Sorry for neglecting you but it's been a busy day. Went to the hospital again this morning where chaos reigns. Not enough beds. No more medicine. No food for patients. Our donation of food will be profoundly appreciated.
Attended a networking meeting hosted by the United Nations. The topic today was how to mobilize our efforts in caring for the wounded coming in from PaP. It is predicted that there will be 1,500 requiring medical attention. No mention was made of the counseling that almost everyone from PaP will need after such great losses. MINUSTAH is trying to coordinate the relief plan and it is a huge challenge. People at the meeting want to rush ahead to address the needs which are great. They want to bring in private plane-loads of medicine and medical teams but MINUSTAH refused until things are better coordinated. They are asking that all medical and humanitarian supplies be sent to PaP where distribution will be done according to need. We don't want to repeat some of the glaring mistakes made after Katrina or the tsunami. The best thing that our supporters can do is raise funds so that we can purchase what we really need. Heard about American Airlines airlifting medical teams and supplies for nothing, about pharmaceutical companies donating essential meds, about thousands of volunteers coming in to PaP to continue the horrible work of extracting bodies from the rubble... It is enough to restore one's faith in humanity.
Heard this afternoon that our provincial house in PaP was destroyed and that we lost one seminarian during the quake. The Provincial leadership is being moved south: some to Les Cayes and others to Mazenod in Camp-Perrin. Our Archbishop and his advisors were all killed as the cathedral crashed down on them. The local bishop appeared dazed when we visited him this morning. He lost seven seminarians. Four badly hurt ones were awaiting treatment in the hospital yard.
Port-au-Prince has been razed. No more government offices. The decision to centralize all government activities is now regrettable. The school year is over for the country though we plan on opening our doors as soon as possible.
I have not been able to keep up with emails. Be patient with me. Please continue to keep all of us here in prayer.
You remain in our prayers, of course! We do appreciate your blog updates and understand you cannot possibly respond to individual emails.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear of the losses for the Oblates and other seminarians. I am sure that everyone in Haiti has a friend or relative who was killed or is missing. The experience is frightening for adults but must be terrifying for the children who do not understand what has happened and have been torn from their families and homes.
I saw a link to this blog on MSNBC last night. It was one of five links they posted of people who were in Haiti and could report on what was actually happening.
ReplyDeleteHopefully some donations come out of it.
Barb in New Mexico
Dear Father
ReplyDeleteOur family is quite saddened by the tragedy in Haiti. We would like to help by offering temporary guardianship or permanent placement for a child or sibling group. We have 3 adopted children and we are in the process of adopting our foster daughter. We have a recent homestudy through the State of Washington that could help facilitate this move. We would have the children airlifted at our expense to help them get out of harm's way.
Thank you.
Liz and Mark Farrell
(509) 921-9024