Nephew John's Wish Fulfilled By Make A Wish Foundation :)

The Make A Wish Foundation sponsored a "wish" for my nephew John. Tanya, Peter and John went for a trip to British Columbia so that John could go whale watching! They had a great trip! John spent most of the month of June in July for surgeries due to his hydrocephalus. Today he was hospitalized again for problems with his shunt. Please keep John in prayer. John really enjoyed his trip and did well. I am glad that he had this opportunity for this trip. It sure is a break from being in the hospital. Here are a couple of reports that Tanya sent out to us during his trip to BC:

Hello. We have returned exhausted from a wonderful day today of whale watching.

 We went to the airport yesterday in a huge stretch limo SUV, and were given first class service by WestJet the whole way through. We had someone meet us at the counter, and she walked us right through security so we didn't have to wait, and we were through in minutes. They were all so good to John, and all had known about John arriving to WestJet for his Make a Wish trip. John had fun in the limo, and was dancing away to the music at first, and then slept the rest of the way to the airport. we took him out to dinner at the airport, and he was so excited to eat out, and ate everything that went in front of him. I ordered him a drink of water, but he told the waiter that he didn't want water, he wanted pop, so he got Coke instead, which is a real treat for him. He was so happy.  

 As John was being loaded onto the plane, the pilots came out, and all the flight crew, and we had a picture taken for John, with him holding his Wish in Progress sign. It was really nice. When we were about to take off, the flight crew introduced John to the entire airplane, and explained his Make a Wish trip and that he was going whale watching, and that WestJet was sponsoring the flights to BC. Every single person began clapping and wished John a great trip. He was so excited and loved all the attention. Then, the flight crew let us all have anything we wanted from the snack lists, and we didn't have to buy anything, so John was once again treated to many things. When we arrived in Victoria, the WestJet BC crew was waiting for John and had a great big giant sized stuffed whale for John to see, and a bagful of presents for him. He was so tired, but was happy about getting the presents. they were so happy to spoil John.

 We arrived to our beautiful hotel, and it is like staying in a palace, it is so beautiful. The hotel said that whatever John needed, to let them know, so tonight I did.

 We were so tired from arriving back from whale watching that we didn't feel like going out to dinner. John said he really wanted mashed pototatoes, so I asked if there was a way he could get a meal with mashed potatoes, so they said they would look after it. After a short while, the lady had phoned the kitchen, they specially made this for John, and brought the food to our room for John to eat. Peter is moving the car right now out of the $30 per day parking lot to one we found down the street for $6.50 a day, and will pick up some take out for us. John was tired, and needed his supper earlier, so the hotel especially made John's favourite request for him.

 Today we went whale watching, which was John's wish. It was an unbelievable day!!!!!!!!! There is so much to tell about that I can only write some points down.

 We put on layers of clothing in case it was cold,....... a tshirt and a sweater over top, and I packed our spring coats in case we needed them. When we got there, they dressed us all in very thick parkas, pants, winter gloves, hats and sunglasses. Then we were put on a speed boat with the captain, about 20 other people, and a marine biologist to explain everything. We were gone for 4 hours. It was so beautiful, words cannot describe the scenery here, and the smell of the fresh air. John was so excited to be on the boat, and would not stop talking and telling everybody to look at him on the boat. When he found out how fast the boat went, he kept yelling to go faster and faster. The faster the boat went, the happier he was. It was hilarious. The wind was flying through our hair, and the spray from the boat was flying up beside us, and John was so excited, he just could not get enough of the speed boat. He will be able to show you all about the trip on the boat, as he says the boat went faster and faster and then he will show you how the boat rocked a bit side by side, as he moves sideways, and says the boat went like this. He absolutely loved it, and he certainly has the need for speed. That's the thing about him, he is always having people slow and careful with him, but what he really loves is to fly around and speed and have the wind whip through his hair. It was incredible to see him have so much fun.

 We went all around different areas, and saw the nature, sea lions, seals, bald eagles and their nests, and then went to an area where they said they had reports that whales might be there. As soon as we arrived, the biologist told us to start looking in the water, and he explained what to look for........... and then right away I noticed a bunch of killer whales, right in front of us and to the side of the boat a bit. They know all the whales that are in the area, and right away examined the killer whales that we were looking at, and found out that they were transient whales passing through............. then all of a sudden a porpoise was whipped out the water, and the whales where jumping and diving through the air chasing and then eating the porpoise. the boat captain and the marine biologist were just as thrilled as all of us, as they said that this is something that they never ever see. It is very rare to find transient killer whales, and to arrive right at the time of them attacking a porpoise and feeding on it was amazing. They were diving all over the place, just like on a movie. We moved along and saw even more whales........................ all we did for hours was watch whales and the biologist talked all about it. John liked looking but was happier when the engines started up, and we started to race around to find other whales. He kept yelling to go faster and faster each time. lolol

 The best part of all was a time when we went far off to another place to look for sea otters and sea lions, and went into these little inlets. It was beautiful. As we headed out of the inlet into the water, the marine biologist was standing in front of us, telling us that we were going to go back into the more open water to look for humpback whales as they heard that there was a humpback whale in the area, so we were going to drive a ways to find it......................... literally as he was saying that, with his back turned to the water, all of a sudden, right in front of us, the humpback whale shoots out of the water, and then dives down. It was unbelievable............. just like out of a movie. It could have been a comedy movie, as the way that the biologist was talking, and that we were going to go find the whale, he had his back completely turned, and we were all looking forward, and there comes the whale right out behind him. It was amazing!!!!

 We are so tired from the late night trip and the fresh air that we had today.

 Tomorrow we will do a bit more sightseeing,a dn then we have dinner reservations at a restaurant somewhere near here, on the water to eat and watch the float planes coming in and leaving. John can have anything he wants to eat that they serve there.

 John fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow he is worn out, so he will have a nice long nights sleep. He is really enjoying himself so far, and is having no medical issues at all.

 I have attached a few pictures so far. I have also shown the hotel we are in by the harbour, as well as the parliament building, the one with the dome on the top, which is across the street from our hotel.
It is absolutely beautiful here. It is like being up north with all the rocks and the water and all the wildlife, but then in a beautiful city as well.

Hello.
John has had an amazing trip without any really major issues. He has had an awful lot of fun, and we have walked so many miles, we would be much fatter than we really are with all the food we have eaten this week.

 The first two pics are of John eating his dinner at the The Flying Otter restaurant. John was so excited to be there, and knew exactly which waitress was his. Everytime she passed by, he would call her and say "Hey!!!!!" She would come over to him, and he would say, "Make sure you have cheesecake!!!" , as he wanted to be sure that they wouldn't run out of cheesecake for dessert. That night, John ate and ate and ate. He had salmon wellington, and a cheesecake for dessert, as showed in the photos.

 The next two photos were taken this evening in the dining room of the Empress Hotel that we are staying at. John had a nice fancy dinner, and loved every bit of it. He had baked haddock and mashed potatoes, and some vegetables, with again.............. cheesecake for dessert. he was very happy.
I have a photo of the gardens that we visited today. It was so beautiful, but very crowded, so hard to push a chair around. We ended up having a beautiful lunch in the dining room of the home that was there, and once again, John ate lots of food.

 He has spent his entire week eating nad talking and singing the whole time. He loved going for very, very long walks that we did every day, and he really loved the fast boat ride for the whales.

