Haiti Update

Several have written to ask about the conditions in Haiti right now.  As you may know Haiti was hit hard by the last 3 hurricanes:  Gustav, Hanna, and recently Ike.  The northern parts of Haiti especially took a beating.  One estimate put the number of displaced persons to about 800,000.

To put that in perspective, the total population of Haiti is about 9 million.  So 800,000 is about 10% of the entire population.   That's plain sad.

 

I just received these photos through Vanessa Carpenter.  They are from a trip that Father Rick took recently to the north parts.  These photos, let me say, are dramatic.  It is well worth taking time to look through them all.   There are surprises all along the way.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/erinkloos/GonaivesFloods9608#

 

This will give you some idea, hopefully, of the challenges faced by these folks.

 

Here is an email Father Rick sent out with the photos:

 

 

 

hello to all

witth much difficulty and facing raging nature in the form of winds and rains and flash floods
we were able to get to gonnaives to help the sisters of mother teresa
who are friends of ours as of 20 years
they have sent many children to our orphanage over the years
and we have helped them with many medical cases

some of their patients drown in their house
and the sisters were on the roof for 3 days unable to come down

in any case
we made it to gonnaives with 5 truckloads of help

mostly drinking water which is rare
we went with 21,000 servings of water
it is preprared like a glass of water in a small plastic bag

we brought a ton of food
and dry clothes

and a pump, generator and gas to pump the water our of the compound

we left last night but got caught between 2 raging rivers
and spent the night in the trucks wondering what would happen to us and how we would cross
but we fought our way thru mud an waters today and made it to port au prince
where all the bridges around our hospital are destroyed and there is massive flooding in parts of port au prince, and cabaret
it is a very tragic situation

as you know our orphanage had extensive damage but no one was harmed
we will be without exelctricity for a few months i am sure

as you know we had the effects of hirrucane ike last night
so even though we left gonnaives
it is flooded again to 3 meters as i write
and by cell phone we know the sisters are back on the roof

tropical storms fay  gustave and hanna  and hurricane ike
have displaced about 1,000,000 people in haiti due to floods
from a government source i heard today


best regards
your prayers are appreciated

fr rick