Ti Goave

Thursday dawned with anticipation for me. Breaks from routine are usually welcome for me. Pastor Henri offered to take us to the southern part of Haiti to see the flood devastation. So we left at 10:45 and we soon realized we needed this time out. Bobi and I found every little thing hilarious, which made it a fun trip. Bobi, Matt (from Clean Water for Haiti) and I went. One of the special things about the trip was driving in an air-conditioned vehicle.




In Cabaret, we saw the tents that are set up for the ones that lost their homes. Now if you think of going camping, they look wonderful. If you think of living there, I think of "hot".





We went about 1 1/2 hrs West of Port au Prince. That's a very pretty, green area of Haiti.

We stopped at a small, new lake that got formed with these waters. No place to drain.



Past Petit Goave a ways is where the existing lake expanded it's borders by about 100 feet or so, now covering the Highway #2 by about 5 feet. Some trucks kept trying to get through. A gasoline semi truck got stuck and somehow spilled it's gas into the lake. It's still sitting there.


They have now barricaded the road with a couple loads of gravel to keep other daring drivers making the attempt. It's a zoo there. Everybody traveling there has to cross on canoes - I saw one speed boat. All the cargoes - vegetables, charcoal, beds, suitcases, etc has to be hauled to the canoes, crossed, and then hauled on the backs of people to the waiting trucks and buses. Can you try to imagine that? Next time you drive, imagine what the vehicles you see have in them and imagine hauling that on someone's back. Of course the situation with our bridge is similar, only we're very thankful not to have to use boats yet. I looked at these people, and just felt nobody should have to work so hard!! But they do what they have to do.



There's a path that we took that is right in front of people's houses. In fact, it ran between their house and their gate; and right outside their gate is the water, with people there constantly. What a sad place to live right now!!





They're talking of making a complete new road higher up the mountains that are running right beside it so who knows how much longer this will be. The water doesn't look like it'll go anywhere any time soon.

One past time that we find hilarious while driving is looking at all the art on vehicles. Pastor Henri was a wonderful tour guide pointing out this and that. Then: "and here we have Abram killing Isaac". At first we're like, What? Then we looked at the following bus in front of us:

On the way back P. Henri took us 10 minutes up the mountains to give us a beautiful view of Haiti.



This has taken awhile to send because I've been waiting to send it with pictures and I'm unable to post pictures from Canaan. Internet is too slow. So I managed to get some uploaded at Chris and Leslie's today. We had our bimonthly meeting again today. It's good to get out and meet other people.

The temporary bridge in Mont-rouis is now passable and we have all our vehicles back at Canaan. How nice that feels. Now we need to pray that that bridge will hold all the traffic. I haven't seen it yet but I understand they put culverts in the river and covered them with gravel. Our other broken bridge seems more fragile than ever. There's talk of it breaking more. Hopefully it won't, cause that would really be bad for foot traffic, etc. And dangerous.

Yesterday, Bobi, Mark and I were able to take the afternoon off and spend some time in the ocean. We needed that time. I had tried to relax in the morning too - Saturdays are our times of relaxing, but if there, there are always all kinds of interruptions. They're preparing a "bachelor apartment" for me and doing the last minute painting. Maybe by next weekend I can move in. Yea!!! Now to go shopping for some curtains and furniture. Will see if/when that will happen.

I hope you all have a great week! Touch someone's life in a personal way!!
Elsie Kornelsen

Phone Number

OK, I’ve bought me a new phone (palm treo actually – didn’t trust Iphones to work here) so here’s my new number if anyone ever feels God telling you to call me! Ha! It’s with a different Haitian company, so I should have better service coverage now. I can actually receive calls from any part of my bedroom; before it was only by my window. 509-3859-9716 To call from another country you would have to add your country code to call out, i.e. 011, or 001.

Last night Bobi and I went to a birthday party in St Marc. We asked Matt from ‘Clean water for Haiti mission’ to go too, and he drove. It was a most entertaining evening, the ride being almost the funniest. Nothing like it in North America so I won’t even start to compare it to something. Needless to say, my head touched the truck ceiling several times, and I wasn’t sure if all the contents of my purse were still in the purse. Bobi had met Shekina on the plane on her way here. She’s with YWAM, so I was glad to get to know that place in St Marc too. I won’t say they’re 25 minutes from here, but I will say that’s what it took us to come home.

