Thursday, October 23, 2008

First Church Service after the flood



People gather in Unfinished Mission house to thank God for their survival.

















Madam Luc Leads singing.

The Children of Christ Compassion Orphanage










Standing in the compound of the Mission House under construction.

It's not Christmas but these Birthday Party for Jesus bags are all they have. Look at the smiles.













Standing on the porch of the mission house under construction, this is home for now.





These gifts couldn't have been picked up any earlier or they would have been gone with everything else in the flood, God worked it out.

More of the Aftermath of the 4 Hurricans & Floods











This family is digging out trying to get into their home to make it livable.







It's hard to believe this is a Street.




The flood waters were so strong they overturned these cars.






It looks more like a war zone than anything.

More Pictures from Goanaives, Haiti Flood

2 of our Pastors were in town on September 1st and fled to the attic space to excape the flood, this is the 2nd story of the rented Orphanage building.
Interior of Gonaives Church after flood damage, not safe to use anymore.

This home is almost covered in dirt & mud.


Luc's family & 25 Children fled from their home to the roof of this building behind the house, and still were concerned for their lives for the next 3 days.



Luc's former home after the flood.











Team Evangelism in the days before the Flood




In the days before the 2008 September flood as a result of 3 hurricans in a row, life was as usual in the city of Gonaives Haiti. These pictures show adults and children getting ready for evangelism. And then came the rain!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Luc's Video in the days after the Flood

Luc walks the streets of Gonaives after the flood waters receded. Look at the Houses, they were completly under water. Mud is left knee deep inside some of these homes. The women are trying to clean up but the water is unbelievably muddy.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

September was a difficult month

Gonaives Haiti Flood 2008

September was a hard month in Gonaives Haiti for Luc Joseph and his family as well as 25 Orphan children living in Christ Compassion Orphanage. The hardships continues but here is a little of what happened in their lives, what was happening in your life during that time?

September 1st 7:00am God tells Luc Joseph to go to the rented property for Christ Compassion Orphanage and bring all 25 Children to his house. No known or specific reason, only go to get children not a routine happening.

September 1st it started to rain about 2:00pm but by 10:00pm the city was under siege by flood waters.

September 1st by 10pm they had to evacuate the house and flee with all the children to the top of the 3 story building behind them that was under construction.

September 2nd by morning they could not see the top of the house they lived in next to the building they fled to, it was completely under water.

Sept 3rd still on the roof no food no water.

September 4th finally able to leave the top of the building where they had been stranded, and walked in water for 2 or 3 kilometers to mission house under construction.

Everything of value lost, in the families rental house was full of mud, the rental house for the Orphanage full of mud almost everything gone including a building.

God knew that lives were in the balance, he told Luc go get the children, Luc obeyed, not knowing why, only that he need to do what God instructed him to do.

For more than 2 weeks the only thing they had to eat was what they could salvage from the flood waters, most notably was banana from the trees that had been washed away from the hills above the city. The only clean water to drink was rain water.

By the 10th a Catholic priest gave Luc some bread that they could eat.

By the 24th Western Union Gonaives was open, and we were able to send money for buying food.

By the 29th we were able to deliver a substantial amount of money and he Luc was able to buy food in Saint Marc.

For the first time they had enough food to meet their daily needs.

Over the very difficult month of September, God had told Luc what he needed to do, and he was faithful to do it.

Although it was very difficult, and they are all alive but still living in a bad situation as of the 17th of October, in an unfinished mission house with 25 children, plus his family, plus other people who help with the children, they are all alive.

We are trying to get the mission house finished; I have delivered funds to Luc for drilling a well as well as some funds to continue work in order to complete the mission house.

But even when they have a well, and the mission house is finished, the problems will not be solved.

25 Orphan Children living in a house designed for 1 family and a few guest.

We need to purchase the land next to this house and build an Orphanage, school and church.

This is not a small project, but God loves these children, he saved them from certain death, and now we need to take the opportunity that God has given us to provide for these children, God does not want the present situation, with over 30 plus people living in a situation designed for, 10 people.

This project will cost an estimated $80,000 when completed, but to start with we need to purchase the land, at an estimated cost of $10,000 US.
Next we need to secure the property with walls, and then we need to build a building that will house a minimum of 30 children.

Can you turn your back on this situation? Scripture tells us to take care of the widows and orphans. These children need your help!

Luc was obedient and the children have survived, you and I need to be obedient also.

Max R Wright – WRI – Haiti Rep

Monday, October 6, 2008

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!

I Talked to Luc this afternoon.
Drinking Water is the most difficult problem affecting health right now. The people need food, but if they drink bad water they are at serious health risk. The water plant in Gonaives was destroyed so safe water has to come from about 40 miles away.
Mosquitoes are an extreme problem in Gonaives right now, and Malaria will follow which is always a problem in Haiti. This will drive the death toll higher, the old and the young are at most risk. We are going to try to get sufficient Mosquito Nets for those living in the unfinished house.
The Gonaives Church and school is not able to function at present due to the destruction of the rented church buildings. Luc is holding services at his unfinished home, where he and his family and 25 Orphans are living in the unfinished mission house. Your financial help is needed to finish the house, install a water well, toilets, sewer, and get generator power to the house. We need your financial help now.
In the near future it’s Luc & my belief that God desires us to purchase the land adjacent to the mission house in order to have both an Orphanage as well as a building that can hold church services as well as school. The estimated cost of the land is $25,000 the cost of this project is estimated at $80,000. Obviously we need you to help this desperate situation.
In a country that is so poor how can the cost be so high? Everything that is not a natural resource has to be shipped in, other that the coral sand, everything else has to be shipped in so you have to add fuel and shipping cost to everything.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Haiti Death Toll Raises

Haiti raises storm death toll to nearly 800
The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- The official death toll from four storms that ravaged Haiti this summer has nearly doubled to some 800 people, authorities said Friday.
Civil defense director Maria-Alta Jean Baptiste said in an interview with The Associated Press that 793 bodies have been found so far, and authorities are still looking for bodies in the mud that swamped coastal settlements.
"As we're cleaning, we don't know what we're going to find," she said.
Crews have found 466 bodies in the hard-hit town of Gonaives alone, and government workers are burying the dead immediately to avoid contamination and the spread of infectious diseases, she said.
The four tropical storms that struck in late August and early September also wiped out at least 60 percent of Haitian agriculture and destroyed roads, bridges and homes.
The government had previously said 425 people died in the storms, which left thousands homeless.
International aid and food has poured in, but the U.N. World Food Program has so far received only US$1 million of the US$54 million it requested.