This week we return to Port-au-Prince to worship in solidarity with the leaders of the Haitian, American, and Cooperative Baptists at the site of a destroyed church where the pastor lost his life on January 12. We gather to grieve, sing, and pray together with the families of those who died. We also gather in hope for the future.

It has been two months since the earthquake shook Haiti on Jan 12. No one ever gets used to the devastation of one’s home or the loss of family, friends, and livelihood, but we have observed on our visits to Port-au-Prince that the people are trying to carry on in spite of great hardships.  

Many are buying and selling goods around the rubble of former homes and businesses. Schools that were not damaged are opening. Tent cities have sprung up everywhere, but some people are living in very unstable lean-tos.  In the city it takes hours to get from one place to another. All the while the government, NGO’s and Haitian co-workers try to make order out of chaos.  

Most days are dry, hot, and dusty. With the coming rainy season the dust will soon be replaced by mud, standing water, and the resulting increase in mosquitoes and malaria. 

Scott Hunter, Herb Rogers and Roy Durgin have been working with the Haitian Baptist pastors and workers in Grand Goave to re-establish a school by clearing land and building a water tower.  Thanks to emergency funds given through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptist Church these needed projects can go forward and bring hope to many, young and old.

American Baptist missionary nurse, Kristy Engel and missionaries, Ketly and Vital Pierre (Dominican Republic and Nicaragua) have faithfully traveled back and forth from the Dominican Republic to Haiti bringing US medical teams to work in tent cities.

In the north some families have doubled in size due to the addition of displaced relatives from the south. Resources are thinly spread, and homes overcrowded. The medical needs here are greater than ever as the earthquake’s impact is keenly felt in every way.

Small medical teams have stayed with us at the university campus, sorting supplies and helping in the busy local clinics. Our house has become a warehouse. Many boxes of donated medical supplies coming into the north have been received as well as a supply from the pool in Port-au-Prince. Supplies have been divided and shared with the needy clinics and hospitals in our area.

Thank you for your continued interest in Haiti.  Please continue to pray for and with us. We need your prayers!

Gratefully,

Steve & Nancy