The town of Cabaret, spoken of before, is still being bombarded with water. Incredible how one town keeps getting it. You’d think the hurricanes are gone now.... but apparently there’s been a tropical storm somewhere, and that area’s been getting some rain again, especially on the mountains. It must be the new “paths” the river created, but yesterday the town was covered in water and mud again (this is the same town we went to visit, where we saw the dead baby). Sister Gladys said as they were driving through it, she saw people just standing there crying; didn’t even seem to have the energy to shovel out the mud again.

Here’s another thing to pray about. We heard of this baby from Gonaives that lost both of her parents in the flood – waters apparently washed them away. The baby had been with this other lady. She is now asking if we can take this baby girl of 2 months. So we’ll see what happens next week. Sometimes the desperation causes people to make up stories, so we have to try to verify what they say. If this did happen, this may become my baby (in Canaan). They tell me of this boy that was trying to get to the States and he had to prove both his parents were dead. Guess who helped him get all the documents – his own dad! Imagine the desperation when you forge your own death certificate!

Ok, this was just suppose to be a quick one to let those of you who have been asking for my phone number know what it is, so I better quit.

God bless you all, right where you are!
Elsie

Hi, me again.

I'm writing tonight mostly by Sister Gladys' request to let you all know things are still very difficult here. In a way it seems to be getting worse, especially for Canaan. Though a lot of the water has receded, the difficulty of living in Haiti is now worse. Food is hard to get, or very expensive. With the bridge still out for who knows how much longer... it's making it very difficult.

We continually have to borrow other people's trucks. With constant trips to the bridge for people to catch our vehicles on the other side, what we really need is a small 4 wheeler or something that is good on diesel. Ha! Gas and diesel are also going up continually with the prices.

Drinking water is becoming an issue for us and Haiti. The water pipes that we have been getting our drinking water from don't have enough water now so we have to find other ways. Our friend Chris from 'Clean Water for Haiti' has been generous and is allowing us to fill all our drums from his well, but so do a lot of other people. We even have to ask to use his truck for it!

With hosting people from Gonaives, it's also putting strain on Canaan. It's difficult to buy all the food so many people need, what with the food prices. To buy only spaghetti for everybody for one meal costs close to $50.00 USD, and that used to be one of the cheaper meals, which here by the way is often a breakfast food as well (you can imagine the cost of food for a month). Everything has gone up. Pastor Henri and Sister Gladys were in Port, checking prices and trying to find the best prices and they came back pretty stressed.

If anyone would wish to donate food to Canaan for the orphanage and to share, we have an address that you could ship food or anything else to, i.e. clothes (no winter clothes please!!). We are preparing a container to be shipped here. We especially need canned vegetables - any kind really.

If you want to send something, please call the lady in charge in Miami before shipping something so she can expect it. Her name and phone numbers are:

Sandra
H – 561-540-8784
C – 561-667-1731

Miami address for container:

Gull Atlantic
c/o TIC (Togetherness In Christ)
3200 NW 125 ST
N. Miami, FL, 33167

Thank you so much for continuing to remember us and the Haitian people who are suffering. It's good to be able to help them - a lot of people came today from the mountains, who's houses got washed away, to pick up the clothes we've collected so far from Canaan here, and for some of the food we got ready for them. Thank you so much for all who sent money to make it possible for us to help them.

Keeping on,
Elsie Kornelsen

Suturing

Hi everybody,



This is going to be short, because I am extremely tired and I only have about 20 minutes before the power goes off. I feel like I've been going all day. Morning clinic took till after 1 p.m., then malnutrition clinic at 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. Right after supper, I was called to see one of the young boys, Wendy. He's six or seven. Why do boys play so rough?? He got kicked in the cheek by the shoe of another young 'un, and had a one inch gash on the inside of his cheek, behind the upper teeth. What a horrible place to have to suture!!! Hard to get to, especially with no equipment to hold it open. I debated for awhile if it was within my scope of 'daring to do', and decided I'd give it a try. OK, it was definitely not my choice of location for my "first ever" suturing! He lost two teeth in the hit also. Blood in the mouth galore. So I spread him out in the dining room table (best lighting) and took a deep breath and a quick prayer, and recruited my new helper, Bobi (who was ever so good, considering she doesn't handle blood very well and had to leave the room for an IV at the clinic). On top of the regular light, I had to have someone hold the flashlight. Anyway, I got it done and hope it'll hold and not get infected. Please pray for little Wendy. He was more brave than any patient I can imagine, including adults. I couldn't believe him. I was very impressed!!! So now I feel like if I can suture that, I can suture anywhere. I wondered what my first would be like. So there, Doctor Ric!


