A Sawmill for Jeremie!

https://www.gofundme.com/HaitiRelief-FLC7

Container Arrives Safe and Sound!

All the building materials and supplies have safely arrived in Jeremie and the process of distribution to the outlying churches and people has begun!

Thanks to your generosity, we were able to send almost a thousand sheets of roofing steel, 12 cordless drills, 50 bags of roofing screws, over 300 12’ 2x4s and 2x6s, 50 “garage in a box” heavy duty tents with sidewall kits, 100 tarps, seeds and more! Praise the Lord for all of this! And again, thank you!

The committee and church leaders met with Bryan and they decided that reconstruction of the outlying church buildings would be first priority, as they are used for countless community activities and services and can also house people while they are rebuilding their homes.  Tarps and tents have been distributed for temporary shelters as well!

The Back Story

On October 4, 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti along the tip of the southern peninsula, hitting Lisa’s mom’s home town of Jeremie, where we have worked for two decades and our parents and grandparents before us.  News broadcasts were painting a horrific picture of death and destruction along much of Haiti’s southern coastal regions. The death toll reached 1,000 and we lost 8 of our church members.

Our daughter, Kate, was in North Dakota and planned to leave immediately.  She and Bryan linked up in Port-au-Prince and connected with Jon Fussle, who was our pilot after the earthquake, and he was able to fly us to Jeremie in a single-engine plane.

The damage is unbelievable.  The once lush, green hillsides were brown, stripped of all leaves, and many big trees had branches completely gone, or were laying on the ground. Bryan got choked up just looking at it.  At moments like those, one looks around and gets a feeling of utter hopelessness, that things will never be the same again for so many. This region was also Haiti’s fruit producer. The devastation of the forests is an enormous hit to the entire nation.

Bryan met with church leaders and close friends to determine the course of action.  It seemed best to try to get tarps, tents, and building materials there as soon as possible. Every one of our ten churches lost their roofs and probably 80% of rural homes have been completely destroyed. The people lost what little they had.

Lisa put together a medical team that would leave within a week.  That group would be small, pack light, carry in their own food and water-filtration supplies as well as medical supplies.

It seemed the cards were stacked against them at first.  Roads to Jeremie were completely impassible. The fog in Port-au- Prince was so heavy, they could not leave by air.  There were no boats traveling  to the Gran d’Anse province either.  Finally, we were able to charter a bus when the road was passable.  So, two days later, we were on our way to Jeremie.

We walked and motorcycled in and around Jeremie and treated people who were temporarily living in schools and large buildings.  There were hundreds of people packed into these places, just trying to stay dry and find something to eat.  We spent the next few days walking up the mountain behind Jeremie, treating people there, and set up a temporary clinic.  We traveled to the village of Leon where we again treated those who were injured.

When the medical team came home, Kate chose to stay behind and continue her mission of food distribution and wound care, which has been a tremendous blessing to the people. We are very proud of our brave and compassionate daughter! 

Bryan returned home and began to assemble a shipping container of supplies.  He called his contacts from local building suppliers and distributors, and got a detailed list of pricing and quantities that were significantly discounted for the work. Our brothers and sisters contributed toward this cause and responded whole-heartedly from all over the country!

Thank you so much for being an integral part of our work in Jeremie! Please continue to pray for this exciting new chapter ahead!

Customs

Bryan is working on getting the container-load of building materials through customs. We are working with one of the senators who is helping us to make this happen without having to pay the normal exhorbitant taxes Haiti places on importation. There are materials enough to help about 1,500 families if the materials are used for individual homes. Your donations allowed those materials to be purchased and shipped. Thank you so much for supporting these efforts to get our brothers and sisters under cover.

There is discussion among the Haitian believers whether to concentrate on repairing one central church in a completely devastated area so the the whole community could take shelter while individual homes are built. We will have to wait to see how the people want to proceed with reconstruction.

Also, people interested in going on a trip to Jeremie to help with construction or plug into the hospital or the orphanages should contact us about dates. Due to the recent political upheaval in the Gran d'Anse province, we are waiting until things calm down in Jeremie to bring teams. But we can keep you posted as the dust clears.