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!