Reporting from the Inside

It's been two weeks since David arrived back in Haiti, and a week for the kids and me.  David and a small team (Lucas Nussbaum, Daryl Stoller, and Rick and Komari returning home) went down, stayed over in Port, bought supplies, and headed back to Bonne Fin.  The road was passable all the way.  The rain had cut deeply into the rocky mountain road, but road crews had come out to repair the road, and it was passable.  David said things seemed mostly normal...big trucks of rice and buses of people on the main road.  But the further west you go, the more stripped everything was.  And when you got to the hospital campus, it looked like a bomb went off.  Or a lot of bombs.

That week they worked on getting electricity back up to the rest of the campus.  There was lots of cutting of trees and branches, too.  Even though he had to get a tetanus shot for a nail scratch and meds for burns on his face from a gas flash from lighting a hot water heater, David said he was pleasantly surprised at how fast the work went and how it could have been so much worse.  The electrical lines were all there at least, even if they were down.  The solar system sustained minor damage, but none of the panels were broken!  And of all those big, high-voltage power lines coming up from the hydro that we imagined would have been flattened like matchsticks, there were only a few lines down.

The hike to check out some of the hydro lines...can't imagine if they all would have fallen.

They got the electricity up and going by Friday, and David got back into his office and more back to "normal."  Saturday he got to our house for more than just a brief look around, and fixed up some stuff.  He stayed at the guest house all week as it provided electricity, meals, running water, and company :)

The kids and I flew out of Bloomington on Monday, and were met in O'Hare by Myra Mueller.  She traveled with us to Miami, stayed the night with us, and then we parted ways Tuesday morning.  People had been asking if I was stressed about traveling alone with the kids, and I had thought if I had a tablet and tookies (cookies) that we would at least survive.  But it was a huge relief to have Myra there to help us through the airport (especially when we were running to catch our delayed flight to Miami...the gate had changed and we didn't see it until about 20 minutes before takeoff), on the flights, and just in general with occupying and feeding kids.  It was really great to have her along, thanks so much Myra for going the extra mile(s!) with us!!

Having fun in the airport!!

Tablet and tookies!

When we reached our mountain, it was crazy seeing the change in landscape around here.  The stripped trees make it look like a mix between winter, a fire, and a war zone.  But already, the trees are shooting out new leaves.  Banana trees are growing about 6 inches a day.  There are a lot of trees that came down, but there are a lot still standing too.  The view looks a lot different....we can see houses or even waterfalls we didn't know were there before.  We can finally see an amazing view of the mountains and the sunset while we sit at our table.  The sun shines brightly in our windows each morning, and our clothes dry quickly on the line with not so much shade anymore.

Here is what the area around the Hospital looks like now....

...and here is what it looked like last October.  Wow.

Although I haven't gotten out very much into the community, lots of people have come and said that they lost their roof and/or home and/or belongings.  Some are still staying in shelters in local churches.  The rain ruined lots of possessions, the wind carried some away, and more got buried in the mud.  Even though people have lost so much, they say they are thankful that God gave them life.  The following are some pictures of community homes, taken by Joan.

Trying to dry out.

The home of some people we know.

The church (middle right) and school (left) both lost parts of their roofs.  Church has been holding services when it's not raining, but the schools in the area have closed for a few weeks as there was damage, and students lost their supplies.

One of the hardest things was just seeing the sadness in their eyes.  When Madam Ino came the day after we got back, she said she had not had a good vacation.  Before the hurricane her sister died unexpectedly.  Then the hurricane blew away part of her roof and her outdoor kitchen.  Her uncle broke his foot during the storm when a tree fell on his house.  He is now living up with her.  And then his son died during that time too.  She said her fruit trees are gone, and so is her garden.  David gave her a few tarps to cover her house, and she said she is now having men come work to put the rafters on her house again.  

Madam Ino's house.

Several organizations have sent help with relief efforts.  Some men came and donated bags of rice.  Another man runs an organization that gives away fuel for relief efforts (Fuel Relief Fund), and we received some.  Agape Flights (who brings our mail) had asked what our three greatest needs would be and have been shipping tarps, food, and water purification tablets.

