David Short, of South Dayton Presbyterian Church (pictured in previous post), will be heading up the relief teams sent from the Ohio region. He has recently returned from a team mission to Haiti and has daily accounts of the journey at http://www.southdaytonpcachurch.org/haiti/default.htm

Here's a sample:

Friday, February 5, 2010 - Haiti Day 6

Bonjour...

Sorry about not sending out an email yesterday. After we had breakfast yesterday Bryan and I separated from the rest of the team to do a little more assessment before our long trip back to the Dominican Republic. We started out with a visit to one of our churches in Les Cayes. It was Englese Bon Berger, a church of 4000 with an orphanage, a school and a full clinic with surgery room (this part is still in development. The church was planted here 3 years ago. Part of the design of the Haitian church is to provide a holistic approach to church planting. The need is so great and more than just the soul needs to be ministered to.

After the church we checked out the guest house in Les Cayes. It is a beautiful 3 story complex, but it looks like they will need to move out until some structural analysis is done. All of the ceilings, which are concrete slabs are showing stress fractures.

Some of the things that we learned about Haiti are:

- there is 1 doctor for every 37,000 people

- there are currently 10,000 NGO's trying to help here, with no centralized organization

- education in the country

- 4% is educated by the government

- 17% is educated by the church

- 8% is educated by other organizations

- 71% is illiterate

On our way back to the DR we drove through Le a Gere (spelling) which was near the epicenter. 97% of the town was destroyed.

Update from Medical Mission Team

A group of doctors and one journalist have partnered with ESMI in Haiti this week and have some amazing reports chronicled on their blog. They also have an eye-witness account from a worker at an orphanage of the earthquake. Do check out their work:

http://morethanmedicine.wordpress.com/

The Miami Connection

 

From left to right are Curt Moore, Leslie (El Shaddai Ministries), David Short, and Dick Griffith.  The group was taking a break Thursday between purchases of equipment and trips to the port in Miami. A container and 26' truck are due to arrive in Port Au Prince either today or tomorrow. Dick and David will be traveling to Carrefour to establish a long-term disaster response base camp. Please pray for their travels and safety as they undertake this great task.

Containers Due to Arrive in Port Au Prince

A container and a 26' International truck should be making their way to the port at Port au Prince, Haiti today. Inside each are supplies to begin equipping a two story bungalow in Carrefour as a disaster response base camp. Dick Griffith of Chattanooga Valley Presbytery and David Short of Ohio Valley Presbytery arrived in Miami Tuesday and began making purchases based upon a take-off list for the items needed to rehab the Carrefour facility. Wiring, plumbing, tables, chairs, fixtures, tools, and a generator were purchased. Curt Moore, the MNA Gulf Coast rep. drove beds, mattresses, and other supplies from Lagniappe Church in Bay St. Louis, MS. Working with El Shaddai Ministries they brought all supplies to a port in Miami which shipped out Friday. David and Dick will be arriving in Carrefour the first week in March to begin setting up the base camp and meeting teams due to arrive March 6. Please pray that all supplies make it to their destination and that Dick, David and others will get our facility up and running in order to multiply our relief efforts in Carrefour and beyond.

Supplies to Haiti via Miami via Mississippi

A truck load of steel bunkbeds and an equal number of mattresses will be driven from Lagniappe Presbyterian Church in Bay St. Louis, MS to the El Shaddai facility this week. Lagniappe hosted a number of teams in response to Hurricane Katrina and are donating much needed supplies which will be used to establish a disaster relief camp in Carrefour. Along with the beds will be a piece of heavy equipment which will be used to excavate, level ground, move concrete, and transport palletized items. God was gracious to provide for those in need after Katrina and continues to provide for those in Haiti. Please pray for Curt Moore as he travels from Bay St. Louis to Miami and for the transportation service which will haul the skidsteer. Lord willing they will all be together in Miami and will be loaded into a container along with other supplies for transport to Haiti.

And they're going back...

