LEAVING FOR HOME TODAY FOR SHORT BREAK

I will be leaving Haiti today arriving home Friday evening for a short break, returning to Haiti on or about the 12th of Mar... we have a team from Coastal Church, Vancouver, B.C. arriving for a week of support on the 16th of Mar...

Thank you to those that have dropped me a note for support for the funerals... there have been some relief worker here that have given some money to help and about 6 others have e-mailed me with a donation... one of our supporters has sent $300. to give to the family, not for the funeral but to help them with their lives so the mother doesn't have to leave her family to work in PAP.. this is a great idea... this will help the family with support for about 6 mons.... thanks Sandra... we are still in need of another 14 people to donate $100. towards the funeral... if extra comes in we will put it towards the school they attended in honor of their name for school books and supplies... thank you in advance for your support... drop me an e-mail if your able to help as it will help me to keep track on where we are at with the funds for the funerals...

More buildings have come down with the aftershock.. even some of our buildings and the hotel has cracks appearing where there were no cracks before... it appears cement structures are out of the question for schools for some time... we are hoping to purchase some land in Jacmel, approx. one acre for $75,000. and then hopefully put up a large tent for a school... one that would hold about 2000 people.. this would allow us to continue with a school in Jacmel with about 600 children... if you can help in this area, please drop me a note or put on your donation for it to go towards this project... the existing building could be used for office space where we rent out the rooms... the rent then would go towards the operation of the school...

We have a team of 20 young people from the States that are going to be helping with the construction of our walls at our Chabin location... these walls are for securing the property and the construction of the cinder block plant... more info to follow...

For those that are wanting to come and help physically with construction or helping at the orphanage or if you are trained in the medical field, please give me as much notice as you can so I can arrange things for you at this end.... rooms are difficult to find so will need as much lead time as possible....

We were able to finally find a couple of vehicles for transporting food and doing our everyday running around... the one truck will be used at the cinder block plant when we are finished with the hauling of food....thank you to everyone that has been able to help financially... you truly are making a difference... Bob & Linda

SAD DAY ON THE MISSION FIELD....

Two girls from the Chabin region, one from our school and the other from our Church were killed today by a run away truck .... the guy was driving too fast and could negotiate a curve near Chabin and ran over and killed two girls.. one was in grade 4, Guerlin Polo and her aunt Mireline Polo...there are three others in the hospital... the Dad arrived at the scene just after the accident and found his little girl underneath the front of the truck pinned between the truck and the embankment and a tree.. .. she was still alive but cut off at the waste..she lived for about 1 hr.... he was going crazy and started slashing at the truck tire with his machete and it flew out of his hand and severely cut one our workers, Magnum that was trying to help...Magnum has survived and we have him home now....about 60 stitches across his shin and calf... I got to talk with the Dad and he broke down... it was his sister and his little girl... his wife had just left the day before looking for work in PAP to find some income for the family.... a funeral here is about $1000. for a low cost one... the family has nothing... I would like to help them... if you feel you can help please mark on your donation it is for the Polo funerals... any extra money that comes in we will put towards the school in honor of them...the truck was hired by LDS bring in emergency supplies to Jacmel... it is too bad these young drivers don't have respect for people on the road and drive well past their ability... it is a sad day on the mission field.. life is so fragile..... especially in Haiti... can you help!!!..... one of the toughest days yet in Haiti... Bob & Linda

PICTURES THAT WOULD NOT UPLOAD EARLIER....

Here are a few more pictures from the food distribution... we have found the tent cities are getting much more then anyone else... this way we are able to help those that don't have those connections... the line went for a couple of city blocks... lots of very happy people... thank you for making a difference.... Bob & Linda www.lifelinehaiti.blogspot.com

FOOD DISTRIBUTION (CON'T)

Here a few more pictures of the distribution of food from Sunday... there are so many people that had a part in having this come together... special thanks to Pastor Chad and Urban Refuge Church and his team along with their partnership with Kids Against Hunger...also to those that help with the costs at this end to get the food to Jacmel and out of customs... Alvin.. thank you... pictures are just random shots of the distribution of the food...
we had quite a shaker last night around 4AM... didn't set off my alarm but it woke me up from a deep sleep... at first it sounded like a chopper flying above the hotel and the bed was shaking pretty good... lasted for a few seconds...
The wrap up to the crusades ended with a march through the streets to city hall and finished up at about 9PM.. about 6000 people attended... it was a combination of all the churches in Jacmel... sorry, internet would not upload the pictures... I'll try later....
we have a full day planned, going to Chabin as we are hoping to provide temporary shelters for those that have lost their homes... this is in co-ordination with the Canadian Red Cross...
Thanks for your prayers and financial support... so much still to do... take care... Bob & Linda

90,000 MEALS SERVED.....

