Reporting from the Other Side

Oh dear Haiti.  It seems like the bad just keeps coming.  The earthquake, cholera outbreak, drought.  And now Hurricane Matthew.  I know lots of people are concerned about the effects of the hurricane on Haiti, and on the Hospital.  So, here is my attempt to re-create what's been going on, albeit from Stateside, where some of my details may be not as accurate as a first-hand account.

Monday night the winds and rain started, and continued through Tuesday.  When it was over, trees all over the Hospital campus were knocked down, phone and internet communication was down, power lines were severed, water was off.  It doesn't sound pretty.  The solar system sustained very minor damage, but was not workable, due to lots of cloud coverage and other problems hard to identify without David there to see what was going on.

The missionaries left at Bonne Fin were all safe through the storm.  I have not heard from many local people, and hope that "no news is good news."  I know that too many people lost their lives in Haiti (read:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/10/06/death-toll-matthew-surpasses-100-battered-haiti/91662912/).  I assume most tin roofs are gone, and some of the weaker structures are probably totally gone.  The Hospital chapel became a sanctuary for those who needed a place after the storm.  There is so much work to do to restore what was broken.  Communications were finally restored - at least a little - and so David spent most of the days on the phone trying to work through electricity issues.  Electricity and water to the Hospital have been restored.

A picture of the Hospital that was sent to us from Kurt.

We have been going stir crazy sitting back here and wanting to be there.  But for some reason unknown to us, it wasn't to be that we were there.  We've been trying to figure out how to get back to Haiti, and to the Hospital, and it wasn't sounding easy.  Even if we got to Port, there was a bridge out on the road to Cayes (which is the road we take to get to the Hospital).  If we got a plane to Cayes, would we be able to make it up the mountain?  Thursday, after days of discussion, wondering, and talking to contacts in-country, we found out that someone made it up the mountain to the Hospital from the other side of our "river".  Also I heard on the radio that people were driving through the place where the bridge was washed out.  Things were looking possible, so David has booked tickets to fly back Sunday with several others, stay over in Port and pick up some medical supplies, and make the trip out to the Hospital Monday.  I plan to stay with the kids, and hope to keep our original travel schedule of flying back to Haiti on the 17/18th.  All (as always) Lordwilling.  The decision to split up our family has not been a fun one, but we hope it will only be for a week, and this seems like the easiest and best decision.

Outcomes of Matthew.  These are not necessarily evidence-based...just my thoughts.  I see lots of hard work.  Lots of branches and debris and old tin.  I see lots of homes with tarp roofs, lots of tents as people's new homes.  I see lots of charcoal being made.  I see us treating Cholera at the hospital.  I see a year of increased people coming to our door for food as their gardens were swept away and their fruit trees stripped.  I see a further depressed economy.  But then, I see new trees that will grow six feet a year without even being planted.  I see lots of love being sent from those who see the need and want to help.  I see a people with the faith and resiliency to face one more disaster.  And I see a God who will hear every prayer and see every need.