 We walked all along the coast yesterday, hoping to see some whales jumping out of the water, but we didn't see anything. Instead, it just ended up raining, so we put on our raingear that we took with us, and walked along in the rain, even stopping for ice cream along the way.

 John has had a very nice time, and I can't think of anything more that he could possibly have done during this trip. He really enjoyed himself with everything that we did!!!!

State Exam Results - Elementary School Graduates - 5eme/6eme AF

 

The results for the government exams for 6eme AF (last year of elementary school) have been released. The national pass rate is 77%, which is a good average. Out of 105,141 candidates who wrote the exams in the West department (of which Port-au-Prince is part of) 81,089 candidates passed. For the 2nd consecutive year our students completed 2 years in one (5eme and 6eme AF) and for the 2nd year we had a 100% pass rate. All 12 of our students passed the state exams. We registered our students along with the Ecole Evangeliste and in total 32 out of the 33 students passed. Sherri Fausey is an American missionary who has a school in the Delmas 31 neighborhood as well had a 100% pass rate for the 26 students that her school sent to the state exams. It looks good for our Delmas 31 neighborhood. We have good schools and good teachers at these schools. Pray for the students as they prepare for secondary school :) Attached are some photos of 2 of our teacher leaders at our school Jn. Eddy Alexandre, and Josue Marcelin. Josue Marcelin is the teacher of the Grade5/6 class. On the last day of classes in June we had a parent/teacher meeting and the graduating class was presented with haitian creole bibles ( a gift from bibles that were donated to us from Providence United Reformed Church in Strathroy. After completing their education here at Coram Deo we hope to place them in a christian secondary school in our neighborhood Ecole Evangeliste. Pray that we can find sponsors for this year graduating class.

Jn. Eddy Alexandre and Josue Marcelin are the leaders of our school program here at Coram Deo. Jn. Eddy is responsible for the 3eme/4eme AF and Josue Marcelin (Amos' older brother) is responsible for the 5eme/6eme AF program.

Our elementary school graduates for 2013. All 11 students wrote and passed their state exams. Not only did they their state exams but they completed 2 years of education in one year, completing both 5eme and 6eme AF :)

For the 2nd year in a row we had a school pass rate of 100% in the state exams.

The students worked hard this year, studying extra time. The teachers came in on Saturday mornings to work a couple of hours with our state exam class. The teachers gave the students a kiss at the parent/teacher meeting when the students were presented with their report cards. The 5emeAF had to wait until today to await the results from the government of their passing to secondary school.

The teachers are proud to have students willing to work extra hard to complete 2 years of education in 1 year.

The graduates :)

Coram Deo Haiti Update - May 25, 2013

“He calms the storm, so that its waves are still”   Psalm 107: 29

Hi! We had a couple of storms on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon that brought with them a lot of rain. Thursday afternoon was the worst with a lot of rain. Some streets turned into rivers. The American Embassy, located in Tabarre was closed Friday due to the flooding conditions. People heading home from work and school had to wade through water in places. Officially, hurricane season starts June 1^st but storms don’t follow the calendar J Pray for those living in areas susceptible to flooding. It looks like it is going to be an active storm season this year.

The school year is starting to wind down. The students here at Coram Deo write their final exams the week of June 3-6. Once again this year the grade 5/6 class covered 2 years of material over the year. They were able to do this with study sessions on Saturday mornings.  Pray for the 12 students that we will be sending to write the 6eme AF state exams. If they pass these they will qualify for secondary school!

The community health workers returned for another day of testing for HIV and syphilis for the students who weren’t tested the first day. We are thankful that we didn’t have any children testing positive for HIV or Syphilis the second day.  They handed us the reports for each child and we filed them into the students’ folders. International Child Care/Grace Children’s Hospital is focusing on preventive and early detection of diseases.  The team will be returning again to do testing for Tuberculosis, which is a common and an easily transmissible disease here in Haiti. One of the health workers met with me to talk about handicapped people. Helping the handicapped is on her heart. She is part of a mission working with the handicapped in education and training teachers, workers and schools in implementing programs for handicapped students. She invited us to collaborate with them. Their organization wants to set up vocational and professional training for the handicapped. It is great to meet people who want to be involved in providing opportunities to the handicapped. She said that they would be holding seminars and will invite our teachers to participate in the next session. Please pray for those helping the handicapped. The workers are few and the handicapped are many.

Our teachers have continued to follow the seminars offered by the Playmakers – Life Is Good Program. On Friday mornings the teachers spend school time in physical education and play. The teachers put into practise what they learned in the seminars. The children enjoy these fun times! Pray for the Playmakers-Life Is Good program as they help teachers and teach others about the importance of play for children.

Security is still an uncertainty here in Haiti. There are a lot of robberies on the streets. A couple of times Yonel’s wife has been robbed at gunpoint while buying food from the large outdoor market downtown to sell in her neighbourhood market. In the upper Delmas 31 – Hatt area there have been a few deaths that have occurred almost in the same spot. About a month ago a man working with a construction company that is rebuilding the Delmas 33 police station that was destroyed during the earthquake, was shot and killed as he was driving back to the Delmas 33 police station after making a cash withdrawal from the bank. He was shot dead in his vehicle by a couple of people riding a motorcycle. Somebody knew this man was carrying money. Either people working at the bank or people working at the police station were involved in this shooting I think. Last week as Yvens was walking home from school he heard gun shots. Police officers had shot and killed 2 guys who had stolen a motorcycle. Manu and Benson sometimes take a tap-tap to attend youth group on Saturdays at Quisqueya Chapel.  Last Saturday Manu and Benson got off of a tap-tap by Delmas 33. They heard a couple of gunshots and started running. Soon a couple more shots were fired. Other people who were on the streets were running away from the area too. Pray for security on the streets as people go about their day-to-day lives. Part of growing up here in Haiti is learning how to be “street-safe”.

A few weeks ago Marie-Mita and her 4-month-old baby daughter Jessica came to us asking for help, for herself and her baby. She is homeless and has been staying  nights at churches that are holding prayer services. It is common in Haiti for churches to hold services throughout the evening. This was a way for her to get shelter at night. She told us that both she and her baby had HIV. We took her to the HIV clinic at Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs Hospital in Tabarre and they took blood tests which confirmed that they both had HIV. They referred her back to us to register her at the HIV clinic at International Child Care/Grace Children’s Hospital. Marie-Mita was started immediately on anti-retroviral drugs to control the HIV and her daughter started on antibiotics.

It is tough to try to help people who have absolutely nothing. Marie-Mita has had a difficult life since the earthquake. Her husband was killed during the earthquake. She met another man and lived with him hoping that he could provide for herself and her family. She didn’t know that he had HIV. She got pregnant and gave birth to Jessica. When blood tests were taken she found out that both she and her baby had HIV in their blood. The guy who she thought would be a father to her children took off and left her to fend for herself. She ended up sending 2 of her children out to the countryside to stay with people in her village. She stayed in the city trying to find help for Jessica.  We gave Marie-Milta baby formula to give her daughter. The doctors have told her to stop breastfeeding. We helped Marie by paying for tap-tap fare back to the countryside so that she could be with her other 2 children. The hospital gave her a 2-month supply of HIV medications. We have been in contact with another missionary about placing Jessica in their orphanage and in August, when they return from the United States this may be a possibility. Pray for Marie-Mita as she struggles with HIV and raising 3 children alone. People who know that she has HIV shun her. She can’t turn to family as they are part of those who are shunning her. We hope to be an advocate and provide encouragement for her and to share the love of Christ. I hope to speak with the family one day and talk about the message of Christ.

