Yesterday afternoon, after the streets were somewhat cleared and the storm had calmed down to mainly rain, I decided to go check on the orphanage and see how well they fared.
If you aren’t already aware, I stay down in the Port-au-Prince area which is lower down and closed in on most sides by the mountains. Since the storm was coming over those mountains, and didn’t hit nearly as hard as expected, it doesn’t seem like way too much damage was done in the city other than trees and power lines going down, and some people in tents or shacks being quite wind-blown. Our orphanage, on the other hand, is high in the mountains overlooking the city, and while we weren’t even getting much rain or winds as the storm came close, they were hit consistently for over 24 hours with heavy winds and rains.
In the morning, since I couldn’t get my translator on the phone, I personally called Pastor Justin at the center to get a report. Although I didn’t get any details at this point I knew something was bad, but I understood from the conversation was, “I have many problems…The orphan house broke…” It was at this point I decided to make my way up the mountain to see what’s going on. Here is what I found:
The story I heard once we arrived was that the roof just banged all night through the major part of the storm, but about 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning, just shortly before I had called Justin, a big gust of wind took half the roof off of the orphanage.
Currently the kids are staying in the church, having pushed the benches together and laid the mattresses on them, however, Justin is looking for a house nearby to rent for a week or two until the roof is fixed. The most fortunate part is that no one was hurt by flying tin, and once we showed up, the kids’ fears were eased some. By the time we left everyone was in good spirits.
The immediate needs we have are small comfort items like blankets, jackets, etc., that I can purchase here in Haiti; as well as the funds to repair to roof and to fix other minor damage around the property.
If you would like any more info about the situation or the projects at hand, you can email me (singram@heartofgodinternational.org) or Haiti Director, Dave Young (dyoung@heartofgodinternational.org) and you can subscribe to this blog to stay up to date with any future updates. If you would like to make a donation for the rebuilding (expected costs coming soon), you can click the ‘Donate’ link at the top.
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