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