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.