Last night via email, Manno answered several questions that we had for him and shared other information about what is happening in Cap Haitian.
He said that they don't have any city provided electricity since the quake so they are only checking email once a day when they run the generator. Therefore, he will probably not be answering many emails as they are trying to conserve fuel for the generator.
After discussing options, we have decided that we are going to try and send at least one container a month to Haiti. His preference is that we fill each container with 1/3 rice, 1/3 beans and 1/3 cooking oil. For the time being, Manno said that the top priority is food. He requested that we send the hygiene and medical supplies after a container of food.
Something Manno shared:
"I do believe as time goes on that we are going to be bombarded with more and more refugees. That's what happened after the flooding of Gonaives a couple of years back. We have many hurting people from Port Au Prince who are here in the hospital in Cap, at Milot or in one of the government schools they have converted into a hospital. We are taking care of them, but we are also encouraging them to eventually go home to their villages. I know that is going to take several months before any of them can go home. "
Manno also said that he has contractors who have now started removing a portion of the wall at the Pillatre complex. It was already leaning and the earthquake made it worse. There was a very real possibility it could fall in so fixing it is now a top priority. He said it is a very delicate process because the entire court yard of the new church will be without the security it provided. He said there has been an increase of stealing and people trying to break in. So, please, pray that the Lord will protect the property as they get this problem fixed.
All for now,
Shelley
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Update from Northern Haiti
I had the opportunity to speak with Manno this morning. We discussed some of the aid that we will be shipping into Cap Haitien in the coming weeks and the best way to go about that. He is in favor of purchasing our own containers to ship things in. He shared that many other mission organizations ship things that way. This provides a way to store the items safely once they arrive in Haiti. We are working with Fellowship of Christian Farmers and other ministries to make all this happen.
If you are shipping anything to Haiti Shipping Lines in Miami, Manno requests that it has "donations" or "earthquake relief" written on the outside of it. He will be working with the Minister of Religion in Cap Haitien to get things through customs once they arrive. Please remember, ship like items in sturdy boxes. All rice, all beans, all tylenol, etc. If you need a copy of the mailing label for Haiti Shipping Lines, contact me and I will email it to you.
Manno says that while it is easier for them to distribute smaller packages of rice and beans, if it is easier or more cost effective for us to ship bulk, they will work out how to best distribute the items.
He also reported that they did have some refugees attend church yesterday at Pillatre. Some of them actually stayed at Pillatre for shelter.
He said that they are using a government school as a hospital. The hospital in Cap Haitien is also full. He believes that it will be about one month before they start placing the many refugees that have been brought north.
All for now,
Shelley
If you are shipping anything to Haiti Shipping Lines in Miami, Manno requests that it has "donations" or "earthquake relief" written on the outside of it. He will be working with the Minister of Religion in Cap Haitien to get things through customs once they arrive. Please remember, ship like items in sturdy boxes. All rice, all beans, all tylenol, etc. If you need a copy of the mailing label for Haiti Shipping Lines, contact me and I will email it to you.
Manno says that while it is easier for them to distribute smaller packages of rice and beans, if it is easier or more cost effective for us to ship bulk, they will work out how to best distribute the items.
He also reported that they did have some refugees attend church yesterday at Pillatre. Some of them actually stayed at Pillatre for shelter.
He said that they are using a government school as a hospital. The hospital in Cap Haitien is also full. He believes that it will be about one month before they start placing the many refugees that have been brought north.
All for now,
Shelley
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Update from Manno - 1/21/10
We received an update from Manno today on what is going on in the Cap Haitian area right now.
They are trying to prevent chaos in the north. The minister of religion called a meeting with all the head pastors and heads of missions in Cap Haitian to discuss how they will collaborate and distribute things as they individually receive relief shipments from the states.
There will be teams of Haitian people, church people, and government people that will coordinate distribution efforts to refugees.