There were more medical situations that occurred this week. I’ll talk about this more in a few days. Have a blessed week-end!

Karen Bultje, Coram Deo

Coram Deo - Haitii Update - May 17, 2013

“Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” 
Proverbs 16:3

Hi! It is an exciting morning in our yard this morning. The school children made Haitian flags and then had an assembly, where the teachers had them marching around the yard singing the Haitian national anthem and patriotic songs. Each May 18 is Fete Drapeau  (Flag Day). We celebrated it a day early!  It is good for the children and teachers to have pride for their country and to celebrate their fight for independence from slavery into a nation. Pray for Haiti, that the country would develop and improve. We can provide a helping hand but it is the Haitian people who will need to make the changes.

This week, the community health workers from International Child Care/Grace Children’s Hospital, made a couple of visits to our school program here at Coram Deo. The first visit was to talk with the students about cholera and to remind them on how to prevent and treat cholera. May is the month of rain and we have been getting some good downpours. Cases of cholera usually increase during rainstorms as the bacteria are spread by flooding rivers and ground water.

The second visit of the week was a mobile lab testing day. One of the school shelters was used as a laboratory. The students and patients who were waiting to be treated by Ed all took blood tests checking for HIV and Syphilis. One of our students, Dadelene Vincent tested positive for syphilis. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease.  Untreated it can eventually lead to death. Ed treated her with antibiotics. Dadelene is a young adult who is also deaf.  We were concerned about how she got syphilis and sent a copy of the lab results home to her family. Her aunt came to talk with us this morning. Handicapped people are sometimes sexually abused here in Haiti. Dadelene’s family is poor and lives in the countryside. A few years ago she decided on her own that she didn’t want to live the rural life anymore and ran away to Port-au-Prince. Her aunt, who lives in our neighbourhood walked through the La Piste refuge camp where a large number of deaf people live searching for Dadelene.  It was through seeing a photo that a deaf person led her to where Dadelene was staying. Dadelene then moved in with her aunt’s family and enrolled into our school program here at Coram Deo. Her aunt told us about her problems dealing with her. Dadelene is rebelling and not listening to her aunt and sneaks out. This is how she probably got syphilis. We are going to contact Pastor Leny, who is a Philippine missionary here in Haiti. He has a church and a deaf ministry. Pray for Dadelene, that she learns how to live. Pray too for the community health workers who are visiting the schools in the area doing these mobile lab clinics. We are thankful that Dadelene’s syphilis was treated.

Raymond Saintoute, a 28-year-old man was injured in a motorcycle accident on December 24, 2011. He was brought to the Medicines Sans Frontieres trauma hospital with a displaced/fractured hip. The doctors there told him that they couldn’t help him and didn’t have the specialized equipment and supplies needed for a surgery. He then spent the next 10 months getting around using crutches. He was unable to put any weight on his damaged leg. We brought him to see the Cure International team working at the Adventist Hospital in Carrefour and they willingly agreed to do his surgery. In December 2012, almost to the day – 1 year later, Raymond finally got the surgery needed to repair and put into place his hip. His repaired hip was held in place with steel pins and an external fixator. He has lived the last 5 months with this steel appliance sticking out of him. Last week he had another surgery to remove the external fixator. He now is heading into a long physiotherapy process for his hip and leg. He needs to learn to walk again. Pray for Raymond as he endures the sometimes painful physiotherapy sessions. He told me that he would have courage to endure the pain . His desire is to be able to walk again without the assistance of crutches. We give the Lord thanks for the medical personnel of Cure International and Adventist Hospital who have surgically repaired Raymond’s’ broken/displaced hip.

Last week we sponsored Pastor Pierre and 20 other church workers/pastors to attend the 3 days of Timothy Leadership Training Seminars (May 8-10)  held at the Christian Reformed Ministry Centre. We housed 12 of them here at Coram Deo each evening.  They slept on cots and mattresses under the outside school shelters. It worked out well. Each morning we brought them over to the Ministry Centre and picked them up in the afternoon. The last time the Timothy Leadership Seminars were held was in October 2012, just as Hurricane Sandy was starting to hit Haiti. The Kenscoff church workers had to walk through the mountains in stormy weather that time. This time it wasn’t a hurricane storm but a Lavalas (translated as flood) storm/manifestation as thousands of people accompanied Jean Bertrand Aristide from his appearance at the court to answer questions about the Jean Dominique murder case. Jean Dominique was a journalist who was assassinated while Aristide was president. Aristide lives in the Tabarre area, and where the ministry centre is located is on the route that he would travel. As a result traffic was minimal in the area as a lot of people kept off the streets that day because of uncertainty. We were happy that we had quiet streets to travel on!

Our truck,  Kimosabee, is getting old and the truck is making some new noises. Poor old Kimosabee is sick again and not able to carry us around until we find a mechanic to fix him. Ysmaille has lent us one of his vehicles to pick up our handicapped teacher and for our errands while Kimosabee is under the weather. We are thankful that we were able to pay our payroll for the month of March. We are a couple of months behind because of funding problems. The repair costs in the past with the truck have affected our ability to pay our employees. I am not going to get Kimosabee fixed again, until the payroll and our teacher’s tuition is paid. This week more funds were deposited into our bank account and I will be paying the April payroll next week. Thank you for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for funding, that our programs here can continue to thrive and grow. Pray too for the farmers, that their crops would grow well and that they will reap a good harvest. We received a good suggestion in testing the soil quality and we will be pursuing that. It will be interesting to find out how fertile the soil is in the Kenscoff area.

Have a blessed weekend and a “bon fete drapeau”!

Karen Bultje, Coram Deo

Raymond Saintoute - Cure International Adventist Hospital

 

Raymond Saintoute is a 28-year-old man who was injured in a motorcycle accident on December 24, 2011. His hip was dislocated and fractured. He went to the Medecins Sans Frontieres Hospital but they told him they didn't have the personnel or equipment to do the surgery that was required. They gave him a reference letter and told him that he would have to find another hospital.

Almost 1 year later he still hadn't been able to find anyone to help him. He couldn't walk. His hip was out of socket and damaged and his leg was now shorter than his other leg. He couldn't put his foot on the ground and due to the length of time that passed since the injury he had a "drop" foot. We brought him to the Adventist Hospital in Carrefour. Dr. Craig Nelson is an orthopedic surgeon from Cure International. The Cure team examined him and scheduled Raymond for surgery in December.

December 2011 Raymond had the accident. December 2012 he had his surgery. The doctors formed the hip bone and put it in place. Metal bars and pins held everything together.

He has lived with metal sticking out of his hip and leg for almost 5 months now, but that ended last week when the doctors performed another surgery to remove the external fixator.

