Haiti Update: 1-28-10

By now I hope you all know that we arrived home safely on Tuesday into New Bedford at 11AM.  This update is long overdue but I will recap and complete the updates of the trip.

On Sunday morning we stayed back at the hotel and through the technology of Skype we were able to broadcast from our hotel in Santiago to the church services at Community Covenant Church.  This was a much needed energy boost to both of us.  God is good.

We then flew to Port-de-Paix with another load of food.  When we returned we found that there was a need for diesel in Les Cayes (the 3rd largest city on the west end of the southern fork) to run generators for medical clinics.  We took on maximum jet fuel and 800 lbs of food and went to Les Cayes. 

Les Cayes is probably the best airport in Haiti and we could not understand why C-130s (large military cargo planes) had not flown to Les Cayes with relief because like Port-de-Paix, this city was cut-off from its normal supplies from Port-au-Prince and was rapidly filling with refugees.  Since we were going to siphon 120 gallons of jet fuel (diesel) out of the plane we had a chance to talk to many at this airport while the siphoning took place.

We met a pilot there with a small plane that was taking small amounts of food to a dirt/road runway between the mountains half-way between Jacmel and Les Cayes.  He was also aware of small dirt runways on the tip of the southern fork and on its north side.  He also was aware that the large island just off the coast of Port-au-Prince (between the forks) also had a small dirt runway.  None of these places were being served.  It appeared that the rescue effort of the governments and large NGOs was all focused on Port-au-Prince (that made initial sense to us).

While Les Cayes is comparatively wealthy, it is still a very poor area.  We knew the situation was severe when we met an old friend, the director of the airport, and he asked if we had food for him and his employees.  We also learned that the clinic was overwhelmed with refugees.  Most suffered severe crush injuries and amputations were common place and graphic.

When we arrived back in Santiago we described the situation to the “Go-ministries” team and they immediately began to make arrangements to send additional flights into Les Cayes.  That night we received an e-mail from our contact and he asked if there was any way to bring IV fluid to Les Cayes as there were 20 surgeries scheduled for the next day and no IV fluid.  This was very upsetting to say the least.

We put a desperate call into Willow Creek Community Church (an influential church in South Barrington, IL who produces the Global Leadership Summit in Haiti, and has given us the privilege of representing them with the GLS in Haiti) and asked if they could help us influence larger NGOs to get relief into Les Cayes.  This would serve Les Cayes and the surrounding communities and it would make Les Cayes a distribution center on the southern fork.   On Monday morning Scott got up early and posted a YouTube Video making a desperate plea for planes and pilots to come to Santiago to help in the relief effort as we realized that none of the outlying communities that were filling with refugees were being served by the larger relief effort.

Our plane was already loaded with medical supplies for Port-de-Paix so we left very early to deliver these supplies.  When we returned we loaded up with all the IV fluid that was available and more food, and headed out for Les Cayes.  Two additional planes went to Les Cayes that morning with food and “Go-Ministries” began to plan how to best serve the other locations with different planes.

On the trip we decided that we were now dealing with two problems.  The first problem was the on-going rescue strategy and role Community Covenant Church can play and, secondly, the need to get additional planes and pilots into Santiago.  We also wanted to impact the larger rescue effort by getting supplies to the outlying areas.  We decided that the Community Covenant Church website would continue with information for the rescue effort and that the Brahmin website (www.brahminusa.com/haiti) would handle the pilot issue as we divided the work between ourselves.

When we returned to Santiago from Les Cayes we were too tired to continue and felt the only safe course was to start home and to continue the effort described above from here in the USA.

We arrived at Ft. Lauderdale around 5PM to learn that the Providence Journal had seen the pilot YouTube video and wanted to talk.  We talked with them and they ran a pilot/plane story in the Tuesday morning edition.  We also talked with Willow Creek and they were working hard to try and get relief for the outlying areas; the Brahmin executive team was also trying to move the needle in this direction.

We left for New Bedford early Tuesday morning.  When we arrived, both channel 10 (WPRO) and channel 12 (WPRI) were at the airport waiting for us to land.  We told the story about the outlying areas with the hope of gaining additional help through the media by telling the story.  By the afternoon we had been interviewed by the Sun Chronicle (Wednesday edition) and The New Bedford Standard Times (article should run today).  In the evening, channel 6 (abc6) went to Scott’s home and interviewed him with the focus on the pilot issue.  We are receiving reports that other media outlets have picked up on the story.

Since arriving home Scott has received several inquiries from pilots around the USA and, as a result, we believe there will be additional planes going to Santiago.  Our ability to influence the government to serve the outlying areas has been less than interesting.  Our effort to influence large Christian NGOs is receiving the light of day and I’m confident that a response may come soon that gets support to Les Cayes.

Again – thank you for all of your prayers and support – we are “Better Together” – and we are glad to be home but, like all of you, we wish we could do more.  We feel like we are throwing pebbles into an ocean of need, but we know that we serve a great God who will continue to lead us as we look to make a difference for our "neighbors" in Haiti. 

Pastor Dennis & Scott