Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 9:05 PM
It was a rough day at the office. We decided to begin moving all of our CSI
operations on a permanent basis out to Croix de Bouquets. That is an area right
outside PAP that was also hit very hard, but it is where the clinic and
orphanage are. The orphanage may or may not be salvageable, but there is room to
build another brick building to hold the girls. The 20 girls, their Haitian
nannys and the directors are all living in a 3 bedroom apartment right now...
More importantly, however, is that the clinic and orphanage have a well. That
means fresh water, and that is hard to come by right now. The Guesthouse in PAP
is about to fall down at any minute. It could be 2 years, or it could be 2 hours
- no one knows, but it can not be used. We emptied out all the stuff we could,
going in 2 at a time, keeping watch for tremors and helicopters - both tend to
shake the building causing more damage. Everything is out now that has any
importance - no one will be going back in. It is just too dangerous, but CSI and
the Bensons lost a lot of memories in that building. We are guessing it will
cost around $300K to rebuild, but that is pre-earthquake money. Hard to tell how
much it will cost now. A tremor came by and shook everything. I told someone
that it was a "big" tremor. The missionaries all reminded me that it was nothing
compared to 4:58 PM on Tuesday.
Outside the Guesthouse are even more people than last night. There were probably
500 on the street by 3:00, and there are many more than that on the street now.
Nearly every inch of pavement is covered with blankets spread and kids fast
asleep. At 4:30 this morning came a bunch of singing from the street - the
Haitians decided to have a worship service. Clapping, singing, etc. I recognized
the word "Jezi" and at least knew it was Christian worship.
We built a "house" today for our chief mason. He is a 58 year old that runs the
brick laying crews for CSI. Anytime something needs to get built, he does it.
His home was at the epicenter, and lost one of his kids in the quake. His house
now consists of a canvas roof, a blue tarp on one end for privacy, and a few
cushions of a sofa that will no longer be used. You can not believe how grateful
he and his family is for these accommodations!! Greg Benson has a picture of
this on his facebook page. Maybe we can get it moved to the CSI Ministries
Facebook page tomorrow.
On of our Haitians had to run downtown to try to find out if one of our
employees was alive or dead. When he came back, he told us how bad it was. Piles
of bodies are everywhere. People are just stacking them up. There is nothing
else to do with them. There are tire fires everywhere - it is hot enough to
burn the bodies and smelly enough to help cover up the stink. Fan Fan - the
Haitian - said that bodies are swelling up, creating even more problems. Don't
worry - we are not going to the downtown area, although we have also seen
bodies, and there are plenty of tires burning in the Ravine - right behind our
house.
Cathie Benson made a birthday cake for me tonight which was very nice, and we
all agreed that this would be a birthday I would never forget.
The most positive thing that I can say about the entire experience is that it is
amazing how happy the Haitians are. The ones that we see by our house - the ones
that previously lived in the Ravine - are used to next to nothing. Now that they
still find themselves in that predicament, they are dealing with it very well.
We will greet them, shake their hands, they smile and gives us the one-two
English words in English that they know, and I respond with my 1-2 words of
Creole. Still, they smile, and that it a sign that some of them still have some
hope.
Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.
Jon
Donate: www.csiministries.org
