News from Ray Lindner
This is an update received from Ray Lindner on the ground in PAP:
I am in Haiti at Mission of Hope Haiti, located just outside Port au Prince. Before the earthquake, the mission was distributing 15,000 meals a month to 55 schools and 13 orphanages throughout Haiti. When the earthquake hit, the warehouse had just been filled, and the mission received no major damage. It began distributing food immediately, and in the first week had distributed more meals than any other entity (over 1,000,000 meals) in Haiti. Our church (Hill Country Bible Church) received a request asking for a strategic logistics person who could assist the mission in expanding the infrastructure and organization of the mission so that it could meet the extraordinary challenges it faced to sustain and even expand distribution and capacity. I'm not sure I fit the requirement, but availability sometimes counts for more than ability....
I arrived on Thursday (less than 48 hours after being first contacted), and have been at work ever since. Yesterday alone the mission distributed over 200,000 meals throughout Haiti (not as a result of anything I have done - the mission leadership has done a great job of making a huge verticle jump in distribution). What many people don't know is that there has been a mass migration of people from PauP to the outlying towns (many of which have more than doubled in size and have small to massive tent cities in any open space). We have distributed food and supplies to the far corners of the island.
I have been downtown several times and seen the tremendous damage and the utter squalor that is accompanying the disaster. The mission sits less than 2 miles from the mass burial site in Titanyen, which is the nearest village to us. Yesterday a team of 18 medical folks (and a master planner) arrived from Austin, and between 8:30 last night and this morning they converted a small medical clinic into a hospital. Today they performed 12 major surgeries (or more, since they have shifted into 24 hr operations) in 3 ORs. Two other teams of docs went into the tent cities to perform triage and bring patients to the clinic/hospital. There have been so many amputations in town (under local anesthetics) that people with broken bones are afraid to go there (infections have set in and their condition deteriorates). We also cleared out the school (there is a school and an orphanage on site) and turned rooms into post-op care. These docs and nurses are awesome!
Your heart would break and your blood would boil to see how politics and inter-agency turf wars are preventing an efficient distribution of food and supplies. The team I came with from HCBC brought cash to buy vehicles to expand distribution capacity, and despite our demonstrated success and widespread network we still have to wrestle to get food to distribute.
Yesterday members of the US military joint logistics team visited and wanted to know how the mission was so successful in handing out food without armed guards. Given the mission's prior network, it distributes food and supplies directly to local churches and community leaders, who in turn distribute to their communities. The mission is empowering Haitians to help Haitians. Why is that such a radical concept?
Having shared all the above, if any organization wants to help, I can personally assure you that any $$$ donated to Mission of Hope Haiti will be used directly to relieve the immediate suffering and prepare for the long haul ahead. The mission was here for 13 years before the earthquake and will be here long after.
In the midst of such a tragedy, the mission is relooking its sute plan and strategic plan. My son John Travis arrived with the medical team yesterday and has already completed a site plan and begun work on new revisions to accomodate short-term temporary structures while moving forward with an accelerated building schedule. The mission is immediately completing work on the partially completed hospital and the expansion of the current orphanage capacity from the 60 we now have to 240. We are almost halfway on the hospital, and 30% of the way on the orphanage (actual construction), and I believe with adequate funding can complete 2 of the 10 new orphanage buildings (2 are already complete) and all of the hospital before the March rainy season postpones work. Unfortunately, we have to complete a perimeter fence for security purposes (we have roving armed guards since we have a large warehouse and are located on Route 1 National).
I'm also excited that my daughter Tori will be on the next team to arrive from Austin, prepared to serve for a longer spell. Oldest daughter and nurse Rachel will no doubt follow, probably after the initial response begins to lag, and the need is as great or greater.
I know this is a long update, but I felt burdened to share. I know that each of you would be here if he/she could, and I feel blessed to be allowed to serve. If anyone would like to volunteer time, HCBC is coordinating relief teams, as is missionofhopehaiti.org, and I will be available to assist you as well when I return (probably 3 or 4 Feb).
For you ladies, don't let your husband volunteer to come without you accompanying him. On his way to the church service on site (over 800 attending) he will suddenly find both hands grasped by 4 or more adorable orphans, and when he sits down 3 will find a way to occupy his lap while 2 others crowd in on either side, all the while smiling, cuddling, and reaching up to stroke his beard or play with his glasses. At the end of the service it will be heart-renching to see them torn away by their house mummy and see their shy grin and dancing eyes remained fixed on you as they watch over their shoulder and disappear around a building corner. When a man's heart breaks, it may be hard to keep him from trying to bring home a part of himself that might otherwise remain on the island.
You are welcome to share this with others. I covet your prayers and ask you to pray for Haiti and its people as well. And please give a special thanks for and ask a special blessing on the staff and leadership of Mission of Hope Haiti. They are truly serving as the hands of God.
God bless.
Ray Lindner