In another week he gets the bandages from the surgery removed and then will be needing to spend at least 4 months doing physical therapy in order to learn to walk again. The doctors told him that one day he would be able to walk. I told him that physical therapy is hard work and it might hurt, but that he needed to do this if he wanted to walk. He told me he that he will "show courage to endure what must be done" to make him walk again. Pray for Raymond, that he may show endurance and perseverance with his physical therapy and that one day he may lay his crutches aside and walk again. Pray for the Cure International personnel who are active in several countries providing the gift of healing for many people. Below are a few videos of the Cure team in action and the people they help:

Canaan - Eryl's Mother

 

Eryl's mother lives in a refuge camp called Camp Adoquin, which is located near the Delmas 33 Police Station. It is a large camp covering a large area, and is located on private land. People living in the camps don't have the financial means to relocate. Until just a few months ago Eryl's mother didn't even have a bed to sleep on.

The landowner's need their land back and the people need a place to live. Now that it is almost 3 1/2 years since the earthquake there is pressure to get people off the land. There are too many people in camps help them all relocate.

Marlene, my sister Tanya and the other Angels to Haiti team members are part of our Coram Deo family. They made it possible for Eryl's mother to have a bed, and now are helping to support Eryl's mothers' move out to Canaan.

Canaan is a quickly growing area outside the city. Jn. Eddy and Herode's mother has a temporary shelter there . The land is considered public land and the camps that are emptying now are almost all heading out to Canaan. The people living here hope that one day they can build a home out there. Jn. Eddy made arrangements yesterday for Eryl's mother to get a plot of land in Canaan. The guys are gathering the material necessary to construct a temporary shelter. They hope to build the shelter on the week-end with the help of Eryl, his brother and members of our Coram Deo family.

The timing is good. Camp Adoquin has had threats against it. The people were told that their homes would be destroyed. Last week a young man bought food on credit from a female food vendor who makes her living cooking food and then sells it by the plate. When she asked the young man when he would pay her the young man responded by breaking a bottle and using it to cut the woman on her chest. When the woman went to the police station to file a complaint the policeman there told her that they were going to come and kick everybody out of the camp and that there was too much problems in the camp. The woman returned to her home. Eryl's mother knew the woman. She is happy to get the opportunity to leave Camp Adoquin. Pray a way can be found to empty the refuge camps peacefully and return the land to the owners in a peaceful way.

The following article explains the problems occurring in the camps right now:

EVICTION FEARS HAUNT HAITI CAMPS AFTER ATTACKS

(Miami Herald) - By Trenton Daniel (AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Attorney Reynold Georges showed up with a judge and a police officer on a recent afternoon at Camp Acra, a cluster of tents and plywood shelters scattered across rocky hills dotted with trees in the heart of the Haitian capital.

The lawyer told the camp of some 30,000 people that they were squatting on his land and had to leave, witnesses said. If they didn't vacate, he said he'd have the place burned down and leveled by bulldozers. Camp leader Elie Joseph Jean-Louis said other angry residents, who had lost their homes in a catastrophic 2010 earthquake, fought back by lobbing rocks at Georges and the people he had come with.

The camp residents managed to protect their homes that day but they also brought to life a far-reaching problem.

In the few weeks since the mid-April confrontation, their plight has become a symbol for what many say is the growing use of threats and sometimes outright violence to clear out sprawling displaced person camps, where some 320,000 Haitians still live.

The standoff set off a chain of events that left several shelters burned and a camp resident dead. It occurred a little more than a week before the human rights group Amnesty International issued a report on the jump in camp evictions in Haiti over the past year.

"This terrible event is proof of the consequences of continuing forced evictions in Haiti," Javier Zuniga, a special adviser to Amnesty International, said in a statement about the standoff. "They have been living in camps with appalling living conditions. As if this were not enough, they are threatened with forced evictions and, eventually, made homeless again."

Georges tells a different story. The former senator, whose most famous law client is former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, denied that he had threatened residents, saying he was only there to show officials what he said was his land.

"If they said that, they are crooks and liars," Georges said of camp residents.

After Amnesty released its report, Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamonthe told The Associated Press that the government of President Michel Martelly was in fact trying to stop the evictions.

The government does not "believe in forced evictions," Lamonthe said. "There are some private owners that do it, but the government itself does not condone that."

Haitians displaced by the earthquake are entitled to special legal protection under the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which prohibit forced evictions unless necessary to protect the safety and health of those affected. National authorities are responsible for protecting and providing humanitarian assistance to those displaced people.

By all accounts, clearing the camps in a humane way reflects the epic challenge that Haiti still faces more than three years after one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.

The earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and displaced as many as 1.5 million others, a staggering number in a country of 10 million. In its aftermath, settlements such as Acra sprang up around the crowded capital where land runs scarce, with people building shelters with debris, tree branches, salvaged timber, tarps from aid groups and bed sheets. The camps eventually became miniature cities with their own stores, barber shops, bars and churches. About 385 of the settlements are still standing.

Aid groups and officials from Martelly's government say fewer visible encampments and a smaller number of displaced residents are proof Haiti is recovering. But housing advocates worry that many people are actually being evicted with no place to go, at the hands of authorities or people such as Georges who claim to own the land.

Evictions were far more common just after the quake, with the International Organization for Migration calculating that 6,650 people were forced from informal camps during the last six months of 2010.

The practice tapered off, however, with just 279 people evicted in the last six months of 2012, according to the organization.

Now, that number is growing again as private property owners grow impatient to regain their long-occupied land. According to the migration organization, 977 displaced people left the camps through force or threats during the first three months of 2013.

The story is different on public lands, where many displaced people have already moved out of after the government offered rent subsidies elsewhere.

Earlier this year, about 700 people were kicked out of another encampment on private land in the Port-au-Prince district of Carrefour after police fired warning shots and a judge ordered them to leave.

People from yet more camps have said they've fled their temporary homes after fires tore through the settlements in the middle of the night or in some cases when police destroyed their tents or lean-tos with machetes. But unlike Camp Acra, no one in those cases was reportedly killed by the authorities.

That bloodshed has thrust Camp Acra into the heart of the debate, with much of the ire focusing on Georges and his infamous client.

Duvalier, the ex-dictator, returned to Haiti from exile in 2011 and is fighting off human rights charges stemming from years of brutal rule. Camp residents say the former strongman is also among several Camp Acra visitors who have claimed ownership to the land.

Although most of the area is believed to belong to the government, as well as a small portion to Haiti's influential Acra family, even humanitarian groups specializing in housing issues aren't certain who the owners are. Land disputes in Haiti are often settled with bags of cash, guns, machetes or arson.

Residents say Georges' visit was only the start of their problems.

Hours later, an unidentified band on motorcycles raided the camp while residents slept, setting fire to seven makeshift homes, according to an Amnesty investigation. Residents who woke to the smell of smoke quickly doused the flames with buckets of water.

Over the long night, several hundred residents walked down the hill to a police station to report the raid, but the officers refused to help, said camp leader Jean-Louis.

"The police said they didn't have gas for their cars," he said.

Angry camp residents protested by lighting a bonfire of tires and other trash and blocking Delmas 33, a major thoroughfare.

It was around the same time that the tensions turned deadly.

At around 5 a.m., one camp resident, Merius Civil, left his shelter to throw out the trash, just as police officers from the station stormed the camp, his sister Anele said.

The officers arrested Civil as well as neighbor Darlin Lexima, said Patrice Florvilus, an attorney representing the dead man's family and other Camp Acra residents. Lexima said he later saw Civil in police custody, too dazed to speak.

"I saw that his face was bashed in, his nose was bashed in, and he had marks on his body," Lexima said.

Florvilus' law firm said that it believes Civil died at the Delmas station, and that witnesses reported seeing officers carry a sheet-covered body from the station to a patrol car.