Dear friends, What a joy it was to see the faces of these precious people getting some food... each person had a coupon that they turned in before they could receive a case of food... it was predetermined which group was in the highest need and then a distribution place was set up and only those that had a coupon were able to get food .... this process will be continued until the first container of food has been given out... In the pictures you will see Pastor Placide, our director of operations along with the Senator for this area, Mr. Lambert helping with the passing out of the food... we had an elet group of officers as security and a chopper overhead...

Second container of food!!!

Dear friends, We finished up last night with the unloading of the second container of food... about half of it will be served to the people over the next couple of days... pictures to follow..
we had helpers, young to the elderly carrying boxes of food on their head....we will be delivering into the remote areas this week so may not be able to show updates on the blog each day... will be going back home for a break on Friday for about 10 days before coming back till about the end of Apr. .. thank you everyone for all your prayers and support... there is still so much to do.... don't forget about the needs of the people in Haiti for the months and years to come... I am concerned how it will be when the relief agencies leave... back to normal here is 400 children dying every day, nearly 150,000 a year.. hopefully we will never return to normal with numbers like that...
I have been collecting some interesting stories of what happened just before the earthquake... I'll post that at another time... Take care of yourselves.... Bob

PIC OF THE DAY FRIDAY

Dear friends... Had a really good meeting with Charlie this morning who is overlooking the Red Cross work in this area.... the pic. of the day is of a little girl that was traveling with her Mom & Dad driving one of the trucks hauling our food from PAP to Chabin... Stay safe.... Bob

GOING FROM VICTORY TO VICTORY

Dear friends...you can't have a victory without first having a battle... it was like the final round of a heavy weight fight or just completing the first marathon but we have the victory.... things didn't come together like we were expecting on Thursday so it was another day of frustration and having to return to Jacmel empty handed... but then there was Friday... right down to the wire and a special push from the Haitian Government we won the battle... we transferred the food and delivered late last night and unloaded in our warehouse in Chabin by 2:30 AM ... the second container will be transferred today... having trouble with the Internet so have to post this before I loose it... thanks for all your prayers... thanks to Urban Refuge and Kids Against Hunger..... watch for more pictures later.... Look after yourself.... Bob

PIC OF THE DAY

A GREAT WEEK COMING TOGETHER

Dear friends,... thanks for your prayers and support... you have been following the frustrations we have been experiencing... I posted at the beginning of the week that we are expecting a good week... it has been more then good with everything that has been coming together... our containers have been released and we are going with 4 large truck to pick up the food ... there was a firing over this... someone was looking for a bribe but got fired instead...
I was in the mountains at our Chabin location and hiked about 5 hrs. meeting with the families and children of our school... there were many surprised looks when I showed up with lots of tears and laughing... pictures are of a home of a couple standing in front of their house.... there was one death in the region when a house collapsed but we didn't know the man... there are many of the houses damaged to where they will have to be rebuilt... they are hungry but doing well.... the trenches are for the base prepared for the wall going around the front of our property in Chabin.. there is about 200 yards trenched so far.... this will help secure where we will be securing our containers that will be coming in in the next few months... also with the cinder block plant that should be all together in the next couple of months.... one of the pictures of is some of the children on Chabin mountain... I got to see about 200 of our 430 children...from our Chabin school.... there is something about expecting... it has been an awesome week... go into your day expecting something good is going to happen and give God the Praise.... Bob

THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA

Dear friends... We were honored today to have a meeting with our Prime Minister of Canada.... in the photo is Sarah Wallace who has a mission here helping midwives... Sarah is from Alberta also... her mission is called Olive Tree ..... there were about six NGO's that got to meet with the Prime Minister... along with this meeting we got to meet the Ambassador to Haiti from Canada along with the S.I.D.A. representative for Haiti from Ottawa. ... we were given as much time needed to share our needs and concerns... the Prime Minister is a great listener... it was so encouraging to have a visit like this... it was such a breath of fresh air... a day I will never forget...
our Ambassador is going to look into getting our containers released... we are going to PAP tomorrow and don't plan on coming back till we have received them... this is about 570,000 meals that are so needed, especially in our mountain locations...
Bob

