Dear Friends,
This is Thursday, August 19th, day 6 of the earthquake crisis in SW Haiti. Let me begin by thanking you for your generous response to the need of the Haitian people. I never cease to be amazed by their resilience and by your willingness to stand with them in the middle of disaster. Below are some updates:
- Our partnership with Team Rubicon continues to go well. We are hosting, transporting, and translating for their medical team. It is so fulfilling to see the return on the investment that all of you have made in our young people as they support the effort to help their own people. The funds you provided for English lessons are paying off as our own students will be serving as translators for these relief teams.
- Pastor Louis reported this morning that they were still feeling aftershocks late yesterday so we have not yet returned to full utilization of our standing buildings. The initial engineer’s review of the buildings indicates that we are in good shape at Cambry but both the church in Les Cayes and the office immediately behind it will need to be torn down and replaced.
- We were able to purchase a supply of tarps, rope and duct tape in Port au Prince and our Port au Prince driver (Naz) sent it to our team in Les Cayes yesterday. This allows us to create shelter for the family of our doctor, the widows we support and some of the pastors of the ESMI churches who lost their homes in the earthquake. This delivery, though small relative to the overall need, will give Pastor Louis resources to address the most crushing needs for shelter for those who are part of our ministry. The needs in this regard are immense so we are asking our supporters to also purchase tents and tarps through Amazon to be shipped to us and then to Haiti by our air freight partners at Agape Flight. You can find these details on Facebook at Give Hope Global.
- We have made plans to send a team down in the next two weeks which will include veteran team members to address both medical and construction issues. For security reasons, we are keeping the details of that mission confidential until we have arrived safely and begun our work.
- Our Medical Directors, Dr. Flannery and Dr. Ferdinands are working to acquire and purchase medications and supplies to send with the team and to also support the work of Team Rubicon. Our Give Hope Advisors are at work in many ways helping to get the word out, raising funds, securing supplies, updating the website and planning next steps.
- So far, our food and water supplies have been sufficient to meet the needs of our students and staff. Our partners at ESMI have secured some bulk shipments of food which will be helpful to many people in the coming days. We are tracking this need carefully to be certain that we can sustain those who are counting on us and also help the broader community.
- Pastor Louis is working almost around the clock to help as many of the citizens of Les Cayes as he possibly can. He is incredibly well connected and resourceful. He and his wife, Martina, are on the radio speaking the Gospel to all the people of Haiti on a daily basis. Please pray for them and the team of people we have working alongside them there.
Once again, thank you for your support. The need is great. You can text haitiearthquake 44-321, go to givehopeglobal.org/donate, or mail to Give Hope Global PO Box 2017 Fort Mill, SC 29716.