Patience

I've often said that if I have learned ANYTHING in Haiti, it is patience. Now Haiti is asking us all to be patient once again, those both near and far.

We’re still here. Long story short and truncated: files for kids not yet finished, although progressing. A message reached the orphanage today (and us) that the embassy wanted to see all children present. The kids in the orphanage were loaded up into two busses and taken through hot, traffic-clogged streets to the embassy. Unfortunately, it was an unnecessary drill.

FHG board members at the embassy found an official who was able to thoroughly review charts and explain exactly the missing pieces needed. It would have been nice if the person they talked to YESTERDAY had done that for us, but we feel like we got reliable information today. In this official's opinion, we likely will be able to process most if not all visas sans the children's physical presence. Hopefully the next time we load kids into the busses, it will be for a ride directly to the airport.

Unfortunately for the children it was a difficult day. The vans had no air-conditioning and the kids got hot. Some, who were sick prior to mounting the bus, had a particularly miserable ride. However FHG from the States had asked a medical team be present to escort the children. Thus fevers were promptly treated with Tylenol and kids with signs of dehydration were quickly given Pedialyte. Essentially the bus went to the embassy and returned, but the ride was long due to horrible traffic. For the older kids, the experience was as if Christmas was put on hold.

But the kids are resilient. The staff diligent. Everyone is ok.

Patrick and I salvaged the day by cruising the UN compound and registering CONASPEH as a potential distribution organization to receive emergency supplies coming in. In their meeting on Tuesday, the board had already discussed putting a system in place to distribute emergency aid to the various regional ministers so that they could in turn distribute to their communities hardest hit. The UN has organized information and education classes for such organizations, and we hope to get a few board members to attend those debriefings so that they can proceed with their goals of emergency relief, utilizing the stacks of supplies sitting on the airfield.

Driving along the airfield is a new experience all together. Picture boy-scout camp on steroids. Every square inch of grass was covered with relief and military tents bearing flags from around the world. It was remarkable, really. We found a helpful American Lieutenant who helped us load up some unclaimed drinking water into our truck when certain people weren't looking. “People are getting possessive of their supplies, but the way I figure, its all going out to people in need, and isn’t that the point?” Yes, that’s the way we see it too. The lieutenant informed us the water had been sitting there all week and they were getting ready to use it for showers if not claimed. So we made claim. Hopefully, as more organizations register with the UN and get on a list for distribution, less supplies will sit baking in the sun and more will get placed into the hands of those whose life depends on them.

So we made a couple of water drop offs to houses of pastors in two distinct communities who haven’t sceen much relief come by. Again, we put the pastors in charge of distribution. As community leaders, they were happy to do so and can carry it out in a more peaceful, controlled way. Thanks to cash arriving from a friend of CONASPEH, we were able to also provide the pastors with a little cash in order to buy food to help feed the community. One pastor told us that his tent city hasn’t eaten in 3 days. I pray tonight they at least eat rice.

Tonight our inbox is full of messages from people who believe us to be leaving tomorrow. We will continue to take each hour at a time. In the meantime we are putting our radars out for a stable and safe home to relocate more permanently to upon our intended re-entry into Haiti.

Good night to all. Thanks again for your prayers and support.