SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, - Return to Haiti: Haiti Update

Some of you may or may not know that I made it back to Haiti again--- for the second time since the earthquake that devastated this beautiful country. Yes I say beautiful because I find that, every time I come and travel throughout Haiti, especially in the country side, I have to stop and take the beauty in and shake my head in amazement of it.

But just a few hours ago as i was driving by "Champs de Mars", our famous park in the heart of the capital city, I was reminded again of the devastation that fell upon Haiti just a month ago. This weekend was declared as a national weekend of mourning and praying. Indeed the streets of Port au Prince are empty. The hills and mountains of the country side are also in mourning and praising the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Almost everyone young and old, are walking up and down the hills on their way to a church service that sometimes starts as early as four in the morning local time.

On the day of the one month anniversary of the earthquake, Hope for Haiti Foundation relief committee had a meeting in Zorangé. We had handed out tickets to many people in Zorangé and asked them to attend the meeting. More than 400 people that received tickets were there, many as early as 3 hours before the meeting.

The committee members explained to them the criteria that we used and the images that we gathered. These criteria along with the images would help us determine whether or not we were going to help them get back on their feet. We also told them that we had acquired 2000 bags of cement to help them, and an additional 200 bags to help the schools in the community that were damaged. We told them that the 5 bags of cement they will each receive will only help them to fix their homes, but may not be enough to do the entire job. We also told them that we know if we did not help them, they would still find a way to do their work and get back to their homes before the rainy and hurricane seasons. Because of their resilience and their ingenuity, they would continue to find a way to carry on.

Beginning as early as February 17, 2010, for four straight days, HFHF’s Team Haiti will distribute the cement. In the end we will have helped more than 3000 people, 22 schools and 3 churches, and we will have distributed more than 2500 bags of cement.

Hope Community Church, Hope for Haiti Foundation and hundreds of you have made it possible for this community to be helped in such a wonderful way during these desperate times.

Our next step is to procure the materials and begin the work to get both the clinic and the school reopened. This process will start as soon as Monday, February 15, 2010. We are anticipating the work in the clinics to take at least 3 weeks to complete, and the projected date for the reopening is set for March 8, 2010.

On behalf of the people of Zorangé, I thank you for your kindness, prayers and support. We are confident that we will have the means to continue this work and be able to get us to pre-earthquake condition. Then we can continue on our long term development work for years to come.

Elade (Jean)

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 09, - Return to Haiti

HFHF Founder Jean Elade Eloi and Facilities Director John Brown have traveled to Haiti. They will be providing updates for this web page by Monday, February 15. Check back for updates.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 10:17 a.m. - Thirty five seconds that changed a generation

Hello everyone,
As I write this latest update I am still in Port au Prince and I might be able to come home tomorrow aboard one of those us military cargo planes, so I don't have to go through DR to get home.

As I walk in the villages of Bainet city, places like Bigot, Ravine Bigot, pirmentiere (villages within the Zorangé district) and the city of Port au Prince and its suburbs, the best I can do is to shake my head. I shake my head as I see people living in make shift tents. These tents consist of a few sheets that they were able to salvage after the earthquake. I see young kids, despite the current condition, playing soccer in an area no bigger than three square feet. It seems like they'll do anything to keep from going insane. Again their will to live has no match.

I shake my head at the young adults who were either studying at universities or high school or working and they are now living on the streets not having a clue what tomorrow holds for them.

I shake my head at the head of households who find themselves unable to provide for their loved ones and unable to provide them proper shelter.

All this happened in about 35 seconds. A generation has changed for ever and the impact could affect multiple generations if we don't find Haitian leaders that will lead, not in isolation, but in true collaboration and partnership with the international community and the Haitian Diaspora.

People are getting more anxious as they have yet to see "aid" in any shape or form coming to their neighborhood. They are commenting about visitors with cameras on the street filming and taking pictures and those comments are not positive. I have yet to get my camera out in the open as I find myself getting mad as well. Although I have taken some pictures with my phone but that's about it.

I have been thinking about these 35 seconds and I do my best not to get angry although tempted many times. Right now Haiti doesn't need my anger I concluded but my energy to find ways to help one person at a time.

Zorangé earthquake damage assessment update:

I shared with you last time about our committee that's been set up to do a damage assessment. They spent the last three days walking in every single habitation (Haiti is divided into: state--city--district and habitation). The district of Zorangé has 30 habitations. Four teams of 4 committee members and staff and students volunteered to conduct this assessment following a very simple criterion: a house is to be reported as damaged if and only if one of the walls or panels has fallen. Based on this information they may document homes with pictures and household leader and the number of kids living in those houses. Preliminary data may have revealed more than 400 homes that fit the criterion. Average family size of seven which would give about 3000 people (a third of the population of Zorangé).