So this week another tropical storm is hitting Haiti. We don't have a lot of rain here, but in Port and Cabaret it's been raining, and is suppose to continue for a couple days. Cabaret is now flooded again. The poor people! They're still shoveling the mud out of their houses and ditches from the last storm!! Pray for them!

Please continue to pray for the work here, especially the leaders. Sister Gladys is struggling with the pain of the passing of a very close cousin of hers, and she can't go spend time with her family. Plus other difficult issues here and the burden of the Haitian people suffering. It's a lot for one person. This week we brought some of the people from Gonaives here - they're staying awhile. They lost everything but their lives there from the flood. They tell stories of watching people float by in the water, and they helpless. One heart-renching story is of a mother with two children. Losing the grasp of one she had to make a quick decision of which to let go. Sad thing, they probably all lost their lives.

God bless you all as you serve him in the spot where you are! Make life count!!

ELSIE KORNELSEN

Pictures

Beautiful Haiti



Our bridge that's down - what a bunch of problems this is giving the whole area and further north







The river split and came on both sides of this house, washing the ground away















Broken houses





Laundry - Everything had to be washed and dried. This water is actually dirtier than it looks.






This is where they took me to see the body they found.

Food/St Marc

Hello,

Another week is almost over - and what a week! Our clinic has been very slow; I guess people are either busy with cleaning up their houses, or they lost their money, or they can't travel. Which has allowed me to take some time off from the clinic and go with Sister Gladys to look at what has happened and to go buy food.

After seeing what we did on Wed. we all came home wondering what in the world can we do! Sister Gladys went straight to the containers to see what she could find as far as clothing and things and has kept the guys here busy sorting clothes, etc.

Yesterday, Sister Gladys, Bobi, and I went to St Marc. (Bobi joined us this Tuesday to help me in the Medika Mamba program and will also help out with the adult evening school, and knowing her for the 3 days I do, I have a feeling she'll do lOTS more here. We're fast becoming close friends and she's already a big blessing to me. She's had quite the dramatic Haitian welcome.) Anyway, we used a small pickup of another missionary which happened to be on this side of the bridge. We went to a hardware store where Canaan usually does that kind of shopping because the owner is an unChrisitian friend who is very supportive of Canaan and gives discount prices, etc. He was telling us more about St Marc's victims, etc. He said he had fed 800 people after it happened. He called around to some friends of his and managed to get us discounts for the rice, flour, and sugar we went to buy. It is really impressive how people stick together. In one place they were giving out tickets for water to the people who don't have their homes anymore, and they were desperately crowding the gates. It's hard to wait around, because there are so many people that are hungry.

We spent $1,000.00 and got 5 bags (110 lbs) of rice, 5 of sugar, 5 of flour, 3 of beans, 2 smaller ones of cornmeal. This we've been busy putting into family-size packages, including some toothbrushes, razors (we happened to have them here at Canaan). This will give about 100 packages, we hope. We also are going to include a little bit of money so they can buy some essentials they need themselves. So the more money we get in, the more families we can help.

We went with a vehicle that was too small for all of it so today the three of us went back, borrowing Chris' truck, and I was the allocated driver. It was quite the adventure. The roads are so bad now.... So bad, we had one board we bought sticking out the back and it split and broke off on a bump. Hmmm! That was a funny moment for Bobi, walking back to find a piece of board. Not so much for me.

I have been spending hours trying to upload pictures that I have, to share with you. For some reason I don't know, it's just not working. Since Bobi is having the same problem, maybe it would just be too powerful, if you know what I mean. Anybody have other ideas, or knows how one can do that, please let me know. I would love to share mine with you, just don't know how! I did manage to upload two or so, including of the body of the baby I saw to my facebook, for those who have my facebook.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. There's a lot to do around here. Pray especially for Sister Gladys, who has such a great, soft heart, and feels the 'responsibility' to help so strongly. Pray that she'll stay physically healthy, as Satan always seems to attack physically first. Even I woke up with the weirdest, worst headache of my life, I think, on Thursday morning. Please also continue to share this hurricane need with family and friends and if anyone wants to help, please go to the following website where you can pay online with a credit card or send in a check: http://www.canaanorphanage.org/ If you want to send a wire to us directly, look on my prior email for wiring info.
(For those that don't know us, please be assured this money all goes to help the victims. Feel free to ask about us if you're unsure.)