Pastor Mike Hsu of Grace Chapel of Lincoln, NE, has just returned from a team mission of several weeks in Haiti and Mirebelais with Brian Kelso. Here is a sample of a day through his eyes. If you'd like to read more about his experience, please check out his blog: www.hsumike.blogspot.com

2/10 Successful Day So Far

We started unloading the container at about 10:30 this morning. Because the semi could not make it up the hill, we unloaded about 20,000 lbs. of supplies and walked them the 75 yards or so to the dropoff location. We had over fifty Haitians including small children and elderly men and women carrying supplies. We're talking 8 yr. olds and 60 yr. olds carrying 50 lb. bags of rice and oats on their heads. These people are amazing. Then they got the truck over the hill and we unloaded the rest of the 20,000 lbs. on location. Next, we set up the crane with directions consisting of a picture, but Frank and Gene were great. We set up the crane with two large steel beams each weighing 200 lbs., bolted to the top, and then lowererd the 4000 lb. container to the ground. This was the part of the project where it was important that we have four Americans at each corner of the container with clear communication as we lowered the container in unison. Gene walked around to make sure the container remained level and Frank, Trey, Chris and I lowered the container. We got it done safely and efficiently. Praise God. We took a short lunch break and for the last four and a half hours, we have been working with the PaP University students to get the food into family packs in preparation for distribution. This day has been amazing. This particular project is why we came to Haiti in the first place. Though delayed by a week, this has been an awesome day so far. We still plan to work into the night. As I was working alongside Ralph, the Haitian student leader, Ralph said, "we will need to play basketball" : that gets me excited.

Blessing through ESMI

Ed O'Brian, who has been organizing Florida-based food donations for ESMI, has just reported that they've filled a 20-foot truck container with $3000 worth of food and water supplies, to be shipped to Haiti next week. The container full of rice, beans, tents, water, and other supplies will arrive at Gonaives, Haiti and be conveyed to food distribution sites, as well as to pastors' families that are in need, on its way to PAP.

The container's contents have been donated by people from Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church and others in the local area, and Ed estimated over 500 people got involved. Ed noted that he'd been on mission trips with Spanish River Church in the fall, but couldn't leave on the latest mission to Haiti, so his involvement in coordinating the food donation became his mission.

For those of you seeking similar ways of participating in what God's doing, Ed noted that food is becoming less of a need, rather direct monetary donations to ESMI will go further. The ministry is attempting to buy 5 trucks in order to facilitate the distributions, transportation of teams, and to serve other needs in Haiti.

A team in Haiti from Spanish River Church

A team sent from Spanish River Church partnering with ESMI is doing great work at a hospital, orphanage and food distribution center in Gonaives, Haiti. Follow their movements this week through their blog: http://srcglobal.blogspot.com/

We'll continue to update on the movements of teams and supplies sent through PCA ministries to Haiti.

The Big Picture

MNA Disaster Response is working to assist PCA Pastors Dony St. Germain and Brian Kelso. These men are MNA Senior Staff members and have been working in Haiti for many years. In order to determine how best to help these men and their ministries MNA Disaster Response sent assessment team, including MNA Disaster Response Director Arklie Hooten, to travel into Haiti with these men. While in Haiti these men made contact with various ministry sites to determine how best to stage MNA Disaster Response Volunteers to response to this terrible disaster. 

Currently MNA staff are working with 43 church plants which had started prior to the earthquake and is ministering to hundreds of Haitians on a regular basis. They are also working with 13 orphanages with 2,200 orphans as a ministry of mercy and outreach. This ministry is also involved with numerous local church schools and micro businesses. 

Many of the 43 church plants already underway are in cities outside of Port-au-Prince. Because of the intensity of the destruction concentrated in Port-au-Prince many thousands of people have fled that city in search of a more stable place to live. This large movement of people has caused many of the outlying cities to more than double in population, with no increases in infrastructure – infrastructure that was also affected by the earthquake. This has caused depletion of almost every type of resource that a city or town would normally afford.

MNA’s initial assessment is complete with the return of the assessment team this week. A second team is on the ground now assessing damage to over 30 homes of El Shaddai Ministries church members in the Carrefour/Port-au-Prince area. A plan has been established to direct the response of MNA to this disaster. Of course as with any event of this magnitude, this plan is subject to ‘tweaking’ and change as future events unfold. At this point the plan is as follows:

• Mobilize medical teams as space allows. This began within days of the earthquake and is continuing. Currently teams are booked through March. If you are a trained medical provider and desire to serve you can register now. To register, see link below.

