We have been getting lots of rain the last 4 or 5 days... the pictures attached are just a couple of items that came from our friends in Winkler... what a blessing this has been.. there is much more and I will have more pictures later...
We took two of the team from Minneapolis to Port au Prince yesterday.. I'll take you on the trip with us just to give you a glimpse how things can be down here... we were just leaving Jacmel ready to take the curve to the left onto the straightaway that goes past the Texico when we met a gravel truck, one of the smaller type, that had something under the front of his truck... there were sparks flying and smoke coming from underneath and he had the truck floored as hard as he could go but it was dragging him to a stop... as we got closer to him we could see it was a motor cycle under the front of his truck.. we went about 400 yards and right in front of the Texico was the body of the guy that had been driving the motor cycle... we were the first ones on the scene.... a few people had gathered and the body was twisted badly and he was taking his last breaths.. as a crowd gather some of the young men got tire irons and went to the gravel truck.. the driver had fled because he knew what was coming if he stuck around.. they would have beat him to death if they would have found him... he is probably gone to the Dominican... we had called the police and they arrived shortly after... talking about the police the report is that 650 people have been arrested and are in jail as a result of the police man friend of mine that had been killed last week... just giving you a glimpse of what happens down here...
We spent time in Leogane yesterday and I'll share some of the problems we are having with schools starting this year.. for example in Leogane we had 340 children attending a school in a house that we were renting for $2000. per year.. the house has been repaired since the quake but so many houses are still destroyed so now the demand for housing has gone up to where the rent is now $12,000. for the year which makes it impossible for us to open the school.. we drove down streets where every house on the street was flat to the ground... these were house in the upper class of the city... 85% of the houses were destroyed in Leogane...
On the way back the storms got strong and made the trip through the mountains very interesting to say the least...
For good news we got word yesterday that the Haitian Government is giving us $2500. for two of our schools to help with teachers salaries...this works out to about 4 month salary for the 2 schools... they are also going to supply some desks...also the Senator from Jacmel is having a meeting with us tonight to discuss the problems we had at the port with our containers and all the duties and taxes we had to pay..... he assures us we will get some of the money back that we had to pay... we are encouraged by these small jesters and are hoping this is just the beginning of what is to come ...
We must keep patient and keep pressing in to help the children...
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