I just arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida last night and am staying with a wonderful man who will host our other four guys too as we stage for Haiti response. He is the US leader of Vision of Hope which is a partner ministry with us in Haiti. Henoc is the Haiti leader and below you will read a report from him.
Our current plan is to fly into Cap Haitian on Tuesday, taking whatever medical supplies we can carry. The rest of the team gets in here this evening and tomorrow will be spent praying, organizing and planning. Obviously we don’t know all that we’ll face when we get to Haiti, but we do knowthere will be unbelievable needs and opportunities to respond.
Please consider partnering with us and Henoc in sharing Christ’s love. Pray. Give. www.touchglobal.org/haiti. There you will find more information and an opportunity to give. Donations will be used for immediate relief and long term recovery ministry, as we know that needs here will go on for a long time.
The earthquake happened on Tuesday evening. All communication was cut off.
We did not know what was going on except for what we were reading on the
internet and on the radio.. Because of the heavy overcast, we could not
watch CNN. I wanted to go to Port au Prince, but with no telephone
communication, it could get complicated.
Thursday morning, around 11, the telephone started to work slowly. Just one
company. So, we could try to reach anyone subscribed with Voila. However,
people in Port au Prince cannot be reached because there is no power to
charge the phone. Some have lost their phones and it takes a lot of time to
get through.
We arrived around Port au Prince at 5:00. However it took over 2 and a
half hours to travel the one mile road to the airport. People are coming in
to look for their loved ones and others are leaving town. We saw many
people on top of roof digging up flattened buildings. Stock piles of dead
human beings were everywhere. At the cemetery, and on open fields, they dig
large holes and fill them up. We found at one cemetery where they put a
pile of dead people and burned them with gasoline. To ignite the fire, they
used old tires. The smoke was going up and I call it the Smoke of Hell.
There is no fuel. However, there are lines of people by the gas stations.
They are just hoping that there will be some somehow. There are no
government ministries. Most of them have been crushed. Some senators, some
deputies, a lot of high government officials have lost their lives. There
is no one in Haiti that has not lost a loved one. The schools and
universities have been crushed to the ground with students underneath. It
happened at the end of the day when most people were still at work. Many
banks have all their employees and clients under the rubbles.
There is no water, no electricity, no store opened, no food. Dead people
are piled by the hundreds and dump trucks come by to pick them up. All the
markets have been destroyed. The prisons have been crushed. The prisoners
are on the streets and some of them have been killed by the earthquake.
There is a lot of pillage, looting, raping. There was even an exchange of
fire yesterday between the police and thieves.
People fear their homes will fall again. Everyone sleeps on the streets
where there is the smell of dead flesh.
Banks are closed, churches have been destroyed. There is nothing left. The
people sleeping on the streets don’t know for how long. They don’t even
know if they will ever return to their homes and have normal lives. Port au
Prince is a metropolitan center with 4 million people coming from all
corners of Haiti. Every one starts going back home. No money, no vehicles,
no where to go.
I left on Thursday morning and came back in the middle of the night with 18
people in the double cab Toyota. It was mainly students from CSS who are in
Port au Prince for university education. Now their houses and apartment are
destroyed and they are homeless. On Friday morning, I went back. We spent
all day looking for Sainsoir’s two daughters. One of them was found and the
other one was no where to be found. We were looking for two other girls who
go to nursing school in Port au Prince. On our way back, Sainsoir’s
daughter called us and we’ll go back on Sunday to pick her up. On that day
we rescued 23 people and we were back by 11:45 PM. Unfortunately, we had 6
flat tires.
Today, Saturday, we bought 4 brand new tires. One family from the church
had a daughter who is a nurse and had gone to Port au Prince to look for a
job. Both she and her son were found dead. The same family could not locate
their son. He was found alive under the ruins of a government building.
His leg is almost destroyed. We will pick him on Sunday to take him to a
hospital. A man from the Grande Riviere church has been found with multiple
injuries. He will come back with us. I will finish this e-mail and head to
Pignon where I will spend the night and need to be in Port au Prince before
8 am.
My cousin’s daughter was killed in school as the building collapsed and
everyone inside was killed. A graduate of CSS, Sterly Manigat, was killed.
Many other friends and loved ones were destroyed.
I have seen death, but I don’t understand it. I have seen people’s lives
destroyed and I cannot understand it. However, I trust in the Lord and that
He has a purpose for everything. Above everything His name will be praised
and there will be a reason to see His glory in the midst of chaos.
Please pray for our safety as we travel at night time and everywhere.
Please pray for strength.
Henoc
TeamDuggan 
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