An update from Haiti.

First of all we are all ok! Praise the Lord! None of us were injured during the quake. Our house has some small cracks but is fine. The school suffered no damage which is a miracle.

We are currently helping with coordinating the relief effort that will happen at the school. We will have 2 or 3 aid organizations on campus. We are very thankful for all the prayers and please continue.

The situation is quite bad. Most of the major markets for food are crumbled. The banking system is down. There is only partial internet and cell phone service. There was gas today but lines were very long. In the next few days there will be some desperate people and we are preparing for that. Water is a problem but the school has a filtering system so we are ok there. We have gas as well.

The first night we did what we could to help. We dug through rubble at a major market looking for people. We could hear people still alive, buried under the rubble. We worked in a triage for hours and the people kept coming. We checked on orphanages and employees of the school. We drove a lady who was pulled from the major market with multiple fractures to a hospital that had no equipment, no medicine, people stacked on the street. The dead are piled up on the side of the streets. (Sorry for the graphic nature). Buildings are down everywhere. It is a bit overwhelming but God is in control. We will do what we can to help these people. These people have nowhere to go…

We are running low on cash and we are working on getting our trusted friend & neighbor in Haiti who is leaving for the Dominican Republic tomorrow to bring us some. As now and as always if you wish to donate you can use our paypal account. We are figuring out how to get those funds to our contact so he can bring those funds directly to us when he returns next week back to Haiti.

The school also has setup a paypal link to assist the community and efforts. Go to quisqueya.org and there is a link there.

To make it clear from someone on the ground here…. I have not kept up with the news and who is doing what but I’ll tell you that Haiti is a mess. The infrastructure is in shambles. No gas, water, food, shelter, hospitals, or hope for some. We set a splint on a little boy’s broken femur, a cousin of a worker died on our soccer field. Things are not pretty. Any stores that crumbled are being looted. Also keep in mind that the Haitian police are not much help because they also lost family members and houses.

I hope this update is not too much for some of you but this is the reality of Haiti right now….

The school does not have an internet connection because the access points we were pointed to are gone… A major hotel and another market. They are crumbled to the ground. We will try to keep all of you updated. People have asked for pictures. We have taken some and will post soon.

Our whole family except Banning was at the school during the quake. We were on the soccer field finishing our first girls soccer practice. Banning was at a friends house at his first drum lesson. Quite a few firsts that day :-) . Days are blending together and we are working on getting a good sleep schedule. Sean is heading up security at the school and Denise and the kids are helping the people who need help!

It is so strange that we have an internet connection and the Port au Prince area is in shambles…. Such is Haiti….

Blessings to you all!

Blesh Family….