SFH Earthquake Updates

New SFH Web Site!

2010-02-25T09:31:00.000-08:00

A new web site has been created for Servants for Haiti. Since it is flexible enough to do updates easily and quickly, this blog is no longer needed.

Thank you for following us. Please visit our new site at www.servantsforhaiti.org.

2010-02-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

Not much being heard from Haiti lately. Things are stable for now. We have another small team heading down next week so we expect to have more updates and photos soon.

Keep watching this space.

(We also expect to have a new web site soon, so we won't need this auxiliary site any more.)

2010-02-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry there's been no update for a while. The three team members have all returned to the US.

Things are going as well as can be expected down at the school and orphanage. Thank God, we still have not heard of any serious casualties among the people we work with or serve there. With the exodus of people to the countryside, it may be a long time before we know the fate of all our friends. Some we may never know about.

Pastor Rigaud is still doing what he can to expedite adoptions. Food, water, and medical care are still in short supply. People are still living in tents, uncertain about their future.

Of one thing they can be sure. Servants for Haiti will always care and will be there for them if at all possible. We plan to send another small team as soon as commercial flights to Haiti resume.

Your help will go a long way to ensuring that we are doing as much as we can. In return for your generosity, we pledge our greatest efforts to help the children and all people of Haiti.

Thank you for your interest. This blog probably won't be updated again, but we hope to have a completely upgraded web site soon. That will allow us to be more efficient in our communications and allow you to join the conversation.

God bless you all...

2010-02-04T14:26:00.001-08:00

We have been able to buy food to supply "Grandma's Tent City" (see previous post). People in the neighborhood of KKO have also been fed with food purchased by SFH.

World Vision arrived today and distributed food boxes to 1700 people in Village Solidarite, using the school as a base. They will give out the same amount each of the next two days.

One of the two people from SFH that are in Haiti is planning to return today.

Grandma's Tent City

2010-02-03T13:40:00.001-08:00

Behind every great man is... his mother. In this case we're talking about Pastor Rigaud Antoine's mother. For those of you who are unaware, Pastor Rigaud is the driving force behind the CJRA school and Kingdom Kids orphanage. His mother is an amazing presence at any time, but she has truly stepped up in this disaster.

She and Pastor Rigaud's sister live next to the church and school. Following the earthquake, they created a tent city in front of their homes to accommodate about 1,000 homeless neighbors. People with nowhere else to go are sleeping there and holding on to what little they have left.

Meanwhile, our team is searching for additional sources of food for the people living there.

New Photos from Haiti

2010-02-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

We've just received some photos from the team's trip to Haiti.

The CJRA school shows minimal damage but is essentially sound.

John checks out the new water filtration system

Tents set up outside the orphanage. Kids and staff
are staying outside due to continuing aftershocks.

Working with World Vision to plan food distribution at CJRA.

2010-02-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

Great article on one of the KKO orphans arriving in the U.S.:

http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_14309530?IADID=Search-www.lowellsun.com-www.lowellsun.com

2010-02-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

One member of our team in Haiti returned Sunday night. We hope to have some photos to post soon.

Meanwhile progress continues to be made. There was a distribution of water from the school and church yesterday. This should help prepare for the large scale food distribution that World Vision will be doing later in the week. People from SFH and WV met to plan this effort. They have been collecting names of people in the Cite Militaire and Village Solidarite neighborhoods who will be given food. As was mentioned in the previous post, they plan to distribute enough food to feed 5,000 people for a month.

Pastor Rigaud continues to work through the adoption process for the children in the orphanage. While four children have made it to the US, we hope that more can find their permanent homes soon.

Church was held on Sunday, just one service at 6:30 AM. There were 1,000 in the congregation, compared to the usual 3,000.

Good news on Saturday!

2010-01-30T19:59:00.001-08:00

Today had lots of positive activity. Here's a summary:

The orphan that had been taken to the hospital for dehydration has been released and is well.
Every night, our friends at the orphanage are making rice and whatever else is available. They feed anyone from the neighborhood who is in need.
Our SFH team worked hard making connections and collecting supplies at the airport. In the end, they came away up with more medical supplies, diapers, water, blankets, food, and toiletries. A good haul!
The team also went to a local hospital for some meds to treat conjunctivitis, which many of the children have contracted.
Very exciting partnership news: World Vision is going to be using the CJRA school and the adjacent Bethlehem Baptist Church as a distribution point for food for the entire area. They will be distributing 5,000 boxes of food, each of which contains enough to feed someone for a month!
Rigaud Antoine has been working with a Haitian judge all day to help facilitate more adoptions. (As we've said on our web site, you can contact SFH if you are interested in adopting a child. Write to info@servantsforhaiti.org and we'll send you a packet of information.)

