Jimani and Brief Update

Matthew Harrison and Ted Krey with a few others have left for the border of Haiti with a van loaded with medical supplies and a pickup truck loaded with over 2,000 pounds of rice. Meanwhile, Glenn Merritt is reporting that they are still in Port-au-Prince. The situation is chaotic, but the team is safe. The governmental agencies and large NGOs have reached the city, and heavy machinery is moving debris, slowing the teams progress to reach Jimani.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd share a little about what has transpired over the past few hours. The Mercy Medical Team (MMT) has departed after a debriefing. The compound has a different feel now that the LCMS people have departe--in some measure because of a lack of familiarity with the new teams coming in.

Even though most of the LCMS people have departed or are away from the compound, we still find work to do (rather, some work has come to us). Occasionally, a physican or medical professional comes to the house seeking a chaplain or pastor. Some of the medical professionals (who come from different backgrounds) have not slept in three days. Some need to talk, vent, or cry about what they have seen. Pastors Ted Krey and Walther Ryes also have been attending to the medical professionals in between attending to other duties. It is not always apparent, but those who come to volunteer or to help in a crisis or disaster also suffer in some measure with the people they came to help.

Every so often, the sound of choppers fill the air. There are at least two or three places nearby where choppers frequently take off and land, including the Good Samaritan Hospital. Seeing the doctors and nurses run to the choppers is reminiscent of M*A*S*H.

The picture above is the view just to the North of the Good Samartian Hospital. A lot of beauty to be seen. A pack of dogs (semi-tame) frolick behind the vacant house. A few moments ago they were playing chase with each other... All of them look relatively young. The electricity in Jimani under normal circumstances only runs 3 to 5 hours a day. Right now, except when there is an outage, it is on 24 hours. The stream of water that is flowing constantly out front is also not normally there.

Carlos and I sitting out back reflecting on the past few days have just met a reporter from the Canadian Broadcasting Company... We'll see where that goes...