The Hospital has asked several people from the community to gather lists of people in the surrounding area who need help.  Then they were given rice and beans and other items to bag up and those items will be distributed.

David said when he arrived, there was foliage 8-12 inches thick on the ground in some areas.  A mess.  But there was a hiring boom in the yard department for a while with lots of men with machetes, rakes, wheelbarrows, and our tractor that have been getting things cleaned up.

Outside our yard, the hospital woodworker has set up a sawmill.  His uncle and three cousins are there each day cutting up trees into lumber, and Christof comes to check on them on his breaks and works on the weekend too.  It is amazing how straight and precise they can cut those boards by hand.

Last Thursday evening it started to rain, and it downpoured for the next 24 hours.  We felt so bad for the people in homes with maybe a tarp over one section, or for all their things that were getting soaked again.  We felt thankful for our dry place to stay, but also a little spoiled, rich and selfish.  It had to be a terrible 24 hours for most people.

Madam Ino usually comes at 8 on Friday, but I assumed she wouldn't make the half hour walk in the dumping down rain to come.  Then at 10, she showed up with a piece of plastic over her head and her clothes soaked.  I gave her some dry clothes to put on and asked her why she came.  She said she can't stay at her house, and her son's house was leaking water from the roof and on the floor.  She said she was just trying to find a dry spot to stand in, so she may as well come.

We estimated we received between 15-20 inches of rain that day.  And all that only a week and a half after about the same amount of rain during the hurricane...it was just too much rain.  There was water flowing everywhere, down the hills, across the yard.  There is a waterfall that is still flowing on the hill by our house.  The rain made mudholes in our mountain road that large trucks got stuck into their axles.  The road is not passable by a vehicle...we tried to see how far we could get and did not get far.  The gwo marin market area is a river again.  A bridge down the mountain had a huge gully washed out beside it, and is being crossed only on foot.  I don't know how long we'll be "stranded" until the road department comes to fix up the mess again.  As I type, a big excavator (with crawler tracks!) is heading slowly down the mountain, so I hope that's a good sign....

The pictures above are taken in and of our yard.  The following are pictures when we took a drive on the road to see the damage.

A big truck sunk up to it's axles in mud, right by where part of the road washed away.

The area beside the bridge down the road that is washed out from the second rain.

As far as the Hospital goes, census is pretty good, but not necessarily hurricane-related.  There were a few spinal injuries from the hurricane, but mostly just normal stuff.  As of yet, I have not heard of any cholera cases in our area or at our hospital.  We may have gotten some patients inadvertently from the hurricane as some of the hospitals in Cayes were damaged.  One of our Dr's was telling me that the General Hospital in Cayes has some damage in certain departments, but other departments are still functioning.

Our house fared pretty well during the hurricane.  There was some water that came under our front door during the downpour (or should I say side-pour) of the hurricane.  It ruined an end table and part of a bookcase, but really not a lot.  Joan came down after the storm and swept the water out, so at least stuff didn't sit in the water for a week.  We must have had a power surge in our home as lots of small things like surge protectors, sound machines, CD players, and microwave got fried.  Our larger appliances have been ok, and even our solar hot water heater on the roof is still in working condition after a little repair work.  Our laptop, safe, and other important or special items are all ok....we really are pretty spoiled.

Just a little water.

Our yard just finished getting cleaned up today.  A man had come by and asked David if he could work in our yard.  He's been working a lot longer than I think it should take, and I'm kind of ready for it to get cleaned up.  So yesterday I said I wanted it finished, and the kids and I went out to help speed things up.  Orrin doesn't really have the concept of hard work yet...pick up one stick, whine for 30 seconds was kind of how it went.  But I think we got the point across, and it is all done today, even the big logs are over in a different area to be made into charcoal.

Our yard after the hurricane.

Our yard two weeks after the hurricane :)  Orrin with one stick...

It seems like it has taken longer than normal to get settled back in.  It could just be that everywhere you look was a mess, but I think we're getting there.  There's still mold growing all over the walls and mud on the ceilings from the rain, but it'll get done eventually.  I guess the documentation of all this takes priority over cleaning :)

Orrin washing our wall and ceiling above our closet area...under threat of not getting taken down until it was done ;)