We've stated the relief is going to happen in three phases: get the people in their homes--fix the medical clinic and fix the school. Once we're able to get these things done there will be some sort of normalcy for these people. The rainy season is around the corner and the hurricane soon after. We know "normal" may never feel the same again for these people but this will be a start.

As I walked through the villages I saw helicopters flying overhead and I hope they were not trying to do assessment from that position because they would not be able to see the damages since most those houses are up, but the damage may be on the interior walls etc. etc.

This should be my last update from Haiti. I hope to speak with you live back home for a brief time.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Haiti will survive.

Jean Elade

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 4:00 p.m. - I Experienced my first aftershock

Hello everyone,
I want to thank you again for your prayers. My brother and I are doing okay in Haiti and every now and then we find ourselves shaking our head in amazement.

As you see from the subject line: I experienced my first ever aftershock and that was "interesting". The team had just finished a prayer and worship service that began at 4:00 am.

We were just about to be dispersed and suddenly the ground started to move. We were standing on the soccer field in Zorangé (the soccer field has become a refuge. For some reason people feel safe there due to the wide open space. They meet and worship there) and then I heard the roar coming from our building. I heard some stuff falling. Again that was interesting. The fear in the kids eyes can cut deeply through your heart. We are praying for these aftershocks to be over soon. I understand that it can take up to 8 weeks for it to be said and done but it is hard to take.

I arrived in Jacmel this morning and I wanted to visit the hotel that we often use (cap Lamandou hotel). It is still standing but it won't be functional for a while because there are plenty of "fissures" or cracks in the building and no one is sleeping there.

I also took the opportunity to chat with the manager because she has the pulse of the city in her hands. She said there are a lot of people in Jacmel giving help-- medical help but they maybe lacking medical supplies.

There are a few houses in Jacmel that collapsed. Some hotels are down; one that I stayed in last year. I suspect that the people living in the villages of Jacmel may be experiencing the same thing--no shelter. But right now the focus is focused on providing medical care. The chaos in Port au Prince has no rival and people are fleeing the city to flock to a village. Which means there was already hunger in the country and the country side, and with the addition of new arrivals in the village, the challenge will be more intense for those families to keep everyone fed.

A plan is in place in Zorangé. Our disaster relief committee is established and the members and volunteers will be dispatched immediately. They will go house to house in the 8th district (Zorangé) to conduct the damage assessment. Each house that is affected will receive a ticket and a date for a meeting.

We are securing cement and we have more than 400 bags already. We should be getting 600 very soon from this distributor.

At the meeting we will have decided how much cement will be given per household and a plan for distribution will be established.

May God bless you all.

Jean Elade

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 4:20 p.m.

Hello Everyone,

The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind for me and my brother Louis. I did make it to Zorangé yesterday and I was happy to arrive just a couple hours before darkness fell. I know you are anxiously waiting for our newest update from both Zorangé and Bainet.

Let's get to the point, starting with Zorangé:

1. The people in Zorangé are okay, but they have people in Port-au-Prince that have lost their lives. And you may have heard about our staff member who lost his mother and two sisters.

2. Our school building: I am happy to report that the roof from our school is intact. That's the good news. The bad news is that both the school and the clinic are shut down, because of extensive damage.

3. The sleeping situation: Since the earthquake, nobody sleeps in homes anymore, including in Zorangé. People gathered on the soccer field every night until the first rain storm came. Since then, they developed a new plan--they pick different courtyards and they team up and every night they get to their spot to sleep.

4. Church service: They hold church services on the soccer field.

5. The bakery is also out of commission.

Bainet:

There are some damaged homes in Bainet, but it doesn't look as bad as expected.

Our hospital: The exterior walls are up, but it seems that nature has begun the gutting process for us. The floors are down, and the deck is down -- stay tuned for some pictures.

Our dormitory: The dormitory is perfect. I can't see any visible damage.

How do we proceed?

In Zorangé, we will focus on re-establishing some sort of normalcy for the people who have had to evacuate and have been sleeping outside. They can't continue to deal with that. They are praying for it not to rain, yet they need the rain to start planting so they can have food for the next season. They find themselves in an interesting situation.

How will we help?

We have a team that was put together two years ago to help with the disaster relief. Tonight, I am meeting with that team and the way we're going to help is by ensuring that these people get into their homes asap.

We are in the process of securing every bag of cement available in the area and we can store them up on Zorangé. Then the committee will distribute the cement to those that need it. I am thinking we will be distributing between 5-15 bags of cement per household.

Once we have the people back in their homes, then we will put in place a plan on how to continue with fixing and constructing in Zorangé.

