Dear friends,

I hope you all are fine and not feeling down by all the bad news coming from Haiti that we have had to share with you. Unfortunately, the pages of sorrow and pain will not be turned for a while. I just got back from Haiti witnessing nightmares of an uncontrollable proportion. The magnitude of the devastation caused by the four hurricanes and storms that swept through Haiti is immeasurable. The few places I had the chance to visit showed me a sample of the Haitian reality today - the civil protection agency is still at work to determine the full scope of this tragedy and so far they have come up with 30,000 houses destroyed, more than 500 dead, hundreds of thousands of people are in disarray with no food, no clean water, and no place to sleep, and most of their crops gone.

Streets of Gonaives

The truth is that in just a few days, on October 6, school should be starting. For the Haitian government it is an enigma to be solved, since most of the buildings of the state-sponsored schools that were not damaged are currently housing hurricane victims. Then, figuring out what to do with so many displaced children is a mystery as well.

We are talking with our pastors who have reported to us about conditions in their communities. They are confirming what we already knew to be true, that in many of those devastated places this school year might be compromised if we do not come with a way to help sustain the nutritious need of the children. It is estimated that one-third of the country's rice crops were destroyed by the storms, which came right at harvest time, so more food shortages and price increases are certain in the coming weeks.

We are also faced with the fact that many of our structures where school was to happen have been damaged or are no longer standing. Four areas retain our attention the most: Saint-Martin Dolcine, near Gonaives; Mirebalais, in the lower Plateau; Hinche, in the higher Plateau; Bois Gerard, near Plaisance of the south.

You may know about what happened in Gonaives, the submerged town, and how many people from the church and school in Saint Martin are suffering from lack of food and clean water, but you probably have not heard much about Hinche and Mirebalais, where about 500 homes were destroyed and carried down by the La Term and Guayamunco rivers.

In Sapaterre, near Hinche, Pastor Claude has no way to get school started unless we rebuild the humble structure he had before. We need to raise about $5000 to build something a little stronger for the school. The nearby churches of Calebassier, Nan Casse, and Coming Ung have also lost their structures and need the same attention.

UN Food Lines in Gonaives

Pastor Yvon Saint Prival talked to me with a tone of great desperation as he explained that the congregation in Bois Gerard had to meet under a tree because their little structure is gone, as well. He also told that his worries get amplified every time he thinks about the fact that the only school in community may not go on this year if we cannot find a way to quickly help erect the structure. For that, we are trying to raise $3500.

The roof of the place we have rented for school in Beudoret has sustained great damage and would cost quite a bit to repair. Westlink Christian Church in Wichita, KS, has sponsored a construction for us on our land in Beudoret, but the rising cost of material caused us to run out of money. Pastor Thomas wisely suggested that since the owner of the rented building does not want to cooperate in fixing the structure, we should finish our building and move the school and church. We are estimating a $6000 cost to render the building functional.

The church at Nan-Baptiste in northwest Haiti had several buildings blown down by the storms, including a small two-room house they were using for school rooms. Pastor St. Pierre has been able to get two of the buildings back up and hopes to soon have the third erected again. He has several kids in hospital with fever. Because of the lack of roads he can no longer buy food in PAP and get it to Bombardo. Instead he is forced to buy in Bombardo which costs him more, and is asking for more money to feed the kids.

Our school structure in Roche Gran has also sustained some damage. Pastor Luckner Joseph confirmed that $1000 is needed to do the repair. My friends, many of you have already been generous in this endeavor and we certainly appreciate it, but we are overwhelmed by the magnitude of this hurdle and we cannot conquer it without your help. We trust that you will ride this bump with us as you always have.

Now let me give you a bit of good news:

New Orphanage Kitchen

We have been in the negotiating mode with the Haitian government for a while about the physical state of our orphanage in Fedja. They did impose some injunctions upon us, wanting to see structural improvement as a condition for us to get our yearly renewable authorization back. We thank Mike Mularoni and a team from Five Oaks Community Church, who went to Haiti and performed some of the structural work. When Ike went through Haiti, I was able to move all the children into one of the bays where we all felt safe. This is to tell you that the building is one of the strongest you might find in Haiti. Mike really did a good job making it "hurricane proof". We also worked on moving the kitchen from its hazardous location in front of the children's sleeping quarter into the main building. We also were able to purchase all the books, school supplies, uniforms and shoes the children will need to start school on October 6.

We have good reports also about many of our churches, where people are coming to experience the salvific life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Voodoo priests are coming to Christ and many are getting baptized into the saving grace of our Lord.

Please pray that GVCM does not get sidetracked by concentrating too much on the social aspect of this need. We are in Haiti for the spiritual need of the people to come to know Christ. Our holistic approach to meeting the humanistic need of people is mainly to serve the goal of the church.

May the Lord continue to bless you beyond your expectations.