Hurricane Matthew
South Haiti
The day before the
hurricane I was driving through our village and my heart was breaking like
never before. Seeing so many kids and their families in harm’s way, but not
being able to convince them to prepare and leave their fragile homes. The
thought of returning after the storm, knowing many of them might die, knowing
how scared the kids and helpless parents would feel in their last moments of
life, it literally terrified me.
We were passed over, we
dodged it. The joy I had seeing all of our friends and families come out
unscathed was overwhelming, until, until the reports started flowing in from
the south shore. It was devastated. The death toll keeps rising every day,
reports coming in, livestock, cows, goats etc decimated by exposure. All the
crops destroyed. Vast majority of homes completely destroyed. The terror began
to flood my head again.
But what can we do? We
have a commitment to over 1,000 kids and 40 staff. Most of our kids
depend on the meals we provide, our staff depends on their pay to take care of
their families. We're a relationship ministry, not a humanitarian mission. We're
just not equipped with the trucks or finances to deliver relief.
After the hurricane had
past and we reopened soccer, all of the kids from Sport Disciple starting
pouring in smiling and laughing. When we finished practice and as I was praying
for them, I couldn't help but think what if it was us that got devastated,
would people come to help or would they say they're not equipped?
One of our security
guards, Jean Louis, came distraught, his family in Port Salut lost everything,
no homes, no gardens, nothing left but the clothes they were wearing...they all
survived, which is most important, but now they were running out of the food
their friends shared. Running out. No aid convoys or plane drops had arrived
and no one knew when they would arrive. He immediately left with some money and
a back pack filled with FMSC. Once he got there he called us, worse than
we thought. No food, no water, no aid coming in, no shelter.
We
felt helpless. But Carrie reminded me about the Starfish story.
"There
was an old man walking along the beach in the early morning after a big storm
had passed their area in the night. As he walked, he noticed thousands of
starfish washed ashore from the storm, all slowing dying in the sun without the
ability to get back out to sea. As he walked he saw a little boy ahead in
the distance. The boy was reaching down and picking starfish up one by
one and throwing them as far as he could back out into the water. The old
man approached him and said "don't waste your time, there are thousands of
starfish out here, what you're doing doesn't even matter." The
little boy looked at him, bent over and picked up another starfish. Wound up
and chucked it as far as he could and said "it matters to that one."
So we are going to do
what we can with what we have. We have one vehicle, a Nissan Patrol, its 4
wheel drive and we're sending it to a hard to reach area. We packed it
with 800lbs of rice, cooking oil, pasta, high calorie protein drinks, 50 jars
of peanut butter, cases of crackers, water, dozens of bags of bread, charcoal for
cooking, medical supplies, tarps, chlorine, soap etc...it's not going to help
thousands, but it will help some and those "some" will stretch it and
share with as many as they can. Two of our Haitian friends are making the trek,
they know the area and can get there "somewhat incognito" so the
delivery makes it. Please pray for their safety as they make this trip today
and that God does some crazy good multiplication of supplies!
I don't know if this is
the only trip we'll make, if it's something we'll do over and over. We
personally know several people whose families have lost
everything. If we can acquire/borrow or rent a bigger truck we'll
see about that too. We used funds we really don't have for the first trip
of supplies but we know from experience God never runs out. We hope mass
amounts of aid convoys start moving. We know that people need to see what is
happening. There's a desperate need, we don't want anyone to be forgotten. This
is real and it's hard to wrap your mind around.
We are continuing to do
the things that God has called us here to do and we are willing to be his
vessel, using the resources he has given us responsibility over to help those
in need. We are being prayerful in partnering with or directing donations to
other organizations, making sure they're legit, effective and efficient.
Please keep praying for
everyone who is suffering from this hurricane and those who are trying to reach
them.
God Bless,
Barrett & Carrie
Rice & Water weigh a lot!
Half way through packing, didn't stop to take a final pic, long drive & was rushing it..
Heading out, praying for safe travel & the supplies go exactly where needed, its not much, but it matters to someone.
