We are using this blog as a platform to fundraise in a big way for the northwest zone. Please tell everyone you know – send it out in mass emails – to read Janeil’s letter. Please get the word out about the mission’s biggest needs during these tough times.

FROM JANEIL

Several things came out of today. If I could divide this day up – there would be three distinct things that I learned and three things as a mission we need to answer. Now I could tell you that some people might say there is a logical direction of how to deal with the problems that lie ahead – and maybe you attack them one at a time. Maybe you prioritize that which is most important. But for me – all three are overwhelming. 

1) Today as we went to the Far West the devastation was very apparent. The only thing I could liken it to is a tornado that has touched down where you could see its track of terror. There were several times today while I was driving to Beauchamp – a road I have driven many times – I felt like I was lost because all of my visual cues had changed so much as this land now lies barren – not because of the twisting winds of a tornado but because of a raging river that has overflowed its banks. 

All the Banana Groves were flattened and pushed over like a broken reed…

This is another picture of the road to Beauchamp…..

We have a wonderful couple in Pas-Catabois who called me today. I was already on my way out to see the very devastation that he was so very eager to tell me about. He wanted to know if we could put our heads together to confront this issue of so many homes and families displaced. We’ve identified three hundred homes that have been destroyed. There is no option for these people but to rebuild. These were thatch roof homes – which means they were already the poorest people in Haiti. If they had any money at all – they would have had a tin roof to go with their stick homes. Rob and I are trying to partner together to meet the need for these 300 homes. I’m trying to do my part in coming up with 12,000 sheets of tin to rebuild the roofs of 300 homes (40 sheets a home). The total cost is 75,000 USD.

Some people could see 75K as a lot of money – and I’m curious to know how much have we put into one house that was ruined in Katrina.  What will it cost to repair even one house that was destroyed in Texas? We’re talking about 75,000.00 to fix THREE HUNDRED HOMES – homes that have anywhere from 3 to 14 people living in them.

I need 300 people that can commit to giving 250.00 to rebuild one home. It’s a big need. We need big help. Understand that every dollar you give goes to putting these people back in homes. Our bottom line doesn’t get any better – my house doesn’t get any bigger – I just hate watching these families living in the cemetaries (which is where they are right now) and have no place to go. 

These are pictures of homes that have been completely destroyed. With every home there is a family  – with every family there are children and grandchildren – now they are all without anything.

A home used to sit right by that tree – you now see the debris surrounding it. 

To the left is a home that’s completely gone except for one corner. Look to the right by that tree…..

               Remember in the picture above I said look to the right of the tree – here is a close up of that area. This is where 4 homes were – now completely gone – completely leveled. 

2) As I went out to Sylines Myette to check on the work of the new orphanage we’re building – I was blown away to find that our beautiful little church was also blown away. The church you’re looking at was destroyed by the high winds of the hurricane that came through. This was the very same church that not more than two newsletters ago was featured with the mission’s church planting newsletter. The mission has planted 18 churches within the last 18 months. Some of these churches are made of block and steel and they’ve withstood the storm. However – for some of our churches that have aren’t really built yet….. they find themselves looking much like this one – completely destroyed.

I have 4 churches right now that have litterally been flattened like this one. I need to be able to build these churches so that the light might continue to shine in these particiular hills of Haiti. I can build a 30×50 church for as little as 15,000 USD. I need you that are reading this to go to your church boards – to your mission committees – and ask what would it take for them to come up with 15K. Many people can’t even renovate their church basements for less than 60,000.00. For 60,000 I can provide 4 houses of worship that will effect well over a thousand people every Sunday. 

These are pictures of the Sylines Myette Church……or what was the church. 

3)While I was at the Bay today – I couldn’t help but see the sad reality of our own campus. I saw for the first time our roof from our feeding center was completely blown off and wrapped around a tree in our front yard. There is a lot of work to do to get the campus in shape again. We need to restructure this campus completely to make it much more flood-friendly.

Pictures of the Feeding center without the roof and the tin wrapped around the tree:

We’re also in the process of reaching for higher ground. Today – I believe we found that ground. It’s up on the hill behind the city – overlooking the city of the bay. I never believed the mountain plateaued from the way I saw it from below. But there is a nice big pad I believe reserved just for us. We can move our missionary homes up there as well as the orphanage we intend to build.

Today I asked Curtis if the lady gave a price for this land yet. He told me she asked for 40,000 Haitian dollars which is the equivelent of 5100.00 USD……which is still four times what the land is worth. But to a couple of blancs at the bay – that sounds like a sweet deal. 

Pictures of the New Property:

As you can see the need is great. It’s hard to prioritize those things I’ve listed above but I continue to see that God has called us to meet the needs of those that live in the northwest zone of Haiti. I know He’s called us to meet those needs because ……the people keep calling us – every day – phone call after phone call – one after another – people are calling us to help them.

Now I make that Call to you – Please help….. 

Your Fellow Bond Servant,

Janeil

If you would like to donate online – you can click the link below. If you want to give to one of the specific things listed above – you can write it in the notes section. If you want to just help with general hurricane relief – you can do that as well.  

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