JUST A FEW OF THE THOUSANDS YOUR SUPPORT IS HELPING

Dear friends... We are coming into this week with great expectations... it is a great day to be alive and looking forward to helping as many people as we can.... we got news that our Prime minister of Canada, Steven Harper will be visiting Jacmel and Leogan this week... we are hoping with a meeting with him with all the Canadian NGO's working in this area.... this would be such an encouragement... we believe we will have good news about our containers we have been waiting to get from the Port this week.... we will be taking food and supplies into some of our mountain area's this week with help from the UN supplying us a driver and vehicle and Unicef helping with food.... We will get into Basin Orange, Goye, Basfrontal and Thiotte this week.... pictured above are pictures of just a few of those that your support is helping... picture of Pastor and Mrs. Placide at the outdoor service in Jacmel.... there will be outdoor services every day and evening this week.... thanks for all your support.... Bob

PIC. OF THE DAY

PEOPLE STILL TRAMATIZED BY QUAKE

Dear friends... we are all doing well considering... something that I continually see is the effect the quake has had on the people with fear of another one.... this photo is an example of people that check into the Hotel in Jacmel, that did receive some damage from the quake but some of the hotel is being rented out... even though they have a room they sleep in tents because of the trauma....
I was talking with some of the military today and they have been informed by the seismologists that they are expecting the next big one by the 21st. of Feb..... hopefully they are wrong... I have set up an alarm system in my room in case of something quite strong... I have set a stainless steel bowl that I have on the side of the end table just balancing on the edge.. it would fall to the floor with quite a crash if the room starts shaking and wake me up .... just my little alarm system for night time... a tremor woke me up last night and it just felt like the ground shake when a train goes by... no trains here so I knew that wasn't what it was.... the lady in the picture is Nicole who is with an organization called Save the Children... she is Haitian and lived through the quake...
They are doing a tremendous work down here.... we have secured a tent for our orphanage... the ones that we do have are very small and not very strong... I'll post pictures when we get it set up.... we have a vehicles secured for doing deliveries of food and supplies to the mountains from the UN humanitarian division... I don't know how many days we will have a truck and driver but everyday is a huge help... costs of things, especially for rentals have gone up here so much.. a pick up truck is now $200. per day U.S... a generator is $65. plus gas per day.... we are hoping for our containers to be released this week.... stay tuned.... Bob

Something that has never happened here in Haiti before is that they have canceled all the VooDoo celebrations that normally happen this time of year.... they have instead allow us and another denomination hold revival meetings each night for the whole week... the streets have been blocked off to accomodate... there is such a cry out to God of repentance..... it is amazing to be here and see this....

DAY OF PRAYER/ONE MONTH SINCE THE QUAKE

Dear friends... all offices and businesses were closed today as the country went into a day of prayer marking the first month since the earthquake... all churches were full .... the streets were nearly empty of any traffic... It was a day of meetings for me with different organizations.... met some incredible people that are helping here in Haiti... UNICEF gave us a number of things for the orphanage, including toys, blankets, towels, tooth brushes, soap and much more... it was so exciting to see the children playing, especially with the balls that were given... an organization here that is doing prenatal training and births... an organization that helps in Afghanistan is looking to help out here with re construction of our schools... more to follow... meetings tomorrow with the UN, human rights division.... thank you for making a difference.... one child at a time...... God bless you... Bob

Flights into remote areas......

Dear friends.... Dr. Tiffany and a team of Dr.'s flew in a military chopper into some of out outlying areas to survey the situation.... they found people needing food, much damage to homes but not as sever as other bigger centers as the homes are much smaller... places that have hospitals were empty as there is no medicine to help the people... we are in bad need of a 4X4 to get into these areas to deliver food and take in medical supplies... we have been looking around Jacmel but can't find anything that would be reliable... we are unable to get into our account as everything is still messed up in the computer systems..... also the same excuse for the containers as the parent company is in France for the shipping company.... just have to believe there is a reason for this and that it will all work out as it could drive a guy crazy... maybe there will be breakthrough today...

On a more pleasant note I have met some amazing people helping down here with the relief effort. Teams of Dr.'s have come in from all parts of the world... many of them are with Dr.'s Without Boarders... I found that they work with the organization and are transferred to different parts of the world to help where the most need is... for example the photo of my friend Martin is a Dr. surgeon from Columbia.. he has dedicated his life to do this work and gets payed very little... many days he was doing 10 to 12 surgeries putting in 14 to 16 hrs. a day... after being here from just a few days after the quake he has flown back to Columbia for a rest and re assignment... the other photo is of one of our Canadian ship patrolling the bay in Jacmel with another smaller military boat from the Dominican arriving with some supplies......