OK, the evening is over, I've spent most of it trying to upload pictures that wouldn't upload, lights out in about half an hour, and I need to cool. It seems a long day, since I spent the afternoon at the school, learning out to be supervisor in the evening school, as I'm going to need to start doing that one evening a week. Those nights go till 10 p.m., more or less. But tomorrow is Sat. and they often are our days of rest.

God bless you for caring and sharing. Many of you have responded wonderfully and we're so grateful. The kids love helping to make the food packages, so we're happy they're going to be able to continue with more. Once this food emergency is past we need to start looking at the housing emergency. If there's anybody that would like to come help construct buildings, there's lots of opportunities coming up!!

Thank you for reading this and caring!!!
Elsie Kornelsen

Website correction

I misspelled the address of the webesite where you can go to donate if you want. I am so sorry! Please see corrected one.



THANK YOU!



Elsie


http://www.canaanorphanage.org/

Oh my friends!!
Tonight I am overwhelmed. I don’t know what to think. God chose me to see something today and my stomach is still revolting every time I think about it. I’m debating whether I can even put the pictures up, but it tells the story of how badly Haiti needs help better than I ever could, so I think I’ll post it.

Please friends, if you can, consider sending some money for us to help people that have lost everything.

Today Sister Gladys took me, Mark, and Bobi to the city of Cabaret. This is the city where in my last post I posted the article where the bodies were in the river. The river there just overflowed it’s banks, taking with it whatever in it’s path – ground, houses, people, etc. It created new banks. In some places there’s a big tree and nothing else; before it was in someone’s yard. Now you can’t even see that there use to be houses. Other places you could see a bunch of dried mud heaped into the houses, where the water has now receded. We stopped at a pastor’s church. He showed us how high the water had come IN the church.

Bobi is 5’9” and the water went in through the windows.

While there, someone was yelling in the street and they interpreted “someone found the body of another baby”. I’m like, really? Just like that? We were beside the main road, Highway 1. Sister Gladys told me to go look (you’re the doctor) – they wanted only one of us to go) so they took me back behind a few houses. All the way we’re stepping from stone to stone or block to avoid stepping in mud (not normal mud – mud that you can tell was from receded water) until we came to this somewhat open area among other houses. At first I’m like where? In front of me was an old house, falling apart. On the others side houses that looked slightly better. There was a tree. And then I saw it. I was shocked. A child covered in dirt, bloated, discoloured, stiff.... It reminded me of a big doll, only my stomach revolted because I knew it wasn’t. It was a baby, washed in by the waters and mud, and apparently the dogs had started on her. Lord, have mercy!!! And they said her body was in good shape compared to many others they found. They have found at least 60 there already. I was going to post a picture because it brings the misery and loss to the surface but my blogger's not cooperating. Maybe I'm not supposed to. Will try another time; it really is a strong reality check.

We have been talking about the needs – where, how, to help. So many have lost their houses, so we’re making plans for construction. But after today, we’ve realized that they still have such immediate needs – food! Clothing!
Sister Gladys has already gone through our containers and packed boxes full of clothes, shoes, sheets, etc and sent them down to Cabaret. (from now on if you're going to visit Canaan, we'll have to ask you to bring your own sheets and a towel and if possible leave them here to replace the ones we gave away) There are so many people that lost everything. The pastor we talked to said people haven’t eaten. There was a truck selling or giving water and people were desperate. Other people were taking water out of the river to drink, or washing their clothes in it, and this water is brown. Next thing you know they’ll get sick from it.

So our immediate plans are to make food packets for families – and to tell you the truth, we need money. Canaan just doesn’t have the resources to provide everything!! I will include our wiring information at the end if you can help.

You can also send money to Chris Hlavecek. Make the check out to Canaan Orphanage and mail it to: 4060 Tory Creek Rd, Highlandville, MO 65669. Or, you can log on to http://www.canaanorphanage.com/ and give using a credit card. All donations are tax deductible.

