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Hurricane Matthew visited Sous Savanne and took down some homes. Soon from tent to House of Hope...
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October 2016, "Matthew" and more...
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Hello dear friends,
A lot can take place in a month time. Most of you are aware of hurricane Matthew's visit to Haiti on October 2nd and 3rd. We are very grateful that besides winds of 80+ mph we did not get the straight hit. However again Haiti is facing another natural disaster that has taken dwellings, crops, animals, family and friends.
"The little stream beside our home became a fast running river, our banana and plantain trees came down and we saw a little of what "Matthew" was capable of. It took the hurricane forever to pass over the island, with a speed of 6 mph (we can run that slow...). it was a long two days, starting with the rain coming down and eventually the winds picking up. Our Internet stopped functioning and we were grateful that WhatsApp and the phone line worked at times. We knew what was going on through phone calls from our HFI office in the USA as well as our daughter in Africa."
Around 3 PM on Tuesday afternoon Rene went outside to see the damage. He went to see the neighbors and they were glad to see him, soon we found out that Joseph's church, once again lost its roof. It was too wet to walk over to the village and we managed that the following few days, walking the different paths through Sous Savanne. We already had received news that on the mountainside some homes had come down. In total seven families lost their dwellings and another 7 - 12 homes face severe damage and will need help. Our 59 houses of hope did very well in the storm. Three have roofing damage, mostly because of trees falling down.
Sous Savanne has around 450 families with approximately 1,600 people. Every single household had water inside their dwelling and most of the crops are destroyed. People are worried about the months to come. How will they eat and there is nothing to take to the market to make some money.
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Hurricane "Matthew"
However life continues and last week we were able to see two roofs repaired and three families received a tent. We have started the process of digging two foundations for to new Houses of Hope and have started a "Shelter Relief" project. The shelters will be built with local materials and mostly by local labor and possibly with help from teams. The cost for a shelter is around $ 1,000. Even if at time funding is available for a House of Hope for the family, the shelter will be used as their kitchen or as another place for sleeping as some families have 8 - 11 people.
Writing all this makes me think about the damage in the West and South of Haiti. Rene went together with a Dutch missionary friend to see the damage their and his first sentence when he came back home was: "Most of the roofs are gone and there is not a tree standing". His one day visit ended up being three days as our car had major problems and only with a temporarily fix was Rene able to get home with the car... The car is finally fixed.
One of the situations following "Matthew" is the Cholera outbreak. We will monitor this closely and if needed see if HFI needs to get involved and send a medical team to help. At the same time I will be pro-active in our villages and the schools we work with and re-visit the "clean water" teachings again. Something as simple as washing your hands regularly, drink clean drinking water, don't bath in the little streams, seem to make common sense. However if there is no running water in your compound and you don't have a latrine, it is something that at times might be "just too much hassle".
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What is currently needed? ...
What can we realistically do and how can you be involved; On the Hope Force site under donate now, you can find hurricane relief and with a note to designate the money for Haiti, we will make good use of it. Looking at the need of relief shelters, and our Houses of Hope project, but we are also gathering information in how to help the people to get the needed seeds again to start back up with their farming.
Besides the direct hurricane relief, will we seriously need to start looking at fundraising for another vehicle, most likely a pickup truck, for our work in Haiti.
Prayer points:
- For us that we will be able to take a day at the time, to look at what is on our plate that day. It all can get overwhelming and we want to stay focused.
- For our Haitian friends, for some it is again their home that is destroyed.
- The Cholera situation in the West and South of Haiti.
- Lately we have run into some situations where somebody is sick for 2 or 3 days and then dies. They die to young, mid twenties, early forties...
- Finances to come in to help with rebuilding of some of the destroyed homes.
- Wisdom how to go about fundraising for another vehicle.
Thankful for:
- Our health, even though tired we are healthy.
- Money that is coming in for the Hope Shelter project and the Church Roof.
- We went through the hurricane in safety and could be here with our people.
- That through this whole situation people will realize that our only security is in Christ our Lord.
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In closing, we want to thank each one of you, we could not serve in Haiti without the support of our family, friends and churches. Through this hurricane season we have been reminded once again how many people are praying for us. Thank you so much for lifting us up and reaching out to us. We feel loved and blessed.
For three weeks our Internet was not functioning and if you have reached out to us but we have not written back, our apologies, we love to hear from you and I am sure at some point our inbox will be full with all the FB and email messages.
To donate go to
www.hopeforce.org
; then designate for Haiti Relief or for our personal staff support designate staff support Lako's.
With grateful hearts,
Rene and Marianne
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