Haiti Experience as Described by John Davis

The work currently being done in Haiti has become a work extremely close to many of our hearts. I had the priviledge to work with 3 awesome team members from the Ft. Worth area while in Haiti a couple of weeks ago. I asked one of them (John Davis) to write about his experience. As you will read..... the Haitian People need us.....they need YOU..... If you haven't already.... please consider volunteering with DRT, donating financially and most of all praying for the effort in Haiti. -Laura

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As our team walked out of the airport in Port Au Prince, I knew right away this would be a life changing experience. Never had I seen a place of such destruction and poverty. As I stepped into the crowded street beyond the gates, I thought to myself; "what help could I possibly be to these people?" As the week of my experience unfolded, I discovered quickly that the Haitian people need so much (they survive without some of the most basic things), that they are not different from you or me and that they are a loving and proud people. My concern of not being useful vanished immediately. Throughout the week, I worked in medical clinics dispensing medicine and caring for adults and children. I worked at the new church site helping with the construction. I spent many hours with the beautiful children teaching songs, playing games and helping them in any way I could. I shared in worship services that forever changed my view of worship. Everyday was filled from sun up til sundown with work and activity. By the end of the week, I felt as if I had become a neighbor and friend to the people in the area we were working. Words truely cannot describe the experience I had in Haiti. However, maybe for the first time in my life, I discovered the true meaning of serving my Lord and loving and being loved by my brothers and sisters in Christ. John Davis

GREAT NEWS IN HAITI

One of our shipments has finally arrived!! PRAISE GOD!! The contents include much needed tents, generators, personal care buckets and medical supplies. The onsite DRT have distributed the supplies to a very grateful community in the Lilavois area of Port-au-Prince. We also provided tents and supplies to the church in Carrefour as well as Jean Robert St. Hilliare of the Delmas 43 Church of Christ.

2 Medical Clinics were held this past week with over 300 people being seen and treated.

There are so many orphaned children just running the streets and in hospitals awaiting a place to live.

Now that the tents have arrived the orphanage and the school can begin!!

If you would like to sponsor a child you can do so for only $40./month

We are also needing funding for the teachers of the school at $150/month.

Please help us save these children through the orphanage, school and medical clinics.

You can donate online through PayPal on the DRT website.... http://www.churchesofchristdrt.org/

Or by postal mail to:

Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team

810 Hollywood Blvd.

West Melbourne, Florida 32904

I talked to Harry this morning. They took Shirley to the hospital last night. Shirley's tumor is malignant and the doctors are telling them there is nothing they can do except to try to make her comfortable. Please continue to pray for Shirley and Harry. Remember.....it is HIM that can do immeasurably more than than all we ask or imagine. Eph. 3:20

I'm currently at the Tulsa Soul-Winning Workshop with the DRT exhibit. GOD brings the most awesome people into my life. Whether you stopped by the booth to talk to me.... volunteered with me at a disaster.....allowed me to work for you in a disaster....called me....prayed for me.....or are a friend from long ago that came back into my life...... Please know that I am so blessed to know you and thank GOD for you!

As you know....DRT is currently working in Haiti. I've had many people stop by the booth to see if medical volunteers are the only volunteers we are accepting in Haiti.. NO.... we need YOU!! We do need medical personnel, especially doctors but we also need any and all volunteers.

We are working on finishing the security wall.... setting up the orphanage...setting up the school....running medical clinics....distributing supplies....teaching the Love of Christ..... YES... We need you! Please register to volunteer on the DRT website.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!!

I'm asking you to please keep our DRT Coordinator Shirley Mansfield in your prayers. She has been diagnosed with a tumor on her spine. They have done a biopsy but don't have the results back yet. Once they receive the results they will be doing surgery. She is in extreme pain. Please keep her husband Harry in your prayers as well as he cares for her.
We Love You Harry and Shirley!

Below are the dates for our volunteer trips to Haiti.
Volunteers of all skills are desperately needed. Please register on the website with the week you are able to attend. We are taking approx. 10 volunteers per week.


