“Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.” Proverbs 16:8
Hi! It’s been a busy week with construction. The team finished re-building the dormitory during the week that they were here. The block is now all laid and the tin roof is in place. Andrew and Ijzebrand worked hard to get everything done. The dormitory looks good. Thanks to all who helped in rebuilding the dormitory. The earthquake damaged the old one but now we have a better dormitory! The welders in front of the house are building the doors. Pastor Pierre and the cement boss are now working on parging the walls. They will then go back to fixing the earthquake cracks in the house and hopefully everything will be done in preparation for the next team that will be arriving near the end of May to focus on painting.
Jantje, Kimberley and Janelle helped to organize the boxes of medical supplies in the pharmacy/living room. We brought 4 truckloads away to Kings Hospital, Hopital La Paix and Bernard Mevs Hospital and we still have enough medical supplies to be used for medical clinics and for people who come to our gates from the community asking for help.
We also went to the airport area where Unicef is based to follow up on the report that was done for Dieula 3 months ago as an earthquake orphan. We hadn’t heard back from them yet. Jantje asked why the workers at the entrance were pointing at me and I told her the last time we were there I had no choice but to bypass security in order to see Unicef. I explained how security wouldn’t let me in for my appointment with Unicef and how my sister Michelle and nephew stayed behind at the entrance to calm the security guard down while I walked past them. This time we didn’t have to bypass security as there was a Unicef worker at the security gate to sign us in. The wheels of the large NGO’s move very slow and the Unicef people knew nothing of the report for Dieula that one of their personnel made 3 months ago and they sent us on to a trailer that is shared between Unicef and Save the Children. The person we spoke with this time was from Save the Children. She took down the information and this week we got a call from the Red Cross about her. That was a fast response! I think that Save the Children is more organized than Unicef. We think that Dieula was used as a “restavek” (child slave) and she doesn’t seem to be upset that her “parents” died in the earthquake. She is enjoying being here at Coram Deo.
Although we had no problem at security this time, we did have a small problem involving Kimosabee while parking on a side street near the entrance. While going around another vehicle Kimosabee caught the front bumper of another vehicle with his “defense” bar and pulled it off. It was a good thing that this happened right near a garage and that we could get them to repair the other vehicle’s bumper. Jantje was standing in the box of the pickup and apologized for not letting me know that Kimosabee was about to pull off the bumper! I forgave her.
Dr. Ed and a medical team held a couple of clinics this week. On Thursday a medical clinic was held at Willy and Joel’s church in Cite Soleil and on Friday one was held here at Coram Deo.We give the Lord thanks for those willing to hold medical clinics in Cite Soleil. It has a bad reputation but only a minority of people cause problems for the rest.
During the earthquake the prisoners escaped from the downtown penitentiary and some of them have taken refuge inside Cite Soleil. As a result crime has increased especially in the Boston, Belekou, and Brooklyn areas of Cite Soleil. A Haitian nun was recently killed on Boulevard American when someone opened fire on the vehicle she was riding in. The driver fled. The police conducted an operation and arrested some suspects. The head of the Cite Soleil police station held a press conference to announce his concerns this week. He is concerned that gangs are re-organizing, crimes are increasing and that they have in their possession weapons taken from the prison. He said that when arrests are made police are noticing the suspects back out on the street a few days later. He is advising judicial authorities and the police hierarchy for a rapid intervention before it is too late. Pray that security can be maintained and that development work can continue within Cite Soleil.
The removal of destroyed and damaged buildings is going slowly. The Haitian government for the most part has this task and they don’t have much equipment. At the pace things are going now it will be decades before all the broken buildings are removed. Other countries need to come in with heavy equipment to help with this process. Pray that this happens. We have been trying to find a way to get an apartment building in our neighborhood demolished in order that the bodies in the collapsed 1st floor can be removed. The building is unstable and heavy equipment is needed to bring the building down. The owner of the building has made no effort and has instead installed a Digicel antenna in the courtyard complete with generators and a guard to watch over the equipment. The neighbors say that this owner has 6 properties around the city and the earthquake destroyed every building. We went to the Delmas mayor’s office and spoke with an engineer and he said he would take a look at the site. Pray that the mayor’s office will take action to bring down the building.
The Forbes Environmental Performance Index Report for 2010 has been released and Haiti is in 155th place out of 163 countries. Iceland is in 1st place as the cleanest country and Sierra Leone is in last place. The Dominican Republic was 36th and the United States was 61st. With many countries here assisting in the relief effort maybe Haiti’s environmental scores will improve next year!
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
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