the house while the whole earth shook. I could see my table and chairs inside just sitting there as if the house had always been on the first story. We walked up the street a little ways and didn’t have to walk far to encounter death. Several bodies lay beside the street covered in white sheets. People gathered around as they uncovered them and several young girls started screaming and crying upon identifying some of their family members. I felt like we were walking around in a dream. Was this real?? We walked back to the mission Home. What could we do? What did the next few days hold? It was then that I first burst into tears. The world around us has literally crumbled to the ground. What was the next step? The ground would still shutter and shake every so often creating a panic that would cause us to run for the center of the yard. We would only dare to wander over to the gate and a few of the staff were brave enough to gingerly open the door to the main house and race in and back out with some food. Heidi started cooking some food over a fire. I was too tense to eat but managed to down a little food. Around lunch I happened to be walking past the gate when I saw a familiar figure come walking up to the gate. I was overwhelmed with joy when I saw Doudou standing there. I opened the gate and burst into tears. When he heard that Leogane was hit hard and no one had heard from us he decided to come out and see if we had survived. Where he lives had only experienced a 2 on the Richter scale compared to Leogane which experienced a 7.0. He came past my house first and saw the damage not knowing if I was dead, alive or injured. What a relief to see him! The next few days are a blur. I remember I wore the same clothes for three days. No one wanted to risk going inside the buildings to grab a change of clothes plus mine were all over at my house. Finally after a few days we set up a bed frame and hung a quilt over it to construct a small space to shower behind. We had a water well in the center of the yard which was a blessing. We boiled our drinking water over the fire and tried to use it sparingly. We tried to call to the states with no success. All phone service was cut so we had no way of letting anyone know we were ok. Finally on Thursday we managed to call home each of us able to talk for ten short minutes. What a relief to be able to hear and talk to our families. Then on Friday we got the message that several of our dads were coming down and arriving in Leogane perhaps on Sunday. What joy!! I could hardly sleep those next two nights.
Saturday Doudou, Dwayne and I went down to my house to see if we could salvage the rest of my things. I had pulled out some things on Thursday but it started shaking again while they were in there so we decided the rest could wait till later. So on Saturday we pulled out almost everything else. Sunday arrived and some of us went to church. The church building still stood and none of our church people had been killed. Praise God!! I went to church in my everyday clothes but I didn’t really care. I was so grateful to be alive. Everyone could have stood up and given testimony of how God saved them from the quake but time didn’t allow. For lunch we used my potatoes that we rescued from my house, just enough for each person to have one. We didn’t know how long it would be before we were able to eat real potatoes again. The day before one of the yard women had gone to market to buy some food but came back with very little. Market no longer existed. Not even the tin roofs and the wooden posts that were used for market stands remained. Everything was gone. People were salvaging what they could to make little “tents” to sleep under. We walked thru town a few days after the quake and saw firsthand all the damage that was done. Several houses had collapsed out onto the road, power lines were down, slabs of concrete and twisted steel lay strewn everywhere. Several places smelled of decaying bodies as we walked past a crumpled house or school. Was this real? Was I dreaming? The very streets that we so often traveled were filled with displaced people wondering what to do next. I wondered if the many faces we had seen going to market or sitting beside the road day after day were still alive or were they buried beneath the ruins. Time would only tell if they escaped. I would see friends greet one another with big hugs and ask if everyone was ok. There seemed to be a “family” atmosphere in the air. Everyone was in the same boat.
There was a steady stream of people that streamed past our gate. Many were heading towards Port au Prince in search of family and friends. Some came on foot from as far away as Ti Guave and walked all the way to Carfou. Many had no money for the trip and others were unable to find a taxi. Everyone was headed to Port but after several days that changed as everyone was headed for the country, either moving all their belongings or transporting a dead family member to be buried in the country. We saw many a vehicle heading for the country with a dead body covered in a white sheet. Oh, the grief that Haiti’s people were experiencing. Were we touched by death? My landlord lady was killed while in a meeting. I had met her in November for the first time when we signed the rental papers for my house. She was a lady that seemed to have a lot of money and owned the ice factory and a gas station in Leogane along with some other buildings. Had I known she would face death in the coming months would I have shared Jesus with her? One of our yard ladies boyfriend’s mother was killed in Port au Prince. A lot of our friends knew of someone that got killed in the quake. Was it by chance that none of us got killed or hurt? Was it by chance that none of our church people were killed? I believe God’s Sovereign hand was in all of this. We may never fully understand but we do know that God’s hand of protection rested upon us that Tuesday afternoon.
