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Record Details:

Operation Mobilization USA - OM - 2010 HAITI Earthquake (MEDICAL CARE / DIST: FOOD/SUPPLIES & more)

Organization:
Facility Type: Info/Hotline
Status: Open

Address:
, HT 00000

Region:Haiti, Caribbean
County/Parish:



Main/General Business Number: 1-800-899-0432
Website: http://omusa.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti







This organization provides Temporary or Permanent Service? Temporary

Notes:

WEBSITE/HAITI NEWS -
http://omusa.org/haiti-earthquake-relief

------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, February 01, 2010
http://omusa.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
A week of God moments in Haiti

Written by Lane Powell, OM USA Communications

“I knew there were going to be ‘God moments’ through the week when the tap-tap [taxi truck] ran out of gas right in front of the orphanage.” That was the beginning of the visit to Haiti by Henry Couser, a member of OM’s staff in the USA. He had traveled nearly two hours from the airport in the tap-tap, and the fuel lasted until they got to the orphanage gate.

Henry arrived in Carrefour, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, in the first days after the January 12 earthquake. His goal was to visit the three orphanages OM had helped in the past, in partnership with a US church, and assess their needs. He based himself at the first one, where the tap-tap ran out of gas, and found that instead of 200 children, the orphanage was housing 350 and was also giving shelter and food to approximately 1,000 people from the community. And they were coming to the end of their food supply. No outside help had arrived yet. Their buildings were still standing, but, like everyone else in the region, they were sleeping outside due to concerns about aftershocks and damage to the structures. By finding some shops that had not been destroyed, Henry was able to purchase food for the immediate need.

Two days later, Henry was joined by a six-member, trained emergency response team sent by OM’s USA office and led by former OM missionary Rusty Garrison. One of their tasks was to check the rubble of a nearby school that had collapsed on 2,000 students. They could find no signs of life. Faced with this and other sites where children had died in piles of rubble, the team wanted to work at removing bodies. “But we knew that our mission was to help the living, and that had to be our priority,” Rusty said.

Each of the three orphanages was visited, and at each the team found a similar situation: buildings standing but showing cracks, children and staff living outside, food and water nearly gone. Through contacts in the communities, the team was able to find food and water to stock each orphanage. They located a relief aid warehouse which had begun receiving food shipments, but the director was overwhelmed at organizing it and establishing a distribution system. He asked only for the team’s labor of unloading trucks and organizing a supply line in exchange for food they could take to the orphanages. “I’ll never forget the cheers that erupted as we drove into the orphanage gates,” says one of the team members, speaking of arriving with food from the warehouse. As they transported injured people to a hospital in the area, they found that the medical staff had run out of food two or three days earlier. The team provided them with food, as well.

During a week in Haiti, the three orphanages were supplied with food and water to last until a shipment could be arranged, injured people were transported to clinics, and a child whose adoption had been finalized just before the earthquake was helped out of the country with her adoptive parents. Everywhere there were the stories and stunned faces of people still in shock--not yet grieving, only staring at the rubble. There was the old man who, with his wife of 58 years, was visiting from Canada when the buildings collapsed. Her body was removed from the rubble, and he asked Henry to take a photo of her passport picture “so that the world will not forget Anne Marie.” There was the family who lost 15 members in the collapse of their home. Four bodies were recovered and placed in one coffin, but the other 11 were still in the ruins. The family asked Henry to take of photo of the surviving members. The heartbreaking sadness was knowing that hundreds of thousands of people had similar stories.

But in the midst of such tragedy, after the team’s work, there were three orphanages which had smiling children with full stomachs. They understood that God had brought Henry and the team to help them.

Thanks for your gifts to long-term Haiti relief.

=============

http://omusa.org/haiti-earthquake-relief

OM staff and church partners working with them in a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reported on a very full day this week. The group divided into three ministry directions: medical care, working with a local orphanage, and distribution of food and supplies.

The two women who focused on the orphanage encountered some frustrating conditions. With so many people from the community seeking refuge inside the compound, there is no room for the children to play or have activities. They don't go to school right now, so they are bundles of energy with no outlet. The women spent time with the children and tried to alleviate their fears about their orphanage building, which has been inspected by an engineer and deemed safe. So far the children are reluctant to go back inside.

Another team member worked with a Christian medical clinic serving in the area. At this facility, staff starts the day with prayer, and each patient is prayed over and receives wonderful treatment. The clinic is staffed by volunteer physicians and nurses from all over the US. They have seen between 500 and 1,000 patients per day since the earthquake, and on this day they treated 602.

The remaining six members of the team focused on distributing food and other supplies. OM’s US office had collected donations of some specific supplies from churches near the office, and these were sent to Haiti with the team earlier in the week. On this day, the team visited five orphanages and supplied them with bed linens and food. They also assessed another orphanage’s needs for future assistance. Through the orphanages, on one day the team touched the lives of 751 children, plus countless adults the orphanages are helping.

OM continues to work in areas outside Port-au-Prince where we are linked with a network of orphanages. We are helping to provide them food and other supplies. Additionally, we have set up water systems, sent medical teams, and sent structural engineers to assess buildings.

=============
USA Main Record at:
http://www.citizencommandcenter.org/shelters/show/5455

FACEBOOK -
(International)
http://www.facebook.com/omusa.org

Info Source/Changes:

Created At: Wed Feb 24 03:29:57 +0000 2010
Updated At: Thu Feb 25 02:29:58 +0000 2010
Updated By: LTel


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