Police Inspector Jean-Faustin Salomon offered a different account, saying Civil died at a hospital. He also said a preliminary report showed neighbors beat Civil and Lexima because they didn't participate in the protest.

"A good man has left the world," sister Anele said sitting on a bucket in the doorway of her brother's shelter. "Now that he's dead I want to know why."

For the Rev. Waler Baptiste, a Camp Acra pastor, the settlement came under attack for a simple reason: Haiti wants to rid itself of displaced people without giving them anywhere to go.

"People have been trying to remove us to take back their land," Baptiste said. "The government doesn't care about us. Whoever can take advantage of us will try to take advantage of us."

Coram Deo Haiti Update - May 11, 2013

“And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”;  and it was so.”  Genesis 1:29, 30

Hi! May 1^st was a holiday here in Haiti. It was Workers’ Day and Agricultural Day at the same time. Schools were closed. We took 11 people here from Coram Deo and went to the Agricultural Fair at the State Agricultural Grounds in Damier. As we drove past the Sonapi Industrial Complex we saw a group of protesters who were carrying signs and banners about worker conditions and rights.  The traffic was busy in the Damier area. A lot of people were heading to the Agricultural Fair. There was no charge to enter inside the grounds and we walked around visiting all the booths that were set up. One area was set up with artisans selling different types of souvenirs and art. All of these items were handmade by Haitian crafters and artists. Another area had cooks selling Haitian food. We even bought some rice that was grown here in Haiti. It is known as “Shella”. We bought a couple of packages for our Sunday meal.

Haiti has been hit hard with lower price imports. This has discouraged farmers from growing rice. We visited booths that were about agricultural themes. The Ministry of Agriculture had a booth set up and had cd’s available for purchase about studies done by the government on agriculture at a national and provincial level. We were able to get posters and brochures at the different booths and will use these in educating our students and others that we come into contact with.

Another section of the fair was the area dealing with animals. Chickens, rabbits, pigeons, doves, parrots, goats and cows were on display. The children enjoyed getting close to the animals. The busiest section was where the quail and quail eggs were being sold. People were lined up to buy quail kebabs! We were able to buy a weeks’ supply of chicken eggs and purchased them at a wholesale price. When we left the gates of the fairgrounds we noticed the same group of worker protesters from the Sonapi Industrial Complex had walked the distance to the Agricultural Grounds. We listened to the spokesman read off a list of worker demands and rights. Later on the news we found out that these protesters had been blocked by the police for some time at a crossroads while President Martelly was visiting the agricultural fair. When the president’s convoy passed them by they weren’t very happy that they couldn’t obtain their goal of protesting at the agricultural fair while he was there.

The Kenscoff area where Pastor Pierre lives is an agricultural area. Potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage are sold in the markets of Port-au-Prince from that area. Pastor Pierre is concerned for the people in his community. The farms are not as productive as they used to be. We have begun seeking people and organizations who work in the agricultural area to help him. Through the pastor training seminars the people we sponsor come from 4 areas: Kenscoff, Belladere, Leogane, and Port-au-Prince. As part of building community we want to help these pastors work in their communities to help improve the lives of their congregation members and the community in which they live. A couple of weeks ago we got a donation of seeds from Hope Seeds, through Love A Child. We were able to distribute onion, cabbage, tomato, carrot, pepper, kale, lettuce and mustard seeds to the pastors involved in the pastor training program. They in turn will distribute it amongst some of their people. We hope to follow up with the pastors to see how these seeds grow and hopefully prosper into a harvestable crop. Hope Seeds is on the internet at www.hopeseeds.org. They are a Christian, charitable organization which provides seeds and agricultural support to missionaries and mission teams around the world. On their website we were able to access a few articles written in Creole and French. There is a children’s coloring book written in French that we downloaded and will use as part of teaching children about farming and agriculture. One of their board members runs a mission in Cap Haitien called Living Hope Mission ( http://livinghopemission.org ). Part of their mission focus is in agriculture. I believe strongly in networking. So many missions here in Haiti focus on their own thing and don’t involve themselves with other missions. I am glad that Love A Child and Hope Seeds are eager to work with others in encouraging and supporting God’s work being done here in Haiti.

The government is starting a program this year encouraging people to plant Moringa trees. It is known in Haiti as Doliv. The tree is rich in vitamins and nutrients. Moringa contains 7 times more vitamin C than an orange, 4 times more calcium than a glass of milk, 4 times more vitamin A than carrots, 3 times more potassium than a banana, and 2 times more protein than in a glass of milk. Both the pods and leaves of the Moringa can be eaten. Moringa leaves are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. The bean can be used to prepare a high-quality oil. The dried leaves of the Moringa can be used as a food supplement for children suffering from anaemia or facing malnutrition. It can also be used for improving animal health. Dried moringa leaves can replace soybeans to feed cattle or poultry. The government intends to promote the cultivation of Moringa against both malnutrition and deforestation.  We were out at Love A Child this week and spoke with one of the missionaries there about the moringa. They are going to encourage families to plant the moringa to build a natural hedge. The moringa tree foliates every 45 days. By planting the tree 1 foot apart a hedge can be grown and the family can harvest the leaves off of one tree every day. By the time 45 days pass the first tree will foliate again and be ready for harvesting. We talked about this with Pastor Pierre and the other pastors this week. We hope to encourage the Haitian people to use the moringa  tree as a food source. It will help to improve the health of their families.  Genesis 1:29,30 sure does apply to the moringa. Pray that the people in the churches of Belladere, Kenscoff, and Leogane will be encouraged to use the tree. The pastors here are listening and we hope the people in these areas will listen too.  Pray for the current agricultural season. Rainy season has begun and so has planting. Have a blessed weekend.

Karen Bultje,  Coram Deo

Haiti Update - April 30, 2013

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.  And when he saw him, he had compassion.  So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn,  and the innkeeper,  and said to him,  “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend,  when I come again, I will repay you.”  So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”  And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”         Luke 10:30-37

Hi! I started Coram Deo here in Haiti in 1998 with the help of family and friends. Since that time we have strived to help the Haitian people. There have been a lot of challenges but we have persevered. I strive, and teach the Haitian people who are part of Coram Deo to be the Samaritan. Sometimes we come across people needing assistance in our travels, sometimes they come to us, and other times Haitian people bring them to us hoping for an answer. We are grateful that Ed Amos set up his medical/dental clinic here at Coram Deo. Every day there is a gathering at the gate of people hoping to be seen for medical or dental problems.  He treats the ones he is able to help.

 Some people have problems that need specialized care. This morning a mother and her baby came into the clinic. She told Ed that she and her baby have HIV. They both are not in a treatment program. We will be taking them to Nos Petits Freres/Soeurs  Hospital later in the week to have them both tested, and enrol them in the anti-retroviral program once their HIV is confirmed as positive. The hospital has an excellent HIV program and medications are provided free of charge. Pray for this mother and her baby, that they both can be helped. 

Stevens Petit-Frere, a  7-year-old boy  is a child that Ed saw at the clinic a few weeks ago. He had a bad head fungus plus an enlarged abdomen. We took him for a sonogram today and the results show that he has an enlarged spleen, multiple cysts and probable non-hodgkins lymphoma. Pray for  Stevens.  He faces multiple severe health problems. Pray that we can find help for him either here in Haiti or in the United States. 