I may be out of Internet range for a few days... stay tuned for updates .... Bob

FACES FROM AROUND OUR MISSION HOUSE

Dear friends, It was a day of meetings and organizing for teams of Dr.'s to go to the outlying areas over the next few days... still waiting on PAP containers... we were going to go tomorrow but got a call to wait as it may be another day... we just had a tremor a few minutes ago and many people ran out into the streets... we didn't feel it in the vehicle.. people got calls from PAP to see if everyone here was alright as it was strong there also...
Pictures are of those close to use at our mission house... for the teams that have been here with me in the past will know our friends here.... all are safe.. everyone still sleeping outside.... relief organizations are everywhere and are doing a great job... our compound will be started this week to store our containers and equipment... our cinder block press serviced the quake and the rock crusher is being built.... heard there was a helicopter crash towards the Dominican... two died is all I heard... don't get much news here... heard the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl...I got that from home.... sure miss everyone... Take care of your self.... Bob

PIC. OF THE DAY

This is a little girl from our Jacmel school is living at tent city... she spends the day collecting water and sticks, doing laundry and preparing meals...
This is a typical day for many of the children staying here... she is fortunate as she still has her mother... Father died...

It will be so good when we can get to started back to school.. It sounds like the Government has changed their mind about closing schools for the whole year... we are hoping for the beginning of March... Bob

THOUSANDS IN MAKE SHIFT CAMPS IN JACMEL

Dear friends, The pictures here are of a tent city at the soccer field in Jacmel.. There are thousands living here... the first picture shows toilets being built.. a huge need here .... will help prevent a breakout of disease....

The green tents you see on the next picture were donated by a country in South America....(Venezuela)

There are many more makeshift tents in the other part of the compound.....

There is a clinic helping as many people as possible staying at this compound... hundreds line up to see a Dr. ....

The medical teams have been amazing... the lack of equipment and conditions they have had to work under have made it a challenge to say the least... ...
There seem to be teams coming in and out every couple of weeks.. I have met Dr.'s from all over the world...

Accommodations are still scarce for those that are coming in to help... at the present time it seems we have sufficient teams helping in the medical field... some of the Dr.'s I have talked with are very exhausted as they do many surgeries each day....


We haven't had any rain the last couple of nights which is a good thing... The rainy season usually starts in March....

I was in other areas in Jacmel today where many homes had been destroyed... you can go in some areas of the city and see no damage and in others there are houses destroyed for blocks...

The police station was so badly damaged that they are using a house for their office for now...

I met many of the families that we know at tent city... it was so good to see them... lots of smiles and hugs...

We checked out a few trucks today to hopefully purchase to deliver food to out outlying areas... unable to find anything here in Jacmel so will check in PAP on Wed... we will be getting the containers on Wed... excuse today was that the internet was down...

We are looking at opening our schools sometime in March... This will be so good for the children... several of our locations will have to be temporary set up with tarps... Diquinni will have much repair to do, PAP destroyed, City Soleil destroyed, Goye destroyed... There is so much work to be done... thanks so much for your help.... Bob

TOM IS BACK HOME AND MORE

This is a picture of Pastor & Mrs. Placide's grandson Johnathan ...

Tom dropped me a note tonight to say he had a good trip home... like a different planet from where he came from....

I want to make sure there has been no miss understanding about the delay in our containers being released... it has NOT been as a result of the Haitian Government... they have gone out of their way to help us... everything that is shipped gets to us and there are no bribes!!! This is one of the reasons that I will be staying down here for a couple of months is to receive the containers.... we will be starting to build a compound at our Chabin location next week to help with securing the containers and supplies that are being sent...

Don't hold back on your giving .... it all gets to us for our relief work ...... no bribes and no interference from the Haitian Government....

God bless.. Bob

SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICES ON THE STREETS

Dear friends... today church services on the streets... more people then ever attending... people hungry for the word of God...
We have a very busy week coming up with taking Dr. teams to our schools in the mountains.. some trips will be overnight, camping out under the stars.... there may be days that I won't get back to update my blog...

