January 25, 2010
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Dear Friends in Christ,
We were able to get though to Haiti by phone, Sunday afternoon. It was so good to talk to Lussade and Laura Birdy a R.N. They were busy working, but Laura spent a few minutes updating me about the team.
She said that Carrefour area which is east of Port au Prince, is very bad. Lots of flattened buildings and homes. They met the Smoker family who are missionaries in Carrefour and learned that there were about 25 people killed at their home when the 7.0 earthquake hit. Mrs. Smoker was able to escape through an open upstairs window.
There are thousands of relief workers in the PAP area. Saturday one relief organization distributed 4 million meals to the Haitian people. Since there are so many workers in the PAP area, the medical team is praying about moving to the outlying areas such as Jacmel and Leogone. As the TV news reports, there is a mass exodus of people out of PAP. The news media stays at the airport area which is secured by military and the fighting that is seen on TV is pretty much isolated to that area because of the media attention. Laura and Micah reported that they have not seen violence anywhere. Tent cities are set up for the homeless everywhere. There is a very large U.S. military presence.
The team is working at relief hospitals and seeing a large number of amputations and fractures. They are helping clean wounds and changing dressings after surgeries. They have gone to several areas where they were told help was needed only to find there were lots of medical people already there meeting the needs. It’s been frustrating as they want to help where the needs are greatest and of course there is no organized way to find out where these places are located.
Not really knowing why, Laura said there seems to be more devastation in Carrefour Sunday than on their first visit there. This is most likely because the strong aftershocks continue.
John and Micah have spent a great deal of time working on paperwork to try and get as many of the children from Haiti Children’s Relief Mission, orphanage to the U.S. as they can. Each day that passes, more restrictions are being set up to prevent the children from leaving. According to Laura, there are 40 families in San Antonio alone who have completed home studies and are ready to receive children. The more the government gets involved, the slower the adoption process becomes. Please pray that the Lord would open doors so that some or all the children could get to the safety of Christian homes soon.
Tonight we got through to talk with Micah and he said that he has now experienced a 4.3 and a 4.4 earthquake. He said they happen so quickly that by the time he stood up from his chair it was over. He also mentioned that up on the mountain they are eating as usual and there is water available, praise the Lord.
Things sound chaotic and unorganized which is our experience in normal Haiti. Pray that the team can plug in where they can minister the most. We are grateful for your continued prayers and concern for the people of Haiti and this team.
Blessings in Christ,
The Kennedy Family
Only a Servant Ministries, Inc.
