HAITI UPDATE

Hello Family and Friends,

Here is a update of our last couple days of travel which I will try to write as best I can, I don't have Lori here to edit for me ;).

Friday we ran around like crazy getting the final things before we left for the Dominican Republic and Haiti. We left Pismo around 9:00 pm. We had to stop in Santa Barbara and pick up some supplies for Rescue Net a medical first responder team from YWAM. We made it to YWAM LA somewhere around 12 or 12:30 at night.

We woke up after 2 or 3 hours of sleep to leave Saturday at 4am for the airport. After a long day of traveling from LAX to Chicago, to Miami, to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (D.R) we arrived at the YWAM base at 2 in the morning Sunday. We were planning to leave first thing on Sunday for the border on a taxi and then were going to have to figure it out from there. It turned out we ended up spending Sunday in the D.R, which was a good thing.

A team from Pennsylvania showed up with 16 people, and we were able to ride on a 50 passenger bus with them to the border on Monday. We then get on another mini bus from there to St. Marc, Haiti. ***i got a free tetnus shot at the border as well, because I couldn't remember the last time I had one. Don't worry it was all clean :)***

So crossing the border actually ended up being very easy. We were also part of a World Vision caravan that when we got to the border they just opened the gates and let us into the country. So I guess because I have no stamp in my passport I haven't officially been here. The plan was for the group that was coming here to St. Marc to go part of the way to Port Au Prince (PAP) and then take a north route to avoid the craziness of PAP. The World Vision group would continue on with our SWAT style Police escort that all teams must take from the border due to safety issues :) Somehow our van ended up driving all the way into the craziness of PAP. It was heartbreaking. There were so many buildings that had fallen and apparently we didn't even see the worst of it. We saw many refugee camps set up in parks and empty lots around town. We drove right past the Presidential Palace. It was completely destroyed. We drove by one gas station that had atleast 15 people standing around the pumps with cars lined out the driveway and down the street. It was hard to drive past all the people and see the hurt on their faces. Many of these people have lost loved ones. We pulled in to the main police headquarters and then realized we had not taken the right road. Our driver then drove very fast through the streets of PAP to get us North towards St. Marc.

Our original plan was to stay with a DTS student from last year whose family had moved just north of PAP. It now turns out our past student Philip will be staying the week with us here in St. Marc. There are many people that are fleeing from PAP and coming to the surrounding cities. Just today the local hospital who should only have 120 people but currently has 410, brought 50 people to the YWAM base to lay in their soccer field under shelter. Tomorrow it sounds like we are going to be gutting an old school and turning it into a temporary clinic.

There is so much that needs to be done here. Just today this temporary clinic here at the YWAM base gave a boy 5 stitches that he has needed since last wednesday. The hospitals and clinics have been giving people amputations if they have a compound fracture. This is just crazy that someone will not have one or more of their limbs for the rest of their life because of a compound fracture.

I will try and write more tomorrow. After we have spent the day out in the city.

Godbless and THANKS for all your prayers and support!

Will