Please let us know if you’re wiring money directly to us in Haiti, so we’ll know right away that it’s there and what it's for. People are hungry TODAY.

How desperate would you have to be to yell at a passing truck in anger, because they’re driving through your town, and not helping you? We saw that with one man. He was so upset at us. MANY others would spread their hands as we’re driving through. Hungry! Help! Hopeless!

So right now we’re focusing on immediate relief and then we’ll focus on the construction/housing needs. Update on those plans coming later.

On behalf of the Haitian people, thank you so much for sharing what you can. We really, really do appreciate it.

God bless you!

Elsie

Wiring info

Bank of America
New York
SWIFT: BOFAUS3N
ABA NO.026009593

FOR CREDIT SOGEBANK
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
SWIFT: SOGHHTPP

LES MINISTERES TET KOLE NAN KRIS
0190001990

Hurricane IKE

This is a "news report" an acquaintance living in Haiti sent to me, if you want to read more about THIS storm. We're starting to ask, when will it stop? Cabaret is a town we drive through every time we go to Port. For the trucks having to go through that town where the bridge broke is a round about way because OUR bridge in Montrouis broke...


Toll in Haiti from Ike climbs to 600; Cuba evacuates half-millionHAVANA (AFP) — Hurricane Ike took aim at Cuba Sunday after leaving 20 people dead in Haiti, where fatalities from a succession of powerful storms in the past few weeks now tops 600.Ike was downgraded Sunday from a Category Four hurricane to a still potentially devastating Category Three, as Cuba evacuated hundreds of thousands in a frantic bid to evade the storm's fury.Officials in Haiti meanwhile, continued aid operations in the flood-stricken town of Gonaives, which has borne the brunt of recent flooding and seen untold misery and destruction .Ike plowed across the low-lying Turks and Caicos overnight as a powerful Category Four storm, causing some injuries and extensive damage on the British territory and tourist haven, Bahamas radio reported.The hurricane then raked the southeastern Bahamian island of Great Inagua, toppling trees, blowing off roofs, causing an island-wide power failure and forcing many of its one thousand residents to seek refuge in shelters, a resident told AFP by telephone.With winds decreasing slightly to 120 miles (195 kilometers) per hour, the storm was forecast to roar ashore in eastern Cuba Sunday night as a Category Three "major hurricane" on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.But the immediate concern was its effect on Haiti , where a humanitarian crisis was unfolding after flooding from Ike and previous storms Hanna and Gustav left around 600 people dead and thousands in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter.With winds near 215 kilometers (135 miles) per hour, the storm's outer bands lashed Haiti's vulnerable northwest coast with torrential rain.Hundreds of bodies were found in flood-prone Gonaives, a town of 350,000 in northwestern Haiti, after a five-meter (16-foot) wall of water and mud engulfed much of the town. The storm followed on the heels of Hanna, last week's massive storm.United Nations peacekeepers on Saturday evacuated several thousand residents from Gonaives, a local official said, but thousands more are still awaiting relief.Some 650,000 Haitians have been affected by the flooding, including 300,000 children, and the task of delivering crucial aid has been complicated by dismal transport conditions, according to UNICEF.Officials said 200,000 people have been without food and clean water, many for four days.At least 20 people were found dead Sunday in Cabaret, 13 of them children, when a torrent of muddy water raged through the village, the region's parliamentarian said."What has happened here is unimaginable," deputy Pierre-Gerome Valcine told AFP from Cabaret, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the capital Port-Au-Prince."Many homes were destroyed in Cabaret, and we have seen some bodies of children in the water," added a journalist for UN radio who spent the night on the roof of his house.Massive flooding over the past week in the poorest country in the Americas has triggered a humanitarian crisis that was worsening by the day -- and prompted prayers from Pope Benedict XVI."I want to remember the dear population of Haiti, greatly distressed in recent days by passing hurricanes," Benedict told pilgrims on the Italian island of Sardinia.Continuing stormy weather hampered relief efforts Sunday, when heavy rains led to the collapse of a key bridge which severed the only viable land route to Gonaives.The bridge gave way overnight at the town of Mirebalais in central Haiti, forcing three trucks loaded with emergency supplies and bound for Saint-Marc, where thousands of desperate flood refugees from Gonaives were crowding into shelters, to turn back, according to a World Food Programme official.Many bridges in other areas of Haiti have also collapsed, homes have been washed away and crops ravaged.Meanwhile, more than 600,000 people in Cuba began evacuations Sunday ahead of the Ike's arrival, including 9,210 foreign tourists who were moved out of Varadero, a tourism mecca about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Havana.Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Machado, meeting with authorities in Holguin, urged people to "carry out the evacuation in an orderly and speedy fashion," and to take steps to "avoid the loss of life."Ike was expected to eventually careen past Florida into the Gulf of Mexico and sweep toward Louisiana and the storm-battered city of New Orleans as early as Tuesday.