Help at Last!!
The first sign of help that we saw entering Leogane was on Sunday afternoon. Five days after the quake!! Six buses filled with medical teams were escorted in by the US army. Praise God!! In the following days help came in the form of helicopters, small planes and trucks carrying medical aid, supplies, and food. The US army settled in a mile or so down the road from us, the Canadian army is based about a half mile away in the other direction and the Argentina army has settled in somewhere too. There is a group of doctors and nurses with an organization based out of Kansas City called Heart to Heart that is staying in our yard using it as a base to sleep and grab a couple meals each day. They have set up a small clinic in the stadium in town where a lot of displaced people are staying. I helped translate one afternoon which turned out to be very interesting. Many people complained of headaches, colds, high blood pressure, or even bruises suffered from an accident 2 years ago. There were also those that came with deep wounds caused by falling debris during the quake. The Canadian group that set up clinic on the other side of the stadium has done many amputations. Many did not receive medical help soon enough and are now suffering from infections.
There are still tremors at the time of this writing so please pray for the Haitians and the staff as they deal with the trauma each time the earth shakes. Each time the ground shudders underneath them it brings back all the memories of that fateful day Tuesday afternoon.
Please pray for healing in Haiti, both physically and spiritually.
Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement.
Love you all, Trish
(February 9, 2010)
“I’ll help you fold the laundry if you take it to the living room”, Heidi told me a few minutes before 5 on Tuesday afternoon.
The day was busy with several of the staff girls getting ready to head out to Port for the night and then head up to Creve the next morning. I had plans to go to my house after lunch and do some much needed cleaning thinking I would take Nadia along to help me. Well lunch came and went and the day just kept getting busier. I had started cleaning out the medicine cupboard that morning and wanted to finish before heading out. So after lunch I finished that and decided I would be on evening duty for Ang since she was flying around there getting ready for their road trip. Duty was at 4 but Tuesday is always “combing day” for the girls so there wouldn’t be much to do until 5. At 3 Ang and I and Pastor Duval headed out to make a money transaction at Western Union. We didn’t have all the information needed to make the transaction so we left that and headed to market to buy some last minute things for the trip. We arrived home soon after 4 and I thought I would help take the laundry off the line yet so the girls could get packed and ready to leave sooner. I took the last basket of laundry inside when Heidi said she would help me fold it if I stayed downstairs in the living room. So I set the basket down and folded one towel and was reaching for the second one when God decided to rock the island of Haiti…
Earthquake!!
…All of a sudden there was a tremendous roar that sounded unlike anything I have ever heard before. The whole house started shaking…the walls, the door, everything!! I froze for a split second until I realized it was an earthquake. I jumped up forgetting everything and ran for the door which was only several feet from where I was sitting. My mind was spinning and all I could focus on was opening the door to the outside world. I tried several times to pull the door open but was rocked back and forth so much that I was unable to pull it open. I tried to brace myself and finally after what seemed like minutes I managed to open it and stumbled outside onto the porch with Heidi on my heals. She ran past me searching for her children. I scrambled off the porch trying to run but everything was such a blur and shaking so hard that I just stood where I was for several seconds trying to figure out where everyone was running to. I glanced over and saw Heidi sprawl out on the ground. I looked beyond her and saw the wringer washer go shooting out from the wall with a cloud of thick grey dust enveloping it. Everyone running past me looked like a blur since the ground was still shaking violently. All I could think of was that the earth would open up and swallow us. The horror and the realization of what was happening took the strength out of me. I staggered to the center of the yard where everyone else was gathering. Everyone was screaming, crying and clinging to each other. We tried counting the girls to make sure they were all there. After trying to count several times we decided they were all there. We looked around us and watched as a cloud of grey dust rose up from the town of Leogane. Part of our wall collapsed and we could see one of our neighbors houses had crumbled to pieces. I wondered if anyone was trapped or killed inside. A silence settled over the yard until another tremor shook the ground once again and another cry of “Jesus save us” soared to the heavens. The main house (two stories)literally shook back and forth and the vehicles rocked as if someone were trying to push them. The girls sang and prayed and cried out to Jesus. One of the girls who is known to be very rowdy cried out in a loud voice, “Jesus save me. I will always live for you”. Normally there may have been some chuckles hearing this from her but at that moment our lives hung in the balance. Would we be swallowed up alive? Would we live to see morning? The girls and yard ladies sang until they couldn’t sing anymore. The sun was starting to set and cries of distress could be heard coming from all around us. All I could do was sit there unable to move or cry. I couldn’t sing or pray. The only words I could utter were “God save us”. We sat on the ground in shock. Was this really happening? Surely we would wake up soon and realize this was all a horrific nightmare. Every so often, what seemed like perhaps five to ten minutes another tremor would shake the very ground we were sitting on. Such a helpless feeling I have never known. Finally we decided to pull out a few mats from the girl’s dorm to sleep on. We grabbed some blankets and everyone huddled together to try