Oct. 14 - Coram Deo Update

Last night we had a lot of rain here in Port-au-Prince. This morning Marie's sister called saying that her home had been flooded. She lives in the Bois Neuf region of Cite Soleil We went out to see how she was doing. The nearby canal overflowed with runoff water from Port-au-Prince and there is a lot of mud. Her neighbours wanted to show us around. One, gave me a pair of rubber boots to trudge through the mud to visit the area. It was pretty sad to see how these people are living. They complained that the canal that passes by them is full and broken and hasn't been repaired/cleaned since the years of Preval. While I was walking we were walking by a plant that the people use for natural fencing. It is known in creole as "kan de lam". Somehow I got some of the sap into my eye and it started to burn. First it felt like having sweat in my eye and then later it started to burn. I kept walking meeting the people. They all wanted to show me their muddy houses and sad surroundings. I had to stop and ask for water to rinse out my eye. It didn't help much. The pain kept getting worse and when we were done Amos had to drive back because I couldn't. I kept trying to rinse my eye and rested in bed with a tea bag compress. Finally the pain and effects of the "kan de lam" are going away. Unfortunately it cost me a day of work. I'll post photos later. We are going to contact the mayor of Cite Soleil. I know Joel and hope that they can clear out the blocked canal so that the people of Bois Neuf don't have to keep dealing with the flooding canal. The situation there is absolutely filthy. Please keep the families of Bois Neuf in prayer.