Update

Thought that I would give you a little update of what we have been doing over the last couple of days.



We have visited many tent cities that are popping up all over.  Where there is any open space, people who have been displaced are setting up their own temporary shelters.  The areas are filled and of course they do not have a water supply and they do not have any sanitation facilities.  This could become a huge issue - although I do see that the people are managing to find water and even food.  Some have some utensils and are cooking the traditional method of hot oil (over a coal fire).  The conditions in the camps are changing and some of the needs are being addressed - it is just a matter of time.  How precious time is right now. 

Many many buildings have been destroyed.  Bodies have been recovered from a number of the larger buildings.  We drove back into an area off the main road and there were many houses either partially or totally destroyed and it is obvious that the bodies have not been recovered in these areas. 

I have seen a couple of small local market areas - local vendors are there and are selling their stuff - this is including meat and poultry.  I good sign I think that there is currently some availability of food in these markets.  I do not know the supply line and if the supply can continue.  And with so many businesses damaged, I would think that there will be a big shortage of money - people will not be able to earn the money that they need to buy the food.

Personally, I am doing well considering.  Slept indoors last night again and got between 5 and 6 hours sleep.  Food supplies are limited - we have not yet found an open grocery store.  We would normally buy some fruits and vegetables from the local markets - but we have not been able to do so yet - perhaps tomorrow we will.  We are still doing okay on food and we are expecting a team for the DR tomorrow that will also bring in some supplies for us.  We are not doing any relief at this point in this area - we don't feel that we can do so until we can reliably source food.

We have been running very low on fuel and concerned about that - our truck was on empty.  Today we were
able to buy some fuel for the truck - praise God - He knows our needs.  

Days are long and we are going, plans ever changing as we move along.  We are making arrangements for and supporting a medical team coming in.  The team is about 22 people in total and are coming in through the DR.  They are a self sufficient trauma unit and we have found a placement for them at a local hospital.  This actually was not easy to do.  It is extremely difficult to match up resources with the need.  Many hospitals are either damaged and closed from the quake or they are inundated - with Drs and with patients.  What they badly need is equipment, supplies and space to work with.  Of course these hospitals are not well organized - and typically have several organizations working within the facility side by side, and without really knowing each other nor what they are doing. 

Based on our observations yesterday and today - it seems that a large number of the medical needs are being addressed.  We saw many people in the camps that had some sort of treatment for injuries already.

Our focus right now is threefold:

1. preparing for the medical team that is coming
2. meeting our basic needs of fuel, water and food
3. security - we have started to rebuild the perimeter/security wall at the house the was completely down

We met with the mayor of the city today and we got permission to use a school that has just finished construction beside Pastor Michels.  It is not currently occupied.  The team coming and their equipment is far to large for us to host - so we will host them in the school - a short block away and will provide their meals at the house.  The team is bringing their own food with them - we've asked for basics such as rice, beans and flour.  Yummy.  Asnique is a great cook so we'll throw a challenge at her.

We are working with a hospital that is more or less in our area. Our team will manage the trauma and the OR over the night shift at the hospital.  Still a few details to work out - but it is coming together nicely.  We may take some office space and use it as a third OR - that decision will likely be made after we've had our first day (aka night shift) at the facility.

Driving is always interesting in Haiti.  I had one standoff with another vehicle - guess we were both stubborn and wanted the right of way.  Ended up we both had to stop - side by side in the whole that wasn't big enough - both had to squeeze over into the rubble on both sides a bit to finally get by.

We have worked very hard the last couple of days on two fronts mainly - with lots of little side trips.

On my agenda for tomorrow - will be to find some sand at the site to make mortar for our wall; wire up the school so that the team will have some (albeit very limited) power; go meet the team on my bike sometime around 11 (we think); debrief the team and take the chief surgeon for a meeting at the hospital.