The government will address the school situation in the country, and I expect that this year is lost.

We had a townhall meeting last night in Zorangé--some sort of a therapy session. It was good and we prayed and gave God thanks for those that are alive. Please pray for comfort, because everyone of these people is affected by what happened.

What I reminded the people is that we are definitely thankful for the survivors. We can always build something, but we cannot replace a life.

What I need right now:

Provide shelter for the people in Zorangé.

Bainet: I just met with the city commissioner and of course they want all the aid to make it here to bring food and water. That is not new for Haiti, and he agreed with me for now that the need is to provide shelter for the people in the villages.

We are putting everything on hold for Bainet.

Here are our priorities:

1. Get the people back to their homes
2. Fix the clinic and reopen it--this should take little time
3. Restart the repairing and the construction of the school
4. Conduct an assessment trip to Bainet

Medical help:

Port-au-Prince is in bad shape and will be in bad shape for a long time. So if we can partner up with another organization that is giving medical help, then we should partner with them.

I told the commissioner that the people who really need the help never get it. These people who are helping in PAP will never get to Zorangé and Bainet (although the city of Bainet may get help before Zorangé ever will). But we see them, and we are aware of their needs. They don't need much to get back on their feet -- just a few bags of cement and dirt. They have plenty of dirt, but no means to get cement, and we will make sure those that need the cement will get it.

Stay tuned for pictures.

Latest earthquake images from the HFHF founder in Bainet and Zorangé, Haiti.

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MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 11:00 a.m.

Thank you for your prayers. My brother Louis and I made it safely to Haiti today traveling through the Dominican Republic. Traffic was intense at the border as there were many convoys traveling to Haiti to aid in the disaster relief effort.

Once I arrived at my destination, my family immediately started to share with me their experience during that terrifying 35 seconds that seemed like an eternity to them last Tuesday when the earthquake hit Haiti.

It is true that when I spoke with my cousin Sousou that she did tell me she and her 6-year old daughter Victoria and her husband Eugene were alive, but she did not share with me how close they all came to death.

Eugene was helpless as he watched both Sousou and Victoria struggle to keep their balance as the ground beneath them split open and they had to find ways of keeping their balance. Not knowing what was going on and basically staring at death, they are very grateful to be alive today.

As soon as I crossed the border into Haiti, some members of team Haiti were waiting for us there. Among them was our driver, Marcel, who proceeded to tell me that he spent the first eight hours after the earthquake transporting dead bodies (76 in total) to some designated location escorted by UN peace keepers. I was impressed to see how calm and unshaken he was after that experience.

But the news that really got to me was the one about Jude, our sports and academic league commissioner. His house collapsed and he narrowly escaped death but his mother and his two sisters were not so fortunate. As you can imagine, the grief is visibly written on his face.

Please pray for these people and our trip as we continue on our journey today to visit Zorangé and Bainet. Unfortunately, the primary road is impassable but we know of another one to get there and we'll provide you with another update as soon as we're able to.

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1:00 p.m.

I was finally contacted by a relative, named Obed, who lives in Zorangé, Haiti. Obed's home serves as our host home as he and his family host our missions teams when we go to Haiti. He reports that his house is collapsed. He also reports that in Bainet, the largest church there has collapsed. Some of our buildings (built by our missions teams) have been damaged but I am not sure how badly at this time. Because Obed did not say much about the school or people that we know in Bainet, we are assuming they are ok. I will be arriving tonight in Santa Domingo and will travel from there to Haiti. I will update again as I am able.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 3:30 p.m.

As many of you know already, I was able to speak with some family members from Port-au-Prince yesterday morning and was supposed to get a call from them at 4pm E.S.T yesterday (Jan 13, 2010) but the four-clock hour came and went with no phone call from Haiti. So my heart is heavy as I know there were more than 30 aftershocks occurring and I have to stop my brain from racing through all the negative possibilities.

We've communicated to you that we were looking at a few different ways of getting a team to Haiti. However, neither Samaritan's Purse nor the Baptist Men’s group are taking more volunteers at this time. They have asked us to continue to check their websites for updates, which we will do. They each have a team in Haiti currently doing assessment and then they'll provide some sort of feedback as to how to proceed from there.

The other option that we had to get to Haiti was to partner with Partners in Health and the US Coast Guard. However, as of this morning they have more than 10,000 volunteers waiting to go to Haiti. Because of that, I've decided to continue with my plan to get to Haiti.


Going to Haiti

Tomorrow January 15, 2010 at this time I would be on a plane to Dominican Republic. Once there, I will get myself to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Don't ask me how because I don't really now at this point but what I can guarantee you is that I'll be there on Saturday, Jan 16, 2010. Once I am in Haiti I will make sure that you get updates at least to my well being.