and get some sleep. Sleep was a long ways off but there was not much we could do but wait till morning. Dwayne started a fire to give us some light. At 8 or 9 o’clock that evening a group from a mission further west of us stopped in. They had picked up a group from the airport that afternoon and were on their way out when the quake hit. They came through some horrible places and actually seen a wall fall on a gentleman. They stopped to try and rescue him but to no avail. Their first aid kit didn’t seem like very much after they saw some dangling limbs so they kept on going. We pulled out a few more mats for them and they settled down to try and get some sleep. The sky above us was bright and the stars seemed to twinkle overhead. Did anyone know what was happening in Haiti? If Port au Prince was hit, how was the rest of the country? Was Doudou and his family safe? I tried not to let my mind wonder too much. All night the aftershocks kept coming and each time I knew the house would collapse only yards from where we were laying. How can a house shake so much without falling?? I tried to rest in the fact that if God had allowed us to escape perhaps He would not allow any harm to come to us. If the house collapsed now, praise God he had given us a chance to run. The night seemed alive with tension but dead to the reality of the situation. We could hear someone screaming somewhere beyond the wall. Had someone just discovered a family member beneath the ruins? Was someone trapped underneath a pile of rubble? We could only speculate as we felt the earth grunt and groan beneath us all night long. I dozed off for only several minutes until once again the ground trembled and the drowsiness seemed to disappear.
Morning does come…
As the sun started peeping out over the horizon we started to get up and wondered what the day would hold. Where was the pastor? What about the church people? Were our neighbors alive? There were so many unanswered questions. Was my house still standing? I wasn’t ready to go look so two of our yard women walked down the road to see. They came back shaking their head and almost in tears. My house had collapsed along with many other houses and buildings. They saw several dead bodies that had been pulled out of the rubble and laid on the side of the road to await family members to remove them. I decided I want to go see my house so several of us walked down to see it. The destruction that we were about to see along the way was almost overwhelming. Almost every house we walked past had some kind of damage if not totally collapsed. We passed several dead bodies covered with white sheets before we arrived at my house. Normally, as you walked to my house you could see it peeping out over the top of a gas station wall but there was nothing. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had just left my house that morning like usual, locked the door and expected to return at lunch. Does God know what He’s doing? Did He know why he gave me so much work to do that day? Yes, I believe God fully realizes what He is doing. I had lived there for one month. As I stood and stared at the ruins I wondered if anyone was underneath the rubble. My house sat up on the second story and was still intact but the first floor was flatter then a pancake. I asked some onlookers if anyone was in the store underneath my house and they didn’t think there was. I couldn’t believe the roof of my house hadn’t collapsed. And then I thought of those inconvenient pillars that always got in my way every time I wanted to mop my floors or the pillar that took up most of my kitchen counter and I thought “Thank you Lord for those pillars”. But I know it took more than those pillars to hold up my house, it was God Almighty who supported the house while the whole earth shook. I could see my table and chairs inside just sitting there as if the house had always been on the first story. We walked up the street a little ways and didn’t have to walk far to encounter death. Several bodies lay beside the street covered in white sheets. People gathered around as they uncovered them and several young girls started screaming and crying upon identifying some of their family members. I felt like we were walking around in a dream. Was this real?? We walked back to the mission Home. What could we do? What did the next few days hold? It was then that I first burst into tears. The world around us has literally crumbled to the ground. What was the next step? The ground would still shutter and shake every so often creating a panic that would cause us to run for the center of the yard. We would only dare to wander over to the gate and a few of the staff were brave enough to gingerly open the door to the main house and race in and back out with some food. Heidi started cooking some food over a fire. I was too tense to eat but managed to down a little food. Around lunch I happened to be walking past the gate when I saw a familiar figure come walking up to the gate. I was overwhelmed with joy when I saw Doudou standing there. I opened the gate and burst into tears. When he heard that Leogane was hit hard and no one had heard from us he decided to come out and see if we had survived. Where he lives had only experienced a 2 on the Richter scale compared to Leogane which experienced a 7.0. He came past my house first and saw the damage not knowing if I was dead, alive or injured. What a relief to see him! The next few days are a blur. I remember I wore the same clothes for three days. No one wanted to risk going inside the buildings to grab a change of clothes plus mine were all over at my house. Finally after a few days we set up a bed frame and hung a quilt over it to construct a small space to shower behind. We had a water well in the center of the yard which was a blessing. We boiled our drinking water over the fire and tried to use it sparingly. We tried to call to the states with no success. All phone service was cut so we had no way of letting anyone know we were ok. Finally on Thursday we managed to call home each of us able to talk for ten short minutes. What a relief to be able to hear and talk to our families. Then on Friday we got the message that several of our dads were coming down and arriving in Leogane perhaps on Sunday. What joy!! I could hardly sleep those next two nights.
