Hello dear friends,
Thank you very much for your prayers and for caring. We are doing well. Right now we are in Carrefour. For two days I have been sleeping in a tent on a mattress. Before I was sleeping outdoors with the others.
Yesterday it was raining for the first time, but only 10-15 minutes. It was enough to get wet. We pray, that it will not rain anymore - because the people do not live in their houses. The word building has become a sensitive word. Everybody who walks into a building, tries to get out as soon as possible. Every day we still feel afterschocks.
In Port-au-Prince people are trying to get back to a normal life. Here you see a lot UN and other Aid Oranisations as well as mobile clinics. Many people leave the city to go to the countryside.
In Carrefour the situation is different. In this part of the city there are almost no Aid Organisations and no physicians. Ricardo´s house was levelled off and several tents were built up where some of the group stay overnight. Today a large tent will be put up and equipped to examine and treat the sick. Our group is consisting of Haitians, Americans, French and Germans. Every morning we have a prayer meeting and review the situation.
One group is working in a hospital, another one is going into camps, trying to take care of the sick and injured, another one is going “from door to door” and one group is trying to transport the seriously ill to the hospital. Yesterday we have put together 6000 $ US to buy a suitable vehicle, but they were either too expensive or in need of repair. So for now we have rented a car. The sick and injured people are so seriuosly ill, that they can not wait another day, but need medical help right away. In the meantime our partner church in the USA shared our urgent need for a pick-up truck and God heared our prayer. Somebody donated a 2006 Nissan King Cab, which is to be used for transporting the injured.
In Port-au-Prince there is an international organisation with enough physicians to help us. But everyone is frightened of Carrefour (security problems). A group of the German television station ZDF promised to join us and report on it, but today we are still waiting for them. We have called them a few times, but they preferred to stay in Gonaives.
People here are very thankful when we visit them. The fear of violence that many organisations have is understandable yet not very helpful – when the Haitians are treated decent, the great majority of them responds very friendly. Off course there are many criminals who went free from the prisons after the earthquake and now terrorise the people.
When we have to take the seriously injured to the hospital, one of us foreigners has to be present, otherwise they are not admitted to the clinic. Some had been waiting up to 3 hours only to return home without any treatment. It is hard to describe what we are expieriencing here. Sometimes we move around till late at night.
Right now we are trying to provide food to the needy. A lot of food is coming into the country and we are trying to get some before we have to buy it at high prices. Arche Nova, a German Aid Organisation from Dresden will pass by - to see whether they can give us a water purification system for the people here. The GTZ, also a German Aid Organisation, is providing food for the people. A Dutsch Organisation will supply us with a truck, so that we can transport food to Carrefour maybe on Monday.
From another organisation we can get tarps, so that the people are better protected against the rain. Yesterday evening we prayed for a man who had lost so much weight that he is only skin and bones.
Since we have still problems with our internet-connection and Jonas has not been able to send pictures we have posted two pictures from Beth McHoul. She and her husband John - and many others do an incredible work in Haiti. We bless them!
Prayer requests:
most urgent:
prayer for strength, courage, wisdom, comfort
we still need another vehicle for transportation of food
physicians, nurses etc.
for the long term:
work teams
earthquake-proof housing
housing for orphans
schools
healing for spirit, soul and body
finances
Lots of love - Jonas
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