Regarding teams going to Haiti in the future as well, you should know that Elizabeth Brown from our Hope for Haiti Foundation and Kevin White from Hope Community Church will be key contacts from their respective organizations. Elizabeth is keeping a list of people who are interested in going to Haiti and she and Kevin will continue to collaborate on this, putting a team together based on required skill sets if and when we do a trip--

whether it's with Partners in Health, the US Coast Guard, or the Hope for Haiti Foundation. As soon as we are able to bring teams to Haiti that do not put the team’s lives in danger and where you can actually help provide some relief, we will begin this process.


How You Can Help Now

This morning I met with Pastor Mike and his leadership staff and we've decided the best thing to do right now is to let the "big boys" like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc., handle the current situation. Pastor Mike will update the church this weekend regarding a Haiti Relief Fund being set up to help with the many needs that will continue for a long time. We know 3-6 months from now that Haiti's biggest challenge will be how to keep the survivors from dying of hunger, having a roof over their head, and many needs for medical care. As a church, it is entirely possible that we'll be taking people to Haiti later in the year after all of the big organizations that provide disaster relief have left.


Focusing on the Long Term

As I've stated earlier Pastor Mike will tell you this weekend how you can help and we are focusing on long term strategy to build our hospital in Bainet. You would agree with us that there is no more important time than now to build this hospital in Bainet.


Continued Prayers

Thank you for your patience and your support and your prayers. We need to be strong for Haiti right now as they face this crisis.

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 3:00 p.m.

Jean is partnering with Partners in Health and will be leaving for Haiti within the next 72-96 hours. Anyone with skills and experience in the medical field, search-and-rescue, and/or translations are asked to join him on this trip. Partners in Health is arranging transportation in one of two ways of which they will inform the team when it has been arranged:

Option 1: The team will drive to DC and fly out from Andrews Airforce Base
Option 2: Fly to Florida and travel by US Coast Guard to Haiti
For more info and/or to sign up to go, contact: Elizabeth Brown - 919.630.4840

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1:00 p.m.

There is a Hope for Haiti prayer vigil scheduled for tonight (Wednesday) at 7:00 p.m. at The Corner Tavern & Grill in Cary.

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 11:00 a.m.

As you know, Haiti, particularly the capital city of Port-au-Prince, has been hit once again with a catastrophic disaster, and this one has no rival. What you see on TV is definitely reflecting the current conditions on the ground of Port-au-Prince. But I also found out this morning it is not only Port-au-Prince, but also the cities of Jacmel, Bainet, Petit-Goave and Les Cayes. These cities are located south/southwest of Haiti.

I must be blunt with you that things are not good in Haiti right now.

From the time I found out about the earthquake (5:23 p.m., January 12, 2010), I've been calling Haiti--and 4 million Haitians have been trying to call there as well--but have been unable to get through. This morning I finally did receive a phone call from some of my family members living in Port-au-Prince. They were very fortunate to walk out of their home no more than five minutes before the house collapsed. No one was hurt, but they are now homeless. Their neighbors did not make it out of their homes in time.

I also have a younger sister-in-law that saw her school building collapse around her. Although she was able to escape, none of her classmates made it out safely. Truly a disaster.

Also, we know there has been some damage in the city where we will build our hospital. However, I don't know if the buildings that we purchased suffered any damages. We are praying no lives were lost.


How are we planning to help?

Last night I made a call to the Haitian ambassador's team in Washington DC to let them know we have a medical team that will leave for Haiti on January 30, 2010, and that we are willing to provide any assistance needed. As you can imagine, they are also swamped and I continue to await their response.

We made a call to a Baptist men’s group in North Carolina who is mobilizing a team. We let them know we will collaborate with them once they know their immediate plans. As a church, we have worked with them in the past, providing relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina.

A call has also been placed to Samaritan's purse. They are currently in the planning phase and they intend to send two cargo planes a day to Haiti along with medical personnel. Our intent is to work with them to provide any assistance necessary.

One of our volunteers has been in contact with the US Southern Command just to see how we can get to Haiti as soon as possible to provide any relief necessary. We are waiting further communication.

If you know someone who's willing to go to Haiti and has the requisite skills needed like medical, emergency, and search and rescue, please let us know as we may be calling on you/them to put a team together to go to Haiti within the next 72 hours or so.

Patience and Prayer

We're asking you to pray for Haiti and pray for us. We are also asking you to be patient with us as we try to find the best ways to help in this disastrous time. Updates will be posted to this page as they are available.

Thank You

Thank you once again for your support and compassion. We will provide updates as often as possible.