Well, its been another extremely busy day at the MAF Hanger in Port au Prince, Haiti! Since I arrived here almost 2 weeks ago, I have been working tirelessly 7 days a week! My role here has been coordinating the distribution of food and medical supplies throughout Haiti to the various organizations we work with. I have been making contact with close to a hundred organizations throughout Haiti, trying to determine what their immediate needs are. MAF now has several large tents with pallets of food, water and medical supplies, but I need to make sure that they get to the right people. Additionally, I have been making many of the flights to deliver the supplies as well as doctors, and medical teams into the hard-to-reach areas!
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Earlier this week, a pilot flew in 50 large pizzas from Little Caesars for us, and together with some of the military guys, we watched the super bowl game on the side of a transport trailer via a large projector. It was a great time to take a step back and relax for a few hours!
Today I started with organizing a doctor to fly to Ouanaminthe so he could perform several quick surgeries, and then I headed out to Fond des Blanc (a new airstrip we just opened up earlier this week) This 1900 foot long strip is currently our most difficult airstrip in Haiti, so it was a good challenge practicing some take offs and landings there! The west end of the strip has approximately a 6 % slope, and then it goes to a 3 % slope back up the east end - making it a bowl! It is surrounded by high terrain and very tall trees, making it even more difficult to access! This area has also been very cut off, and desperately in need of food and water filtration systems!
Fond Des Blanc Airstrip
Unloading 100 water filtration systems in Anse Rouge
This afternoon I hung out and chatted with Michael W Smith for a while in our MAF hanger! One of our Kodiaks picked him up in Puerto Plata, DR., and flew him to PAP. He spent a bunch of time talking to all of us individually, expressing his interest in the work that we are doing in Haiti.
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At the end of the day I had a meeting at the UN headquarters with the WFP to try and get more food delivered to our warehouse facility. We have been noticing tonnes of food and supplies just sitting on pallets for weeks, and we learned that part of the reason is because they do not know exactly who to all give it to. Since MAF has been in Haiti for over 24 years, we have developed great relationships with the organizations and people we serve. I explained that we have more requests by these organizations than we can handle, and that we could definitely assist in distributing the food to organizations we knew and trusted. The WFP has agreed to start by giving us 40,000 lbs of food to distribute - that's close to 25 loads in the Kodiak!! I now have my work cut out for me!!!
8 comments:
Seems like you are being kept very busy! May the Lord continue to give you the needed strength.
Glad to see you got a little "time out" you need that once in awhile to clear the mind! Praying your kept safe.
I'm sure the pizza tasted better in Haiti, after hard days of work! Well deserved, I would say!
Thanks for that post - really interesting. Glad some 'time-out' was had, but happier you are being allowed to distribute to those you know have needs. great news!
Sarah
Hello, Kruls,
I really enjoy looking at your blog and following the details of what it is like in Haiti. I have commented on your blog once before. I am praying for ya'll.
I was wondering if the MAF worker, Daniel, that Will mentions in "Going Through the Motions" was ever heard from or found?
May the Lord bless you!
Faith Schatte from TX
Dear Faith
Thank you for your comments and concern. Till now, nothing has been heard from Daniel. Just the other day, Jason and some of his friends went to look at the University where Daniel was when the earthquake happened. He told me later it was completely destroyed. At this point, even if in the future his body is recovered in the wreckage, it probably won't be recognizable. We mourn our loss, but find joy in the fact that He is with Jesus now.
There has been so much focus on this incident which was basically a misunderstanding. Yet very little interest has been shown for the Christian Missionaries who made the ultimate sacrifice in serving the Haitian people.
On January 12 a 7.0 Richter scale earthquake struck the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti, bringing widespread death and destruction to the western hemisphere’s poorest nation. The earthquake killed at least 200,000 people, injured at least 300,000 others, leveled at least 250,000 residencies, and destroyed or severely damaged at least 30,000 commercial structures. It was Haiti’s largest and most destructive earthquake in more than 200 years.
Beyond the statistics, the human suffering is amongst the most heartbreaking the world has seen in some time – the break-up of families, the orphaned children, the lack of food and water, the emotional and physical pain, the fight for daily survival.
This tragedy, however, has born witness to the generosity of Americans once again and others throughout the world who have given of themselves financially – donating roughly $528 million as of late January. But long before the earthquake put Haiti on the world radar screen, it stood out for its dismal standard of living. For generations Christian missionaries have come to do what they could. They were there on January 12 before the bottom fell out. A few of them even made the ultimate sacrifice. We wanted to honor these individuals here and welcome your additions and suggestions if we have missed anyone.
Jeffrey J. Rodman, President and CEO of Here-4-You Christian Grant Consulting is featuring the stories of devotion and achievement which inspire all of us on the Christian Grant Writing company’s website at https://npfunds.com/blog/?p=380.
I am really sorry to hear that, but, yes, like you said, being with Jesus is so much better!
God bless you!
Faith
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