• Set up earthquake response operations at Carrefour, a city near the epicenter of the quake. We are moving deliberately and as quickly as possible. This site will become the headquarters for the response. MNA Disaster Response First Responders are preparing to mobilize to secure the facility and prepare it for a long term response. We are currently gathering materials and supplies to ship to Carrefour in advance of the arrival of the First Responders. We expect this phase to take up to six weeks to complete. Once the volunteer facility is ready to go and the airport re-opens in Port-au-Prince, mobilize teams to assist in the rebuilding efforts, beginning with the homes of the members of El Shaddai mentioned above. It is absolutely cost prohibitive to send teams through the Dominican Republic and creates a significant logistical problem for coordinating over-ground transport, which is the reason to wait for the airport to open in Port-au-Prince.
• Continue to provide teams to both El Shaddai Ministries headed up by Pastor St. Germain and Great Commission Alliance headed up by Pastor Brian Kelso at various short term sites in Haiti, once the Port-au-Prince airport re-opens.

We are putting together a list of immediately needed resources and will be making this list of specific needs available shortly. Please check back later this week for this list, including specific instructions regarding packaging, palleting, and shipping these resources.  Please consider an immediate financial gift to support relief effort planning, assessment and setting up a base of operations that will facilitate and care for future long term recovery volunteers who will be working in difficult conditions.

Arklie, Jordan, and the Asessment team in Haiti

Tents Needed!

In Jacmel, Haiti some 2,000 people have lost their homes and are sleeping in a field. An organization there has a plan for transitional and long term housing, but there is an immediate need for tents. We have offered to collect 650 tents and deliver them to Jacmel within the next week.

We need your help. Please consider donating a new or unused 2 pole 3-4 person tent, along with $10 to help cover shipping. Tents can be delivered to New City Fellowship (2412 E.4th St, Chattanooga, TN 37404). Checks can be made out to New City, with Haiti tents in the memo. If you are unable to send a tent, please consider sending $50 to cover the cost of a tent.
We need to move quickly!

Contact: Brian McKeon of New City Fellowship, TN

http://www.newcityfellowship.com/

Your Church can Help

Food/Supplies Collection & Shipping

Your organization can partner with GCA in bringing non-perishable food and relief supply items to Haiti for the victims of the recent earthquake. The collected food and supplies will be shipped in a container down to Mirebalais, Haiti, and then taken over to Port-au-Prince to be given directly to those who are now left with nothing.

Here is how you can help:

1. *Collect food/supplies at your organization - see supply list
2. Contact GCA when items are ready to be collected - click link below
3. GCA will package the items and ship to Haiti - help with shipping costs

http://www.gcanet.org/email/earthquake3/earthquake3.htm

Call for immediate supply needs, Georgia

For the PCA ministry Reformation Hope Orphanage:

URGENT!

Local Collection by Tuesday, Feb. 2nd—

Shipping Items to Our Haitian Orphanage!!!!

We have an opportunity to quick ship items to Jean Paul on Tuesday 2/2. We can provide a skid of items that will be shipped to Jean Paul as part of a larger shipment that LeSea Feed The Hungry is sending to Haiti.They are graciously allowing us to piggyback our shipment with their shipment. Time is of the essence. Please get the word out that we are collecting the following items that Jean Paul personally shared with us he is in desperate need of:

Air mattresses, blankets, hygiene products (toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, shampoo, etc.), non-perishable food (dried beans, rice, canned meat, cooking oil, etc.)

The collection point will be the rear covered lower parking area of Prayer and Praise Fellowship:
6409 Bells Ferry Road
Woodstock, GA 30189

Thanks for your help!

http://reformationhope.org/haiti.htm

Monday, January 25 update from Dony St. Germain and El Shaddai Ministries-Haiti

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow will make it 14 days since this devastating earthquake. The pressure and intensity to get aid to the people have not subsided. Time and resources continue to be our greatest challenges with still not enough food and medical care reaching the people with the greatest need. For example in Les Cayes alone, 150,000 refugees are now there from PAP. Louis wrote on Friday:

"I just talked with some key leaders in the south. The demand is so high and we don't have the means to meet it. The churches are crowded. People came from all over and they don't have anywhere to go. Most of the people, before they left the villages, sold their land and everything. So now they have to start again. Please continue to pray with us. We have so much medical need that a whole month of 100 doctors will not be enough to serve every body. So many people fled PAP with broken bones and severe, life threatening and infected injuries. We have a hospital at Bonne Fin which my father build. It has 300 beds. All of them are occupied and patients are on the floor. We have at Cite Lumiere another Medical Clinic equip with 75 beds. Same story."