A couple months ago, Bradley, a 5-year-old boy, was playing with another child who had an umbrella. The child lunged at Bradley and poked him directly in the eye.  He  lost his eye.  Bradley lives with his grandmother in a refuge camp. His mother died during the earthquake and his father was never a part of his life. His grandmother came with a paper from the General Hospital eye clinic. The price of a prosthetic eye for Bradley is $300H (35 US$) and she didn’t have the funds for the prosthetic eye.  Johnny went with them to the hospital this morning but the doctor wasn’t  there. We have another appointment for Thursday.  Pray that Bradley gets fitted with a prosthetic eye.

We have 2 hydrocephalus babies and their mothers staying here the last couple of weeks. One is from the island of La Gonave and the other from the mountain region of Foret De Pin.  They are awaiting the arrival of a neurosurgeon who will be working with Project Medishare at Bernard Mevs Hospital. He just recently performed 8 hydrocephalus surgeries. He will be returning at the end of May to perform some more. Pray for the babies who are here, that they get stronger and healthier during this month of May.

Slade Alfred is a 9-month-old baby girl/boy. We aren’t able to identify the sex of the child because it has all the body  parts of a male or female (ambiguous genitalia). This baby will need genetic  testing to determine its’ sex. This can only be done in the United States.

2 of Marie’s relatives came with their mother from the Petit-Goave region to see Ed this morning. Both of the children have severe curvature of the spine. Both these children will need to get spinal surgery that can’t be done here in Haiti. Amos brought these 2 children and Slade over to the office of Angel Missions Haiti. We are praying that they can help us in finding medical care for these 3 children in the United States.

These are the children that we saw today.  All have serious and complex problems. I have a notebook containing many more names of children and adults who we are seeking help for. Most missions choose not to help these types of cases. The ones who do are overwhelmed with requests for help. Pray for all those with special needs here in Haiti and pray that one day Haiti will be able to provide medical care for all its’ population, and that people wouldn’t have to suffer with a treatable medical problem.

Our school program here at Coram Deo is going well. It is good to see the yard full of students, and also that there are now enough school shelters to house the children. During the week at any one time we have 150 people in the yard;  100 students and 50 people waiting to see Ed at the clinic. We are grateful to have caring teachers who seek to give the students a good education.

The pastor training seminars that the Christian Reformed Mission offers are being well-attended by Pastor Pierre and his group of pastors/church leaders. On May 8-10 there will be another series of Timothy Leadership Training Seminars. We currently sponsor a group of 19 pastors/leaders in the churches that Pastor Pierre has had contact with.

We are thankful that we are here in Haiti to try and help the people who come into contact with us. We are thankful for the prayers and financial support that people have given. Currently our funds are low. At the end of March there was a balance of $2.77 in our CDN$ account. The month of April brought to us through Mission of Tears $1,900US in donations. To function well in all our programs here at Coram Deo we need to have a monthly funding of $9000. We are not able to attain that level and have been striving to work at a $5000 level. For the month of April we are trying to work with ½ of that. As a result we can’t pay all our expenses.  We are asking that people would prayerfully consider helping us financially at this time.  We strive to be the Good Samaritan and to help the Haitian people. We can only do this with your help.

Karen Bultje,

Coram Deo

Haiti Update - December 27, 2012

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”  (Luke 2:14)

Hi! Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year! It is the winter season in Haiti now and the weather is great! Temperatures are in the 80’s during the day and the evenings are cool. Everyone is glad that hurricane season is over (it ended November 30^th). This past hurricane season was a bad one for Haiti. It seems like there is a cycle to bad hurricane seasons in Haiti . 2004 and 2008 were years of bad storms and both times many lives were lost. The 2012 season ended  with not a large loss of life, but there was a large loss in the agricultural sector, which carries implications for the current dry season. 70% of crops were lost and people out in the countryside are at risk of hunger in the next few months. The southern part of the country really took a hit by Hurricane Sandy. The last couple of weeks Benji and his mother were staying here at Coram Deo. Benji has hydrocephalus and received a shunt surgery during the last round of surgeries. He has gotten malnourished.  We sent them back to the Jacmel area before Christmas with a box of Feed My Starving Children Manna Packs and told her to come back each month for another box. We can’t help all the families who lost their crops during the hurricane season but we can help one family. Pray for all those who will be struggling with hunger during the next few months.

Our school program is on Christmas break until January 7^th. We held exams one week earlier because we had a medical team doing 3 clinics here. It ended up that all the schools had exam week earlier than normal. People were saying that the end of the world might happen on December 21^st because that is when the Mayan calendar ended and the children wanted to make sure there exams were done before that day. Some children thought there might be an earthquake that day.  I am glad no earthquakes happened and that the end is not yet! There is lots of work to be done. Now that the Mayan calendar is no more maybe people will focus on what the Bible says.  It is good that we can focus on Christ’s birth and the hope for peace one day.

We are thankful that Ed Amos moved his medical clinic here to Coram Deo from the Adoration school. Every Monday and Tuesday are medical clinics, with a maximum of 50 patients being seen each day. Ed even does minor surgeries. During those days fewer patients are seen. Wednesday and Thursday are dental clinics and up to 20 people are seen for teeth cleaning, minor fillings and tooth extractions. Ed has 2 Haitian nurses who help him with the clinic. Macdonald registers the patients and also maintains the patient log for appointments. Through these clinics 3 orthopaedic cases came to our attention. All needed surgery. We brought them to Adventist Hospital where the Cure team works and they all received a free surgery. 2 were children who had bad fractures to their lower arm.

Raymond, a young man was in a motorcycle accident last December. The doctors at Medicine Sans Frontieres told him that nothing could be done here in Haiti for his injured hip and that he would need to go to another country for medical care. Raymond and his family is poor and for the last year has been getting around on crutches with a hip that has been out of place.  Dr. Nelson, a visiting Cure American orthopaedic surgeon performed surgery on December 10^th at the Adventist Hospital, located in the Carrefour area. Raymond spent one week recovering from the surgery in hospital and the doctors told him that in 4 months he will be walking normally again. We give the Lord thanks for this gift of healing.

Berno is a young man who came to Ed’s clinic one day with a large keloid. Berno had been in a bus accident on Rte. National #1 that had killed 17 of the 26 passengers in the bus. Berno survived the accident with a broken leg and a laceration near his right ear. The scar tissue formed into a keloid and grew to the size of a baseball. Embarrassed by this disfigurement he always made sure to wear a hat covering up the keloid. Ed surgically removed the keloid and now the disfigurement is gone. Pray for patients like Raymond and Berno who come to the clinic with the hope of a solution. Ed’s main financial supporter will not be able to fund the clinic after the end of 2013. Pray that support is found for him to continue to run the clinic.

Rick Boer and my dad made a visit to Haiti in October. When Rick went back to Canada a friend talked with a dentist in Wyoming, Ontario. The dentist saw the pictures of the clinic and Coram Deo and he decided to donate his entire dental clinic furnishings, as he was transferring to a new clinic and buying new equipment! Pray for a way to send this equipment to Haiti.  Ed could really use the equipment and this also opens up the possibility of having more dentists come to Haiti to hold more dental clinics. Our large living room makes it perfect for a clinic!