Saturday Doudou, Dwayne and I went down to my house to see if we could salvage the rest of my things. I had pulled out some things on Thursday but it started shaking again while they were in there so we decided the rest could wait till later. So on Saturday we pulled out almost everything else. Sunday arrived and some of us went to church. The church building still stood and none of our church people had been killed. Praise God!! I went to church in my everyday clothes but I didn’t really care. I was so grateful to be alive. Everyone could have stood up and given testimony of how God saved them from the quake but time didn’t allow. For lunch we used my potatoes that we rescued from my house, just enough for each person to have one. We didn’t know how long it would be before we were able to eat real potatoes again. The day before one of the yard women had gone to market to buy some food but came back with very little. Market no longer existed. Not even the tin roofs and the wooden posts that were used for market stands remained. Everything was gone. People were salvaging what they could to make little “tents” to sleep under. We walked thru town a few days after the quake and saw firsthand all the damage that was done. Several houses had collapsed out onto the road, power lines were down, slabs of concrete and twisted steel lay strewn everywhere. Several places smelled of decaying bodies as we walked past a crumpled house or school. Was this real? Was I dreaming? The very streets that we so often traveled were filled with displaced people wondering what to do next. I wondered if the many faces we had seen going to market or sitting beside the road day after day were still alive or were they buried beneath the ruins. Time would only tell if they escaped. I would see friends greet one another with big hugs and ask if everyone was ok. There seemed to be a “family” atmosphere in the air. Everyone was in the same boat.
There was a steady stream of people that streamed past our gate. Many were heading towards Port au Prince in search of family and friends. Some came on foot from as far away as Ti Guave and walked all the way to Carfou. Many had no money for the trip and others were unable to find a taxi. Everyone was headed to Port but after several days that changed as everyone was headed for the country, either moving all their belongings or transporting a dead family member to be buried in the country. We saw many a vehicle heading for the country with a dead body covered in a white sheet. Oh, the grief that Haiti’s people were experiencing. Were we touched by death? My landlord lady was killed while in a meeting. I had met her in November for the first time when we signed the rental papers for my house. She was a lady that seemed to have a lot of money and owned the ice factory and a gas station in Leogane along with some other buildings. Had I known she would face death in the coming months would I have shared Jesus with her? One of our yard ladies boyfriend’s mother was killed in Port au Prince. A lot of our friends knew of someone that got killed in the quake. Was it by chance that none of us got killed or hurt? Was it by chance that none of our church people were killed? I believe God’s Sovereign hand was in all of this. We may never fully understand but we do know that God’s hand of protection rested upon us that Tuesday afternoon.
Help at Last!!
The first sign of help that we saw entering Leogane was on Sunday afternoon. Five days after the quake!! Six buses filled with medical teams were escorted in by the US army. Praise God!! In the following days help came in the form of helicopters, small planes and trucks carrying medical aid, supplies, and food. The US army settled in a mile or so down the road from us, the Canadian army is based about a half mile away in the other direction and the Argentina army has settled in somewhere too. There is a group of doctors and nurses with an organization based out of Kansas City called Heart to Heart that is staying in our yard using it as a base to sleep and grab a couple meals each day. They have set up a small clinic in the stadium in town where a lot of displaced people are staying. I helped translate one afternoon which turned out to be very interesting. Many people complained of headaches, colds, high blood pressure, or even bruises suffered from an accident 2 years ago. There were also those that came with deep wounds caused by falling debris during the quake. The Canadian group that set up clinic on the other side of the stadium has done many amputations. Many did not receive medical help soon enough and are now suffering from infections.
There are still tremors at the time of this writing so please pray for the Haitians and the staff as they deal with the trauma each time the earth shakes. Each time the ground shudders underneath them it brings back all the memories of that fateful day Tuesday afternoon.
Please pray for healing in Haiti, both physically and spiritually.
Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement.
Love you all, Trish
(February 9, 2010)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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