This is a picture of one of the little girls from the Chabin area... shy but happy to see Pappy Bob... the children are recovering well... still will be some time for adults... still sleeping outside.. still feeling tremors at night but not too strong... still rumors of another big quake coming... most areas have been getting food... I have seen most of the relief work done by Unicef in the Jacmel area... they have a huge compound here and have been delivering truck loads of food to many locations in Jacmel... we have given away about 15,000 meals so far but will have our containers of food on Tuesday as it looks right now... the school here in Jacmel where over 300 students died in the earthquake is still a pile of rubble inside a walled area... they still haven't removed the bodies... in places in PAP they set the rubble on fire to dispose of the bodies... I don't know what and when they will do something here.... there is much cleaning up happening... many thousands of people have been hired, especially in PAP sweeping and cleaning up the streets... the Canadian Military were demolishing partly collapsed buildings in Jacmel today....
Thanks everyone for your support... there is much to be done... God bless you... Bob

THANK YOU .....TOM WEPPLER

Dear friends, Today was a sad day to say good-bye for now to Tom.. I am so great full to the everyone back home for letting Tom come to Haiti with me on this trip... A special thanks to Tom's family & the staff at Circle Square Ranch... Tom was a huge blessing.. He caught a free ride on a private plane out of Jacmel to Ft. Lauderdale and then will connect to Calgary either tonight or tomorrow morning... Photo is at the airport in Jacmel with Pastor Wilbert Placide on the left, Tom in the middle and I am the other white guy....

The drama continues with the release of the containers..... the money was delivered this morning for the containers to be released for 9AM... prearranged by the shipping company... It was another long trip from Jacmel to PAP...... but guess what..... the guy that was to receive the money and release the containers did not show up to work today...... I had meetings today with military personal to see about helping us with our containers when they arrive and leveling a part of our Chabin property to prepare for the arrival of the containers... I someone else to meet with but it looks like they will be able to help.... the meetings with the Dr's have gone well and it looks like they will be visiting some of our rural schools this coming week... I will have to escort them into these remote areas.... keep in touch... Bob

PIC. OF THE DAY....

I met this little girl when I was in Port au Prince the other day... I spoke with her and found through my interpreter that she lost her parents during the quake... she is getting shelter from relatives... this is the same story for many thousands of children.....

For the teams that have been here with me in the past ..... I have met everyone we have known over the years and all are safe... that includes Peterson... who use to work security at the Cap la Mandou....

Bob

TRY AND TRY AGAIN!!!

Dear friends, We are doing good...
I couldn't get on the internet last night after our return from PAP..... Wed. night we had a tremor that knocked things off the shelves in the house we are staying in.. Emanuel who stays at the house with us was really scared as something fell on the floor right by his head and he thought the roof was falling on him.. It didn't wake we up.. Tom said he felt it.. the people are still sleeping outside... the streets are full of tents during the night time... lots of roomers that there could be another big quake.....
Yesterday was a real challenge as we gave ourselves lots of time to get to customs with our papers for the containers of food.. a trip that usually takes 4 hrs. or less took us 8 hrs. yesterday because of delays, road blocks and crazy traffic... as we were passing by the market place and the port where we pick up containers the traffic was at a standstill... there were 6 lanes of traffic going into the city and one land going out but when we got through the jam on the way our we found that there were 6 lanes going out and then going down to one lane like it was for us coming in with 6 lanes and then going down to one.. the semi's were also trying to come out of the Port in the middle of the mess... so we were too late to pick up our containers... Pastor went back today to be first in line only to find out the shipping company is putting a surcharge on the containers for the time they were sitting on the doc... we were told that was going to be overlooked... turns out the Government did put it through without any charges but the shipping company wants $8,000. U.S. .. so Pastor is coming back from PAP to get the cash to take back tomorrow... we may loose a few battles but we will win the war!!! .... Tom is doing great... he is out with a team of Dr.'s helping in a remote area to the west of Jacmel.. I was helping out at the airport today with coordination and map plotting.... they are finding that the influx of large numbers of people from PAP into the smaller centers is causing some tension... reports of fights with machetes and rocks in Thiotte. The biggest need it seems right now is shelter for the people.. food is coming in and the water that is being purified by our military is getting to the people... I am finding many people sick with colds, fevers and flue like symptoms...
Today I stopped by the house to pick up something and many people were there as usual... a gust of wind blew a large leaf of a palm tree beside the house and it make quite a noise and all the people ran out of the house onto the street... the fear on their faces showed me how tramatized they are from the earthquake... they heard the banging of the leaf and thought it was a quake... here I was standing at the doorway looking out and they shouting at me and waving for me to run out of the house... I knew it wasn't a quake so I just stood there and then they realized it wasn't a quake and came back in... there is much talk around there they are expecting another major quake here... the top picture shows the road between PAP and Jacmel... many areas still only one lane open... the other shots are from PAP.... Our hope is our containers of food will be delivered tomorrow ... we will be busy unloading about 80,000 lbs. of food into our wearhouse into the night tomorrow... Deliver will then start the next day into the remote areas around Jacmel and to the people of Jacmel......