In the last few months we have been blessed with medical teams who use our facilities for medical clinics. Dr. Karen McCarthy and medical team members came in October from Jacksonville, Florida. A medical team from Amelia Baptist Church came in November and a medical team from Auburn United Methodist Church came in December.

We are thankful that Pastor Pierre and 18 other Haitian pastors, and church workers were able to participate at the Timothy Leadership Training seminars that were held at the Christian Reformed Ministry Center in October. The day that the seminars were to begin was the day that Hurricane Sandy hit Haiti. I thought that not many would show up because of the weather but everyone showed up! The people from the mountains of Kenscoff (14) walked through the night through windy and stormy weather. It goes to show how hungry the church leaders are for training. They didn’t even allow a hurricane to stop them! Pray for more training for these pastors. Pastor Pierre has at least another 20 pastors interested in attending these seminars.

We completed a shower construction project recently. It started while my dad and Rick Boer were here. The new shower was constructed as an addition to the dormitory. That corner of the yard is now cemented and cement benches were constructed. The new shower has a tiled floor and walls, and also a changing room. A water tower was constructed for the shower. The old shower was knocked down and this now gives more room for the school shelter along the back wall.  Pray for future projects. We need another school shelter constructed along the front wall and also to cement that section of the yard. We also need to construct another toilet room and renovate the existing one. With more people in the yard we need more toilet facilities. We also need to tile and make some modifications to the existing washroom. With cholera being here in Haiti it is easy to keep the toilet room clean with tiled floors. We would like to have laptop computers so that students can learn computer technology. One project idea is to have 10 computers and set up a cyber cafe. A few of our teachers are taking computer courses and need access to a computer. If anyone would like to donate a computer please contact myself or Tim Bos.

I give thanks for a board/committee that has the same vision as I do. We are working together to pursue the vision of Coram Deo. Tim was recently here in November to help with the shower project. The committee is supportive and encouraging.  It is good to know that I can contact Tim by phone, text, Skype or an email at any time. It is good to see committee members coming to Haiti to help out in constructing our vision here in Haiti. The “field of dreams” is taking shape!

We are thankful for the financial support we have received. Right now the funds are low but we are praying for support. I don’t have a salary and don’t seek one but I pray that people will be supportive of the project. All the funds I get here in Haiti go towards helping the Haitian people.

Have a Blessed New Year!

Karen Bultje, Coram Deo

BLOG IMPROVEMENTS

Some people who read the Haiti - Coram Deo blog like to only look at the pictures, while other people are interested about info and articles on Haiti. To the right of the page you will see a link to my pictures and updates and also a link to articles and info. Hopefully this change will help people to decide which area to look at and make everybody happy :)
Karen

Haiti Update - September 8, 2012

“... The Lord has his way, in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3)

Hi! Haiti is a country that is susceptible to natural disasters. When I went on the internet on Wednesday the first thing I noticed was a breaking news report of an earthquake of 7.6 that hit Costa Rica and that there was a tsunami alert for the Caribbean. I ran outside to tell the people in our yard about the alert and then went back to the computer. The alert was updated and the Caribbean was not at risk for a tsunami. I then went back outside and told everyone that it was a false alarm! I felt sorry for the people living in Costa Rica and figured there must have been a lot of damage, and loss of life, only to find out later that there was just 1 death due to a heart attack during the earthquake and that buildings were still standing in Costa Rica. I hope and pray that construction in Haiti will improve to the same levels as other developed areas of the world.

Last Sunday morning at around 8:00am there was a 3.7 earthquake in Haiti, which was located 4 km south of Leogane and 33km WSW of Port-au-Prince. We never felt anything here at Coram Deo.

A few weeks ago 100 earthquake experts met in the Dominican Republic. Representatives from Caribbean countries attended. What was stressed is that the islands of the Caribbean are located in a seismic zone that is active and that an earthquake of 8.0 may arrive at any moment along with a tsunami risk. A Haitian seismologist stated that another earthquake for Haiti is imminent and could happen at any time. There is a strong possibility/certainty that Cap Haitien will one day suffer the same fate as Port-au-Prince did. Wednesday’s earthquake in Costa Rica sure is a reminder to be aware!

We are in the middle of hurricane season and Haiti was visited by Tropical Storm Isaac almost 2 weeks ago. We monitor the National Hurricane Centre’s website daily to monitor the progress of storms. There was a possibility that Isaac would form into a Category 1 Hurricane before passing through Haiti. The storm slowed down as it neared Haiti. We thought we would see effects in the afternoon but it wasn’t until late in the evening that Isaac showed its’ effects.

The winds started and soon my cell phone rang. Someone we know that lives in a refuge camp called to say that the winds were causing problems and that the people were scared and praying. Isaac never reached hurricane strength when it hit Haiti and everyone is thankful for that, but even as a tropical storm a lot of damage was caused by flooding and the winds. We never had flying projectiles of coconuts going through the yard but the flying projectiles of almonds falling off the tree and hitting the tin roof of the kitchen shelter sure made a lot of noise! A window screen fell onto my bed and I decided that I didn’t want to lie in bed anymore and checked out the house instead. The winds eventually died down and then there was just the rain.

In the morning we checked out how Port-au-Prince weathered the storm and in some places there were large tree branches that had fallen. The government had work crews out removing debris from the storm. Some tents in the refuge camps were destroyed. We saw the Grise River was full with storm runoff and flooding its’ banks in some places. The bridge in Croix-des-Missions was closed to vehicular traffic due to the flooding river. In the Gressier region the Momanse River was enlarged by 50 meters by the flooding waters.

The most damage was done in the South-East and West (Port-au-Prince) departments of the country. 165 camps were affected by Isaac. 18 refuge camps were evacuated by civil protection officials. 15,812 families were evacuated from the camps, 24 people lost their lives either in landslides, drowning or electrocution, and 42 people were injured. Tents were ripped by the winds as well as tin roofs being ripped off of homes. It wasn’t just the refuge camps where the storms effects were felt. In one government report it was stated that 1,144 homes were flooded, 1,005 homes destroyed and 6,040 homes damaged. 8,189 families are now homeless after the storm.

Vanessa (a hydrocephalus girl) and her family live in Fond Verette, a mountain region near the Dominican border. Their home was destroyed by the winds of Isaac. When Vanessa’s mother called me I could hear hammering in the background as the family was putting together a shelter to live in. We had a large tarp that we gave to the family. The road was blocked until a landslide and a large boulder was cleared from the mountain road. Her sister picked up the tarp a couple of days later.

Pastor Pierre’s church and some of the church member’s homes suffered some damage due to the windy conditions. Some homes were lost to landslides and others by having their roofs ripped off by the winds.

Floridalaine is a young girl who was born with congenital cataracts. The last couple of weeks we have been bringing her for tests and appointments to General Hospital in the hopes of getting cataract surgery for her. Her family lives in the mountains of Kenscoff. Her father told me that they lost their crop to the storm. He had planted beans and potatoes and harvest time would have been in October. Now many families have lost their crops in addition to their homes. Selling of their harvest creates an income for paying for school for their children and for seed for the next planting season. Many families in the Kenscoff area lost their crops and a few people lost their lives in the landslides.

