Yet another prayer for Haiti

As I scrolled through my Facebook feed yesterday trying to find out how bad the situation in the south of Haiti was, over and over again I saw Pray for Haiti, Pray for Haiti and I hate to admit it but I was tired of seeing it. I know, not the kind of thing you expect to hear from a missionary, never mind a missionary who lives in Haiti. 

We have been praying for Haiti for sooo long, many have been praying for Haiti much longer than I have and yet every year it seems like things are getting worse. Every few months another crisis on top of the normal difficulties of life and it feels like we are always praying for Haiti. 

 Since I've been coming to Haiti in 2008 Haiti has seen earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fuel shortages, drought, political unrest, cholera, a sharp increase in gangs, murders and a president assassinated. That is on top of extreme poverty.

 It really takes you to see poverty to get some kind of grasp of what it means. Even I, who live here, who visit people in their homes, who treat people with medical problems cannot get my head around how ANYONE survives.... Even those with jobs.  Many people think that because a country is poor living expenses must be cheap. This is not true for Haiti. I simply cannot believe the price of food in Haiti. Since last March this is how some of the things I buy has changed.

A bottle of mayonnaise - doubled 

A cabbage - doubled

Carrots - 50% increase 

A packet of spaghetti - doubled 

A  box of eggs - 50% increase

Pretty much everything is more expensive and not just by a few pennies. 

 Just take a moment to think how your monthly budget would be affected if the price of the food you buy had increased, some of it by 50% and a lot of it doubled. 

Then every year the school fees increase. Different schools charge different things but I know they are pretty much all expensive. Many people are telling me the entrance fees are 15,000-20,000 gourdes ($150 - $200 US).  On top of that parents are responsible for buying uniforms, shoes, school bags, lunchboxes, school books and the fees for each trimester. After that many kids need money for transportation everyday and lunch. 

When you do the maths, it's just not possible. 

I was talking with a friend last week about this very thing and I said ' You know if you add up everything you spend in a month then look at what you have earned....' right there he interrupted me and shook his head, laughing and said 'no no you can't do that, God provides.'  I said the same thing to Yverose who responded with 'It's God he does miracles.'

So you may wonder what this has got to do with prayer.  As I thought over my response to 

'pray for Haiti'  I began to realise that God is answering prayers, it's just maybe not in the way we want him or expect him to. 

He is answering prayers for so many children whose parent's absolutely cannot afford the school fees yet somehow He provides. 

He is answering prayers for the many families who have no income.  Can I just empahise that. ZERO income. NOTHING.  There is NO job seekers, NO benefits and there are simply millions of people with no jobs.  How do they live? I have NO idea but many of them do.  Again He provides. 

He is answering prayers for strength, courage, energy and resilience for the people of Haiti.  I am telling you I have never met a people in my life who have been through what the people of Haiti have been through and yet they keep going. Even in the midst of immense suffering there is joy.  

Then my mind turned to the 2010 earthquake and the many people I worked with throughout 2010 and how the Lord answered prayer for them. 

There was Lucner's brother who was trapped all night. One by one his classmates grew silent and soon he was the only one left alive and he was rescued. Lucner travelled down to Port au Prince to find him, in the middle of utter chaos he somehow, miraculously, found him and brought him back to Cap Haitian.  He had no movement in his right arm from being trapped under blocks and Lucner brought him to me to treat him.  I had no idea what I was doing but 6 weeks later he had full movement and strength in his arm.  Many many answers to prayers. 

I thought of a young girl who I treated in Milot, who was trapped under the rubble for 21 days.  Yes you read that correctly.  She was trapped for THREE weeks with no food and sometimes a drip of water which fell through from outside. She should have died, she should have never been found but she was and six months after being in hospital in Cap, she returned to Port au Prince.  Many, many answers to prayer. 

I thought of the little baby born in Milot, so very kindly named after Hannah and I - Julieanna.  Her mum was trapped under a building for days, she lost her leg and even with being trapped, plus the stress, plus an amputation, 6 months later baby Julieanna was born, a beautiful little girl with no problems.  Many, many answers to prayer.

I thought of Sterlina, only 14 years old, alone in the children's ward with her family presumed dead.  She had her leg amputated and even after she was better she lived at the hospital for months before being moved to an orphanage in Cap Haitian.  She was so reserved, devastated and traumatized by what she had experienced and was now living in a city she had never been in with people she had never met.  By the end of the year the red Cross had found her family and she was on her way back to Port au Prince to be united with them.  Many, many answers to prayer. 

Honestly I could go on and on. Miracle after miracle. 

So, like me, please don't grow weary or tired of praying for Haiti.  Although we may not see what we are asking for God is answering prayers throughout Haiti and it is truly through His people that Haiti will transform. 