Right now, they do not need an American team to help with this. Basically, he said people can come but they would be observers at this point unless they go to Port and try and help there.
There are already a lot of refugees in Cap Haitian. Many of them may have been from the north originally and will have family to stay with. However, they are housing many of them at a gymnasium. It sounds like they may be doing this to assess their needs.
At this point, Manno is waiting to see what needs these and other new people coming in will have. His desire would be to help relocate those in need to the Lory and Pillatre area. There may be a need at that point to get some people down there and get some houses constructed. We will touch base on this in a couple of weeks.
For those of you asking:
Nadir is fine (Manno's friend and the man who drives teams in Port) a wall of his house is cracked but they are ok.
Mirium is also fine (his friend who sang at the celebration) She also lost a wall of her house. Apparently, her children are US citizens so she had them evacuated to the states but she chose to stay behind.
He shared that his truck is getting even worse so he is going to try and take it to the DR tomorrow and leave it to get it fixed.
One thing he said would be very helpful to them in distributing aid would be plastic grocery bags. If you are coordinating any kind of relief shipment, please go to Walmart or wherever and see if they would be willing to donate a bunch of bags.
Once he knows that a shipment is on the way, he will work with the Minister of Religion to get the customs process expedited so they can get the supplies to the people quickly.
I think that is all for now!
Shelley
They are trying to prevent chaos in the north. The minister of religion called a meeting with all the head pastors and heads of missions in Cap Haitian to discuss how they will collaborate and distribute things as they individually receive relief shipments from the states.
There will be teams of Haitian people, church people, and government people that will coordinate distribution efforts to refugees.
Right now, they do not need an American team to help with this. Basically, he said people can come but they would be observers at this point unless they go to Port and try and help there.
There are already a lot of refugees in Cap Haitian. Many of them may have been from the north originally and will have family to stay with. However, they are housing many of them at a gymnasium. It sounds like they may be doing this to assess their needs.
At this point, Manno is waiting to see what needs these and other new people coming in will have. His desire would be to help relocate those in need to the Lory and Pillatre area. There may be a need at that point to get some people down there and get some houses constructed. We will touch base on this in a couple of weeks.
For those of you asking:
Nadir is fine (Manno's friend and the man who drives teams in Port) a wall of his house is cracked but they are ok.
Mirium is also fine (his friend who sang at the celebration) She also lost a wall of her house. Apparently, her children are US citizens so she had them evacuated to the states but she chose to stay behind.
He shared that his truck is getting even worse so he is going to try and take it to the DR tomorrow and leave it to get it fixed.
One thing he said would be very helpful to them in distributing aid would be plastic grocery bags. If you are coordinating any kind of relief shipment, please go to Walmart or wherever and see if they would be willing to donate a bunch of bags.
Once he knows that a shipment is on the way, he will work with the Minister of Religion to get the customs process expedited so they can get the supplies to the people quickly.
I think that is all for now!
Shelley
Monday, January 18, 2010
HCM creates Haiti Relief Fund
HCM has created the Haiti Relief Fund. The purpose of the fund is to minister to the pressing needs of Haitian refugees now streaming out of southern Haiti into the north.
The IMMEDIATE need for the next few weeks is MONEY. We need to get food and water into the hands of these people and money is the only way to do it quickly. Fortunately, Haitian Christian Ministries has the transactional mechanisms and accountability measures already in place to make sure ALL donations are used effectively and go directly to meet these desperate needs.
The IMMEDIATE need for the next few weeks is MONEY. We need to get food and water into the hands of these people and money is the only way to do it quickly. Fortunately, Haitian Christian Ministries has the transactional mechanisms and accountability measures already in place to make sure ALL donations are used effectively and go directly to meet these desperate needs.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Refugees moving into Northern Haiti
Survivors of Tuesday's earthquake are now making their way towards northern Haiti. HCM is now making preparations on how to deal with the huge coming need.
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