This is all great news. We are very excited to see people going to great lengths to help our Haitian friends. We are thrilled and humbled to be part of such a great worldwide effort.

There is clearly a lot happening. Keep following this blog for further updates...

2010-01-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a text message received just this morning from one of our board members in Haiti:

Tonight I walked over to the school with Jacnel (who works for Pastor Rigaud). Usually at this time the streets are crowded, not tonight. It was a ghost town, no one was on the street, it was empty. Still people aren't sleeping in homes that appear safe. There are makeshift cities everywhere but few are lucky enough to have real tents, most are made from sheets. The kids and staff continue to sleep outside and seem to manage amazingly well. The staff is unbelievable with how they are handling things. Everywhere we go people are praising God for saving them. So many have no idea what the future holds for them, no home, no job, nothing.

This kind of strength is yet another reason why we love serving our Haitian friends.

2010-01-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

A few new pieces of information:

The team that is in Haiti has managed to get to the Dominican Republic to buy food. They purchased enough to supply the orphanage for a few weeks!

The smell of decaying bodies is still evident.

One child from KKO has been hospitalized for dehydration.

The US Army gave our team more tents to protect the children. These are desperately needed to protect them from the elements.

The Army also supplied the orphanage with some water. No food has been received from the larger aid services, so any food we get is because of your donations.

Our missionary friends, Karl and Ann Olsson, brought food and drink mixes over.

Pastor Rigaud (for those who don't know, the school and orphanage were founded and are run by him) has arrived back in Haiti after a few days in the US. He had accompanied the four adopted orphans to FL last week. With him, he has brought a small generator that will be used to run the water filtration system the team brought with them.

A member of our team got another generator and some water from the US Army. The new generator will supply other essential electrical needs in the area.

2010-01-29T12:05:00.000-08:00

Thank you for checking out the latest updates from Servants for Haiti on the earthquake aftermath. Your concern and support motivates us to work even harder on behalf of "the least of these".

Here is a full description of the current status of our work in Haiti as well as any other pertinent and useful information. This covers everything we know up to today, including what was previously posted on our main web site (see link at bottom of this page).

In spite of the damage to the communications infrastructure, we have been able to talk to our people in Haiti since the beginning of this disaster. Today, most are in good spirits but obviously in great need.

Here are some highlights to start:

1) All 41 children at Kingdom Kids Orphanage survived the quake unharmed physically. The building itself is not damaged, but the children and staff have been staying outside since the quake because of continuing aftershocks, some of which are still very strong. They are sleeping outside but we have been able to ship some tents down and are trying to arrange to send more. The biggest needs have been food and water.

2) Miraculously, the CJRA school is also still standing. Many people have gathered there for safety and support. We have no confirmed cases of casualties of staff or sponsored students, but we haven't heard much about individuals yet.

3) Three representatives from Servants For Haiti, including two of our board, arrived in Haiti on Tuesday, 1/26. They brought with them four heavy duty tents for the orphans, a water purifier, medical supplies, diapers, infant formula, and food: tuna, peanut butter, and more. They also0 brought money to purchase food and water. The money will be especially helpful because the larger aid agencies have not made it to the Cite Militaire and Village Solidarite neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. Your generosity has made all this possible.

4) The one injury that we are aware of is to our medical school student, Georges Dorilien. He suffered a broken arm and leg. While those injuries are considered routine under the best of conditions, they can be very dangerous with the medical care situation that now exists in Haiti.

5) Two of the three water cisterns at the orphanage are broken and cannot hold water. We are sending money down to repair or replace them as soon as possible.

6) About 10,000 people who live in the vicinity of the school and orphanage are looking to Pastor Rigaud and SFH for help. We will attempt to reach out to all those in need if at all possible. We need your help to do so.

7) One bright spot: Because of the conditions for the orphans in Haiti, officials are expediting the adoption process in some cases. As a result, four of the orphans at KKO have already arrived at their new permanent homes in the U.S!

For those who are interested in adopting a child from the Kingdom Kids Orphanage, please contact us at info@servantsforhaiti.org and we will send you the necessary information.

If you want to donate to SFH to help us continue our work there, please send a check to:

Servants for Haiti
P.O. Box 1214
Westford, MA 01886

If you want the funds to go specifically to earthquake relief, make sure you mark "Relief Fund" in the check's memo section.

Please be in prayer for all the citizens of Haiti as well as for those providing relief during this crisis. Most reports indicate that the people are dealing with all this remarkably well given the conditions. The Haitians are a courageous people and deserve our support.

As always, we thank you for your prayers, concern, and tangible support for our friends in Haiti.

Follow this blog for continued updates.