Below is an update on the response that has come in to the immediate needs mentioned on January 17:

1. Containers with Food Supply via the DR-To date, ESMI has sent in 6 food containers and distributed with over 100 Haitian volunteers from the South helping.

2. Food Containers from the US- We have a container that will be ready to leave by this Wednesday from Miami to the DR. God's willing, it should be in Haiti early next week.

3. Medical Team- 47 nurses and doctors are currently in Haiti. Thanks to Lisa, Susie, Julie and Fabiana for coordinating this. They have medical teams lined up to go in and out up to the end of February. Please contact esmieletter@aol.com if you would like to be a part of a medical team.

4. Tents for Churches and homes- Thanks to Brother Ed who secured forty-five 10x12ft tents that can each house a family of 10 people. God's willing, these will be shipped by Wednesday to the DR and should be cleared by the end of this week to be given to the families most in need.

As ESMI continues to work on the above 4 needs, we will also begin to do the following:

5. ESMI has identified 400 pastors to begin a more intentional network of food distribution. On Wednesday, January 27, ESMI's leadership team will meet with these pastors in PAP. It is important that these leaders be empowered also to participate in the effort. This is a work that cannot be done alone. It is bigger than any one church or any one organization. With a unified effort, the church in Haiti can help meet the needs of her people.

6. There is the need for 3 huge tents to hold congregations with 2000 members. Most of the churches in PAP were destroyed. The congregations are in the streets. ESMI has identified 3 locations with key leaders for these.The desire is to encourage and rebuild the spiritual life of the Haitian church. What a wonderful opportunity to share the good news that in the midst of such hopelessness, there is hope in God.

7. Containers to be packed with tents, cots, sheets, blankets, food for immediate consumption, etc. God's willing, the ports in Haiti should be opening up in a week. Ed has graciously agreed to offer his time to coordinating this effort. Please contact Ed at 1-561-988-0253. He will also assist in the coordinating efforts of the food containers from Miami.

8. Pray that by the end of this week ESMI would have secured a piece of land for temporary housing.

9. There is a need for about 6 Mack dump trucks. Once the food gets to PAP on containers, it must be reloaded onto dump trucks for distribution into the different areas of need. This is the best way to get the food out into those communities. Later these trucks will be used in clearing debris and bringing in construction material. Why Mack dump trucks? They are long-lasting trucks and the parts are easily available. There are excellent mechanics, like DouDou, who can make anything go as long as they have the parts available. To have piles of food and no means to get them to the people is a dilemma that the international aid community is now facing.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

NB.

El Shaddai Ministries International, Inc. is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) Tax

Exempt Non-Profit Religious Organization. Contribution can be sent to:

ESMI

13651 S. Biscayne River Drive

Miami, FL 33161

or on line: esmihome.org

Les Cayes now has 150,000 refugees $10,000 worth of food bought in the DR, loaded on semi-truck, and shipped to PAP for $2000

Food distribution at one site.

Right now we have four location
1. Carrefour
2. Cayes
3. Croix 5es Bouquet
4. Gonaives
Distribute to Pastors and they serve their own communities

Photos taken at night as about 100 volunteers from Cayes help load food unto truck for distribution

Interview with Jordan Sikkema, MNA Assessment Team Member

Going Through Security in the Miami Airport

Arklie, Jordan, Dony, and Brian are on their way to the Dominican Republic. I just talked with Jordan who stated that they were in line about to go through the security checkpoint at the Miami International Airport. Upon entering DR they will immediately begin making their way into Haiti. Please keep them in your prayers.

MNA Assessment Team Heading to Haiti Monday

Please pray for Arklie Hooten, Jordan Sikkema, Brian Kelso, and Dony St. Germain as they travel to Haiti Monday. Their goal is to provide assessments which will aid MNA in providing long term relief and recovery to the people of Haiti.