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