All nighter

Well, I wasn’t sure I had it in me, but I worked all night without sleep last night. At about 8pm we were escorted by two Army Humvees through the heart of City Soleil to the wharf, where we had to unload six 40 ft. containers on a barge by daybreak. We finished at about 6:45 this morning, and arrived back at the compound at 7:30. I slept a couple hours this morning and an hour this afternoon. I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight.

Here’s a photo of the containers:

A major prayer concern is the disposition of the goods that we off-loaded last night. Haiti Customs continues to stonewall on what should be a simple and straightforward transaction (humanitarian aid is duty free). Tomorrow is a designated day of fasting and prayer (one month since the earthquake), and government offices are closed over the weekend. All they need to do is look over one sheet of paper and sign it, but we were told just after noon that this would take “a few hours” (i.e., until offices close today). A bounty of relief materials are being held hostage, and one doesn’t have to think hard to figure out what the Customs agents are up to. We’re trying to make use of local contacts to get over this last hump, so we can move back into full gear in terms of delivering much needed food and shelter. As an example, here’s a truckload of tarp material, loaded and ready for cutting and distributing for temporary shelter:

And here are bundles of lumber to be used to supply more permanent shelters:

Before leaving for the wharf last night, we met for our daily report and briefing. It was a very emotional meeting. It began with a report from the group that manages food distribution. They met with World Food Programme (WFP) personnel, who are managing the large-scale food distributions that end this weekend. They want to know if Samaritan’s Purse can manage a distribution effort. The tentative plan is to focus on children under 5 and women who are pregnant or lactating. WFP estimates that there are 351,000 such people. The goal will be to provide a small but nutritious meal every 21 days, working distributions through churches across the city.

We next learned that one of the directors met with other NGOs working in Haiti to look for partnership opportunities. The net result of that meeting was that Samaritan’s Purse is the lone organization that is operating at full tilt. The other, small and more focused NGOs are struggling with the enormity of the need. The person describing the meeting showed a stack of papers that were requests from these NGOs to draw on Samaritan’s Purse’s infrastructure through partnerships of one kind or another. The organization cannot honor all of these requests, so some difficult decisions will have to be made.

We then were presented with several stories of treatment by the medical team and the dire situation many of the children are in. One small baby they saw yesterday was extremely underweight. The staff administered fluids and thought the child took more fluid than seemed possible for a person its size.

We also were visited by two local pastors, each of whom lost family members in the earthquake. The most heartbreaking situation was described by Pastor Vladimir. His wife and daughter were killed when their home collapsed on them.  The rubble from the destroyed home has not been removed; his wife and daughter’s remains are buried in it. We will send a team down to take care of this soon.

All this came together to remind us of the enormity of the need here. People are starving, they are living in the most minimal shelters in squalid conditions, and many have lost multiple family members and friends. These conditions persist despite the fact that some of the major aid operations are close to shutting down. It also highlights the absurdity of the customs agents, who won’t release the materials sent over by Samaritan’s Purse for shelter, sanitation, and food.

On a more pleasant note, Michael W. Smith was here a few hours this morning through early afternoon visiting Samaritan’s Purse sites. He gathered prominent Christian artists to record a song from which proceedings will be donated to relief efforts in Haiti (read about it here: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/michael.w.smith.and.friends.record.song.for.haiti/25211.htm ). Some portion (if not all) of the proceeds will go to Samaritan’s Purse.

Samaritan’s Purse is opening a second, smaller compound, which will provide good access to a different outlying area of Port-au-Prince than can be easily served from the central compound. The individual who will lead the effort there arrived yesterday, and that compound is close to opening.

With a month now having passed since the earthquake, Haiti will soon fall out of the news cycle and, eventually, our collective thought. I urge you to commit yourself to investing through an organization committed to Haiti for the long haul.

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