Tonight the situation in the south of Haiti is bad.  The death toll now stands at over 1300, with almost 6000 injured and an unknown number unaccounted for.  Aftershocks continue and everyone is sleeping outside in the street either because they have lost their homes or they are too scared to sleep inside for fear of more shaking. 

Hospitals are crowded and medical supplies are scarce.  There are some organizations on the ground working to evacuate people to different hospitals throughout Haiti and I believe some patients have already been evacuated.  There is an immediate need for food, water, shelter and medical care.  

If you want to give please please research who you are giving to.  If the 2010 earthquake taught us anything its that is it much better to give to small organizations who are already working in Haiti.  It is also better to buy food, water and supplies in Haiti than to have them shipped in. If you need any advice on who or how to give please get in touch with me. 

And finally please continue to pray. 

- Pray for help to come soon. 

- Pray for those trapped, that they would be found, quickly. 

- Pray for those in need of medical care - that they would find it. 

- Pray for food, water and shelter to arrive quickly. 

- Pray for those involved in the rescue mission, digging through block by block with their bare hands.  Pray for strength and more equipment to arrive. 

- Tropical depression Grace is now headed for Haiti arriving tomorrow (Monday) and is predicted to bring flooding.  Pray for divine intervention.  Thankfully Grace has already been downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression. 

- Pray for comfort and strength for those affected. 

- Pray for other affected by PTSD from the 2010 earthquake. 

Thank you for interceding for the people of Haiti once again. 

Earthquake

 This morning around 8.30am there was a 7.2 earthquake in the south west of Haiti.  We felt it very slightly at home and we are all fine.

I almost can't believe it is happening,  Haiti just takes one hit after another. Now we have what is likely a humitarian crisis, during political turmoil in the middle of a world wide pandemic. How does anyone deal with that? 

Everyone's mind (including my own) goes to the 2010 earthquake in Port au prince.  There will be many today who will be suffering the affects of PTSD,any who will be remembering loved ones who died in 2010 and now many who will be in severe need.  

Initial reports are saying there is a lot of damage but we will let you know more as we find out. 

Photo from port au prince 2010 earthquake 

Keep continuing to pray for Haiti. 

We made it!!

I know its a few days late but we are here! Thank you for your prayers, all of our travels went well and we are here. 

It really is good to be back.  This doesn't take away from the fact it was hard to leave but we are so thankful for the extended period of time we had at home with our family and friends. 

The boys did great on all the flights and flying through the Bahamas worked out fine.  It was pretty amazing to fly out of the Bahamas and onto Turks and Cacois and then onto Haiti.  The beauty of those flights in that you are on a small (30 people) propeller plane and the views are amazing!  The colour of the water is unbelievable.  I have to say and maybe I am biased but Haiti does have the most beautiful landscape the mountains in Haiti are just beautiful.  Haiti has so much potential. 

We arrived on Sunday and as soon as we got home the boys ripped their shoes off and were straight outside. Its like they are back in their natural habitat!  They are really enjoying being back and of course the fact that Bello is unbelievably, still alive, made their day.  Bello is pretty glad to have some company and some actual cat food!  I was a little concerned how Jacob was going to be, we had no idea if he remembered Haiti or not.  Usually he is very quiet and scared around strangers but so far he has been great with everyone who has been to our house.  This is such a big answer to prayer.  Jacob has made so much progress in the past year not only with his speech, but in his whole development and we just weren't sure how another big transition would affect him, but he has done brilliantly. 

 

when we first got here it felt a little bit like we were in a time warp, when we arrived in the house my shopping list was still written on the whiteboard, meals written in the diary for the week we left, my pjs and our bedsheets in the dirty washbox, and Bill's whiteboard full of his classes. 

We have been spending the last few days organizing, cleaning, washing and seeing people.  All our clothes have been sitting for over a year and all needed washed. With not having any other missionaries on campus and no tesco nearby I wasn't sure how those first few days would be.  Normally when any of us get back we make sure the other people have some food in the cupboards and meals for a day or two but even without the other missionaries here the Lord sent us lots of people.  Leme and Gerta went to town to buy us some food,  Yverose came on Monday to help with the washing and cleaning, Rose has been staying for a few days, Vedane left a lasagne for dinner on Sunday and Shelley brought dinner and other things on Monday.  All of this has made these first few days a LOT easier.  

I visited Bethesda on Wednesday and it was so good to see everyone even if they did say ' Julie you look so much fatter its good, you look better like that.' I'll take it as a compliment.  I walked into the PT department and it was full of patients plus Altidor and Echebert and 5 students from the local PT college.  It has come a long way from when I first came to Haiti 5 years ago.

Thank you for your prayers and support over this time.  I am not really great at keeping this blog up to date so I have decided to try to share a little more on my instagram page about living in Haiti. I can do shorter posts and share more photos if your on instagram feel free to follow me @julie_edler. When we were home a lot of people were asking me what day to day life was like and I think that is the best way to share.