Life Goes On

Here are some photos from Port au Prince. The building above is the Palace (like our White House). So much destruction there! It's hard to imagine how they will ever rebuild. Thousands are living in tent cities in any open area where people can put together temporary shelters - even on the medium of the roads!

Yet, amazingly the Haitan people go on. Vendors are back out on the streets, stores that were not destroyed are starting to reopen and one of the commerical airlines has resumed flights into Port au Prince.

Below are some photos of the food, tent and tarp distributions we've had at Christianville. As you can see there are many in need. To date we have givn out literally tons of food, over 1000 tarps and dozens of tents to people in the surrounding communities.

School has not resumed yet. We have to wait for the Haitian government to give us the OK to reopen. Since the med clinic is using the remaining school buildings (we lost our high school and kindergarten buildings) we will have school in tents. We have been able to get some large Army-style tents that should hold quite a few kids. Still, we may need to hold classes in split sessions, some kids coming in the morning and some in the afternoon.

We are getting ready to go back to the States for our annual Board meeting and some R & R, visiting family and friends. We're looking forward to being away from the aftershocks that make you hold your breath, wondering if its another "big one". We're all sleeping inside again but most of us are not in our own homes. Several of the missionaries are living in the guest house because their homes were destroyed. We're staying in the home of our former guest house coordinators who have gone back to the US. Our house is not safe to live in till some repairs are done.

Residences are pretty far down on the rebuild list. Our first priority will be to repair the church (we are currently having services outside). Then we will start to work on the clinics and schools. Thankfully many construction teams have already signed up to come down and help us rebuild. Their willingness to serve is really a blessing!