More about Hannah

....More on Hannah....

So Leslie picked me up today to go see the Montrouis bridge. WOW! Apparently the high waters of the river have washed away the ground under the big cement pillar. It’s not a pillar exactly, it’s the whole width of the bridge (maybe they call them that anyway, I don’t know). So the whole base sunk further into the ground on the one side, which then separated the point where the bridge comes together. So the bridge isn’t exactly broken, but the middle of it goes down. I’ll try to send some photos if Leslie will email me hers. My camera has gone berserk – everything comes out looking like red sunset streaks. (anybody know what that means in a camera???)

This road is the main road to all of the northern country. With the bridge uncrossable, people are going to run out of food and living essentials pretty quick. Pray it won’t take long. They have a ‘cat’ in the river, piling stones and gravel to the middle of the river in order to divert the waters from the pillar. Looks like that could take awhile yet. There is another road somewhere in Haiti, but it’s a bad one, and who knows if crossable. There’s a dinky road that runs on the top of the mountains, but I can’t imagine that one having all it’s puny bridges so this one has to get fixed. One blessing is they have a lot of heavy road equipment close at hand already. We’re glad we have two vehicles on the other side of the bridge – at least we can go to Port for supplies. The bridge is still walkable. It’s a mayhem there. Buses and taptaps are now parked on either side, and people are hauling produce over the bridge on wheelbarrows and their heads. It’s a zoo.

The situation in Haiti is REALLY bad!!

If you’ve heard about the city called Gonaieve that was flooded in 2004 (I think), the same city is again totally flooded. And that is only one place. It’s both in the north and the south. AND the problem Haiti could be facing now is that international ‘people or companies or governments’ don’t want to help because last time the funds/products weren’t spent well. So the people suffer because of the corrupt government.
So many people have died already. Even in Montrouis. Houses swept away with the people in them, or huge boulders/rocks hitting houses. (don’t imagine your house; imagine huts). The frustrations lead to other pains as well. I don’t know if this is the reason, but one of my little 11 month mamba patients was brought to me today by her 9 or 10 (I’d guess) yr old uncle. Said the mom brought the baby last Thursday to the paternal grandma and said she had nothing so now the grandma could take her. Apparently the father doesn’t help either. They don’t know where the mom went. And she’s such a cute little thing! The stories could go on.

We’re in a bit of a dilemma because everyone thinks Canaan has money, we have to help them. Compared to them, we do have a lot, but cash isn’t exactly flowing for an orphanage of this size. They can’t seem to grasp it. So pray for wisdom on who and when to help. The hearts of some of these people are amazing to watch. Some of them aren’t getting much more than $20.00 USD a month, and they told Sister Gladys she can use that money, they’ll waive their monthly wage to help someone else. Would we do that??? It puts me to shame.

.... to be continued I'm sure

Elsie

Storms

Tuesaday, Sept 2, 08

From the book 'The Shack' by William P. Young


"There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. Snow or freezing rain suddenly releases you from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of disappointments and schedules. And unlike illness, it is largely a corporate rather than individual experience. One can almost hear a unified sigh rise from the nearby city and surrounding countryside where Nature has intervened to give respite to the weary humans slogging it out within her purview. All those affected this way are united by a mutual excuse, and the heart is suddenly and unexpectedly a little giddy. There will be no apologies needed for not showing up to some commitment or other. Everyone understands and shares in this singular justification, and the sudden alleviation of the pressure to produce makes the heart merry."



Storms are something I've always loved. Now I know one of the reasons why. And here in Haiti, there's another one - it's cooler.

We are in the middle of Hurricane Hannah. Our rains started Monday night, went ALL night and was still coming down steady in the morning. I'm learning - there'll be no patients; so I allowed myself to sleep in and I was still one of the first few in the cafeteria this morning. With the storms it's also darker than normal, and without electricity, you find a different spot to read.

