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