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!
