Trip to Haiti news

Here is what is happening in Carrefour, Haiti now. I just returned from 5 days there. Everyone is living in tents, all the houses are destroyed. But living in tents is different than I expected because everything from the house is now in the tent. The fridge, the television, the stove, the mattresses are all in the tent. So as much as possible people make living in a tent like living at home.

The common people had very little, so their tents are small and tight considering how many people are living in them. Many people live in tent cities. They have dug latrines, or in the larger tent cities use portajohns. We are serving 1,200 meals a day in two kitchens. It is a lot of work, but the people serving are happy to do it. And the people eating are really happy. Most of the people that we feed are children. There is no way that we can discontinue the meals, at this point there is little other food. I doubt that many people are eating regularly. The one meal a day that we serve is probably the only meal most people eat. And the food is delicious, I had three meals myself.

Evidence of international aid is all around, I saw tents marked Swiss Red Cross, food marked Mexican Red Cross, tarps marked Samaritan’s Purse and US AID, a hospital marked Deutsch Red Cross and Finish Red Cross. But actual food and meals are hard to come by, the distribution of aid is not at all evident. I can say that I saw little evidence of the billion dollars that we know has been donated to Haiti. I do not know what is being done with all the donated funds, people in Carrefour are hungry and broke.

On March 12, Pastor Eddy organized an all day fasting and prayer at the basketball arena in memory of the January 12 earthquake. About 4,000 people gathered there and praised God and fasted all day. Then his wife Marlene and about 15 cooks served everyone a meal. That was a labor of love.

The school is planning to reopen April 5. Their building is destroyed, but they will use the courtyard and a vacant lot nearby. They have begun to improve the lot by building latrines, clearing the land, and paving it. We have bought 4 large party tents that we will ship by air to house the 12 grades.

No one can find a tent in Haiti, and many people do not have a tent. I saw all kinds of sleeping arrangements, from beds on the street, to trucks, to sleeping on chairs with a rain cover. It is amazing that everyone looks clean and well groomed, I don’t know how they do it.

Teams of men are breaking up houses with sledge hammers, then they wheelbarrow the rubble to the street and pile it there. Then a truck from the city comes with about 10 men with shovels who shovel the rubble off the street and into the dump truck. So homeowners are responsible to get their house out to the street. This makes driving difficult, but there aren’t as many cars as before the quake and the drivers are more patient and courteous.

Spiritually, they are having revival. Pastor Eddy’s church had grown to about 2,000 in 13 months. Now he says that half of his people left for the countryside, but his church has doubled to 4,000. So really it quadrupled since the quake. Pastor Ernst says many people have come to the Lord, “It is impossible to count them all.” Many voodoo priests and priestesses have become Christians.

So the joy of the Lord sustains all the Christians. They have no homes, no jobs, no money but they have the joy of the Lord. And people are sharing and watching out for one another.

We are organizing an ImpactNations trip to help the people in Carrefour, June 13 to 25. If you would like to go to Haiti, this will be a good time. More info will follow shortly.

Please send some donations to serve meals. All the money that we receive is going to serve meals. Steve Lovell and I are funding all of our other projects so that your donations will go to serving meals to poor people. Unlike aid given to other charities all of your donations go to serve food and you can taste and see the food if you come on the trip in June.

The photos below show 1: a meal at Marlene’s kitchen (serving 800 meals a day.) 2: A meal served at the gymnasium 3: A meal at the school kitchen (400 meals a day.) 4: The fallen down school and temporary tarp. 5: Children in temporary school.

Please see more photos at our web site www.haiticharity.org .

Please send me a short reply, I love to hear from you.

Your brother in Christ,

Mac
Mac Barnes, Precious Pearl, 19 Wigwam Road, Locust, NJ 07760 tel:732-708-9144, fax: 732-708-9980, email: mac_barnes@yahoo.com (Precious Pearl is a 501(c)(3) charity)