March 29 - April 5, 2010 (Medical - Contractors/laborers needed)

April 6-13, 2010 (Medical - Contractors/laborers needed)

April 14-21, 2010 (Medical - Contractors/laborers - VBS Teachers needed)

April 22-29, 2010 (Medical - Contractors/laborers -VBS Teachers -Child Care Workers needed)

April 23-30, 2010 (Medical - Contractors/laborers - Teachers - Child Care Workers needed)

May 1 - 8, 2010 (Contractors/laborers - Teachers - Child Care Workers - Cooks needed)

May 10-17, 2010 (Medical-Contractors/Laborers-Teachers-Child Care Workers-Cooks needed)

May 18-25, 2010 (Contractors/laborers-Teachers-Child Care Workers-Cooks needed)

May 26 - June 2, 2010 (Medical-Contractors/Laborers-Teachers-Child Care Workers-Cooks needed)

My Haitian Experience This Week

Church Service at Carrefour COC

John Davis (Ft. Worth volunteer) reading to the children during VBS/School

Charissa Richard with a sick child and 2 sisters.

I arrived back in the great United States last night...... it's good to be "home" but as John Davis put it...."it feels odd to be back. Like we are strangers in this land".

While in Haiti we connected with the people there. We felt for them....with them....and wanted to make everything better for them. Although in working to make things "better" we also need to remember that "our" better is not necessarily the Haitian Peoples idea of better. They have their own culture and it is not our place to come in and try to "Americanize" them.

Those of you who know me.... know that camping in a tent.....especially during rainy nights with the tent leaking....living without electricity except for the 1 or 2 hours per day of generator power....not using makeup or a flat iron.....riding in the bed of a truck on rough, dusty....dirt/gravel, pothole "roads" while trying to hang on and not to focus on the stench in the air.....eating "different" foods....and suffering through extremely hot, humid weather....showering every other day.... attempting to be patient because "Haiti time" is different from any other time I've ever experienced.....has never been my idea of living.

BUT..... for the Haitian people most of this is normal everyday life....much of it they lived through daily even before the earthquake. They adapt and overcome. I'm amazed at the ingenuity they have.....

NOW....since the earthquake they are in more need than ever. There are countless "tent cities" where thousands of people are living. But they're not "tent cities" because they have no tents! They use branches from trees stuck in the ground for corner posts and cover them with bed linens. THIS IS NOT KEEPING THE RAINS OFF OF THEM..... Their immediate needs are tents and medical help. From there we can begin the rebuilding but for now....we have to get them relocated out of the river beds and into tents rather than sheets. The rains have begun and will only continue to get worse. Their "tents" will flood.....and the diseases will continue to get worse.

Please help us help them...... We need volunteers of any kind as long as you can handle horrible, rough conditions. We need funding to continue to purchase food, tents, building material, medical supplies, tools, equipment......the list goes on and on.

If you're willing to volunteer, please go the the DRT website and register. If it is put upon your heart to donate.... you may do so through PayPal on the website or by postal mail to:

Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team

810 Hollywood Blvd.

West Melbourne, Florida 32904

Haiti

Let me preface todays blog post by saying that my mind and heart are so full that it is extremely difficult to put everything into words so I apologize in advance if my feelings and words are a bit scattered and out of order.

I arrived in Haiti last Friday with Sid and 3 awesome volunteers from Texas (John Davis, Charissa Richards and Brayden Bunting). The time I've spent here so far has me feeling every emotion I believe I can feel. The destruction is so far beyond what I had imagined..... the crumbled buildings.....the terrible stench....the grief....the danger of the areas we go to, although we are safe with Luc being with us. He is able to take us into the locations we wouldn't be able to go to ourselves because of the danger.
But there is hope... it will take time.... alot of time. But the Haitian people are amazing in that they are coping the best they can. They have a will that doesn't seem to stop and they have help.
Luc is amazing.... thanks to him so many are being and will continue to be helped. All of this is being done in the name of Jesus and it is tremendous!
The plans that Luc has is so encouraging.... We are in the process of setting up the orphanage, thanks to Healing Hands we now have the well drilled. The volunteers are working on the repairing the building that will house the clinic and soon we will be starting on the school.

We've been conducting medical clinics and have seen over 700 patients in 2 days. We've seen everything.... Typhoid, Malaria.. parasites....skin diseases.... broken bones that have healed without being set....all of this will continue to get worse once the rains set in. And lets not forget that most of these people are sleeping out in the open with no houses, no tents..... They need help and lots of it.

Mark and Duane Kemp (DRT Coordinator) will be here for 2 months working and organizing the efforts here.
If it is on your heart to help..... please see the website for volunteer opportunites as well as donating. www.churchesofchristdrt.org