So the course of the day was laid back for everyone, as we sat (or stood) to observe the non-ending rain, sometimes accompanied by strong winds that even let you start feeling like this might be coming from a hurricane. What that did for me was remind me again that this is not a good thing for Haiti at all. This is now the third hurricane in as many weeks that has hit, and each has killed between 20 -50 people at least, maybe lots more. And this one seems to be the worst yet. We know of at least 3 towns/cities that are flooded, and many lost their lives. In one city of about 70,000 every single tin roof got blown away (is what they tell me). So there are A LOT of people suffering. Which definitely dampens my enjoyment of our rain. We'll see how long it'll last - supposedly all week. And then the watch is also on Ike - he's out there also, approaching. And after that, Josephine. This is a busy hurricane season!!! Please remember the people suffering....

I spent most of the day reading or playing games with the kids, since they had no school. Yea, they may live in the yard that has the school and you may think - why not have school? How about the rain coming in the windows, getting their books wet, and the floors and everything being a mess? Yes, rain's bad in Haiti. Some of the kids were hussled off to bed at around 6 p.m. already, so no movie night for them. Mark and I had our own on my laptop. I'm just glad we have the generator. We were out of diesel and thought we might not be able to get any.

One thing we've found out with this rain is how old some of our tin roofs are - there's a lot of leakage!! (at least there still is a roof!). Also, with the wind, beds had to be moved or changed because a lot of our windows have nothing but screens in front of them. Hmmm, nice when it's hot, but... I even got a 'housemate' for the night because her bed got all soaked.

I worry about our malnourished patients - no mamba for the second week in a row??? Thankfully the child I'm most concerned about right now (the one with the big belly) came yesterday. Please keep him in prayers - he went a week without the mamba and gained over a kilo (that's over 2 pounds) but it's not fat - he was more swollen again. He really shouldn't be without it. He comes from a town that's also flooding.

Bummers, the generator was just cut off and I was almost ready to send this. Well, till tomorrow then!

OK, it's Wednesday, another rainy day, though not as steady. P. Henri, S.Gladys, Mark and I took a drive this morning because they were getting quite a few calls for help. We went into Montrouis. They said quite a few houses were washed away. I don't think anyone died. Apparently with the river rising, it went a different direction at some point before joining the ocean and took houses with it. We drove by a beach and could see how high the ocean had come - banana plants across the road were sitting in water. Also in one area going up the mountain a bit, a number of houses fell.... And we got stuck for awhile in gravel that was too soft. They had to call for the truck to come pull us out. We then drove to Pierrre Payen, 15 min north of us. The rivers are roaring and brown!! There's a bridge there that P. Henri wouldn't risk driving over because apparently it's shaking.... the waters have washed away too much of it's base. Now tonight, Jamil our driver is coming home from Port with groceries (trying to stock up a bit since we don't know what we're in for) and called from the bridge in Montrouis that he can't cross - apparently it's tilted or something, and the police aren't allowing traffic over it. So I was called to start the van (that doesn't have papers) to drive down and they'd carry everything over the bridge. However, the van hasn't been driven for so long, it wouldn't start, despite taking the battery out of our bus.... So we'll see what they come up with next. This is not a good thing!!!! A lot of traffic and business will be stopped if that bridge closes.

Otherwise the day's been uneventful. I did get 3 Mamba patients. - 2 sisters, not more that 14 and 9 I'd guess, brought their 3 yr old sister and another 7-8 yr old (if that) brought her two little sisters (10 months and 2 yrs old) who are both in the program. They live close to each other and all came together. What a bunch of children - coming for food. I'm glad they did, though it would have been nice if at least one mom came. It's hard to think of a 7 yr old carrying her baby sister for an hour or more. The two yr old is my darling of the program (is it ok for me to have one?? :) Then they begged for taptap money. They can walk which they often do, but it takes a long time. And they had 9 kilos of mamba between them all. What's a little over a dollar to get them home, eh? They said the 3 yr old's house was one of the ones that was destroyed. (that's a family with 7 kids, already so poor).

OK, I better stop before this gets much longer, or you'll never want to open my blog again. Thanks for praying and please continue.... There's a lot of suffering and difficulty in Haiti right now. And if anyone is burdened to help financially, get in touch, either with me or someone you know.

God bless and protect us all!!!
Elsie