Agriculture took a big hit during the storm. Before Isaac appeared agricultural production was already affected by a 40% loss in crop yields due to the dry season. Banana plantations, coffee, avocado, and rice crops were almost totally destroyed in certain regions by Isaac. Fruit was affected as well. Thousands of animals were carried away by flooding rivers. It is estimated that agriculture suffered $242 million US$ in damage. The irrigation system in the South-East and the Cul-de-Sac plain is severely damaged. Pray for families who live in the farming areas. Hunger could become a problem in the next few months due to the effects of losing their crops. Pray that those who lost their homes will be able to rebuild or find other shelter for their families, especially since hurricane season isn’t over until the end of November.

Internet and cell phone service was affected by the storm. The Digicel and Voila cell phone companies had service interruptions that took some time to restore. Our internet service was out of order for 4 days. We found out that Natcom, which is the state/private Vietnamese telephone/cell/internet provider maintained services after Isaacs’ passage. We purchased a jump stick to be able to pay a daily rate for internet service. The government used the Natcom building as a communications hub due to the damage to the other company sites. After the storm the government sent out financial assistance to some families by transferring mobile money to their cell phones that they could use to purchase food. It is great to see how technology can help during disasters.

Electricity was off throughout the city during the storm. 30 of the 32 electrical circuits were knocked out of service by Isaac. After a couple of days we had electricity again. Other areas of the city took longer to restore to service. The invertor and generator came in handy to supply us with power during the city-wide black-out. All EDH electrical circuits are now in service again. Isaac caused 336 million gourds ($8 million US$) damage to the electrical system of Port-au-Prince. Isaac destroyed 230 transformers, 2,200 electric poles and damaged 120 km of circuits. EDH did a good job at making repairs with the limited resources that they have in the last couple of weeks.

The European Community has given $3 million Euros to Haiti for Isaac disaster relief funding.

Crime did not come to a standstill during the storm. A 56-year-old woman was kidnapped as Isaac passed through Haiti. It looks like the kidnappers saw the storm as a good opportunity. A dead new-born baby was found on a street in the Christ-Roi area of Port-au-Prince. It looks like a home-birth that went wrong. It wouldn’t have been possible for the woman to go to the hospital while she was in labour during the storm and I guess you could consider this baby’s death as an Isaac victim.

This update has been a natural disaster update for Haiti. Pray that the country re-builds taking things like tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes into consideration.

That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!

Karen Bultje, Coram Deo

Haiti Update - August 23, 2012

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven”. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Hi! Tropical Storm Isaac is heading through the Caribbean and is expected to hit Haiti tomorrow. It may reach hurricane status before it hits on Friday. The environment ministry has declared a red level watch for the country. There may be heavy rains associated with Isaac and some wind as well.

Last week we purchased a Nu-TV digital television receiver and we can receive channels from Europe, Canada and the United States. It is relaxing in the evenings to watch Canadian news and keep up-to-date on current events. I also bought a small stereo that has a cd player/radio. I have decided that it is good to take some time at the end of the day to not focus on the challenges of Haiti. I am not a person who goes out to places and thought that these luxuries would be a good way to relax. I didn’t use Coram Deo funds to make these purchases or for the exercise equipment purchases. I never thought I’d see the day when I could watch Hockey Night in Canada here in Haiti but this will now be a reality as we can now watch the CBC!

We have been monitoring the progress of the storm on the weather channels from Florida and last night they had an entire program on Isaac and the storm is still far from Florida! One point of advice was to remove the coconuts from the trees as these could be flying projectiles during a storm. I told the children about this and they elected Reginald to climb the coconut palms and remove the coconuts this morning. This is our effort at improving safety in our community in preparation for Tropical Storm Isaac. Pray for Haiti, especially for those who live in low-lying areas. Flooding is always a possibility during these storms.

The government is getting serious about the environment and the big garbage problem here in Port-au-Prince. Effective October 1st the government will be prohibiting the importation and marketing of polyethylene bags. The last few years small bags of water have been sold on the streets and the empty bags are dumped everywhere. These bags are not biodegradable and can take 400 years to degrade. It is common for Haitian cooks to use a black garbage bag to cover a large pot of rice. Marie, our cook insists that these black garbage bags help the rice to cook faster. It is great that the government is now educating the people that this cooking practise is wrong and unhealthy. As a foreigner it is difficult to make changes to a culture but a Haitian president sure can create a change fast! The government is also banning Styrofoam packaging as well. In the canals and on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Styrofoam and plastic are everywhere! Pray for these changes. They are good changes for the country and the government is leading to establish these changes.

In March 2013 a green energy project costing $250 million US$ will be started. International Electric Power is an American company that will be building an energy –from-waste plant on land provided by the Haitian government, 10km north of Port-au-Prince. 30 megawatts of electricity will be generated by converting garbage into energy. 2,000 tons of garbage is generated each day in Port-au-Prince. The company is planning to collect all the garbage from the streets of Port-au-Prince and truck it to the plant. Effective March 15, 2015, Port-au-Prince will finally have a way to dispose of garbage in a good way!

Our exercise/living room is being well used! The exercise bicycle, treadmill, gym set, abs roller and weights are getting good use. Last night it was 8:00pm and supper hadn’t been started yet. One of the older guys had to make supper and he enjoyed the exercise room so much that supper was delayed. We now have a new rule for the exercise room.... all chores including supper need to be done before the exercise room is open :)

I came back from Canada with a digital video projector so that we can host a community cinema. Christian and children’s programs will be shown on Fridays once the school year starts. This digital video projector will also be useful for parent meetings and also for the clinics that are held here.

Floridalaine is a young girl who was born with congenital cataracts. She lives with her family in the mountains of Kenscoff. Yesterday we brought her to the eye clinic at General Hospital to see if they will do surgery to remove these cataracts. Pray that a solution can be found to improve her sight and that surgery can be performed.

Johnny Jean was one of 24,000 people to write the exams for entrance into the police academy. The results were posted and he wasn’t selected. He really wants to be a police officer. I am praying that one day he can achieve his dream of being a policeman or in the Haitian military. In the meantime he loves working out in the exercise room in his spare time. This week the guys saw the police at work on our streets. They were sitting out front of the house chatting on the street when a police car drove to the corner, stopped, and a policeman descended from the vehicle. He shot in the air 2 times and then got back inside. That made everyone jump. Manu decided it would be best to go to bed. It is great to have policemen as curfew enforcers :) There have been some problems with street crime in the neighbourhood. Sadly one of the guys we helped after the earthquake is involved. Junior has been stealing cell phones, chargers and other items from people and then tries to re-sell them. Pray for Junior to leave his life of crime. The police were shooting in the air to let thieves know they were in the area.

We have been getting good electricity lately. For most of the day we have electricity and only use the invertor for the evenings. For the last 6 months though the electricity line on our street has been sagging and is now just below the barbed wire on our walls. We have contacted EDH several times requesting them to come out and fix their line. Pray that they will eventually come out and fix it. Yesterday afternoon, around 4:00pm we heard a bang and then there was no more electricity. We figured that a transformer blew but the cause was something worse. In the Cite Aux Cayes area, a man was on the roof attempting to steal electricity. I don’t know if he tried to connect to a high tension wire but the ending was not good for him. He was burnt from head to toe and taken to the hospital. I don’t think he survived his injuries. Regulating electricity is also a big task for the government to get control of. People are constantly stealing electricity from the lines and sometimes dying in the process of their quest for electricity.

That’s all the news for today. We are preparing for a stormy weekend! Have a good storm-free weekend.

Karen Bultje, Coram Deo