Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Hanna's Damage

Tina and I have learned a number of things through this storm. We praise God that he taught us these things through items like our louvred windows that let the rain and wind in even though they are closed. A storm like this, though the eye didn't pass over us, is very wearing and tiring. Although it was wearing and tiring, we were very safe and have the blessings of concrete walls and not being in a flood plain. When we lived in the US, we were so unaware of things outside of our immediate environment. We were led to believe in the US that things that happened in the US were such a disaster when, in reality and by comparison, things aren't as bad as it is in other places. We were arrogant and were without understanding. God has shown us so much.

Here in Haiti, there are no motorboats to rescue people from their roofs (if a roof remains). There are no helicopter rescues to make the 6 o'clock news. There is no Superdome to house the people without houses for a time. The roads are impassible, so help cannot get to you and you cannot leave. You are stuck to ride out the storm where ever you are with whatever you have. I am amazed that more people do not die. I am also reluctant to believe the small number of deaths as I do not believe they are complete.

The storm comes and it makes the news where it is, but the story lives on beyond the exact location of the storm. The people are left without homes, schools are destroyed, food sources have disappeared (many are substance farmers) - there is much left in the aftermath.

There was an article that I read this morning that mentioned a number of the places that I went through on my two trips up North (Saint Marc, Gonaives, L'Ester). Read more here.

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and other countries in the path of this storm and the others to come. Please also pray for us as we (the Mission) help the Haitian people recover from the storm today and in the future. We will most likely be heading out in the near future to check things out (the Mission's schools and churches).

I will post the damage that we work on here at the Mission today later this afternoon. I will take pictures.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are in our prayers, sorry for not writing to you earlier. We lost your blog address and emails, had some virus problems on the computer and things like that, but you are in our thought and prayers.
Alina, John and Rebekah

Ken Schlorf said...

Thank you so much, guys! We miss our small group meetings together. You guys are in our thoughts and prayers as well. I noticed your Skype call the other day - sorry we missed it!