Haiti Relief Update - January 28th 2010

Thanks to the continued generosity of the NPCC community, we have received $15,000.00 in monetary donations to the Haiti relief fund and have been able to transfer these funds to the DCC network so that the badly needed family survival kits and supplies are distributed as quickly as possible. Many more in-kind donations of medical and other supplies have also been received and delivered to Port au Prince.

NPCC Medical Supply trip to World Relief’s Kings Hospital in Port au Prince

Tim Lee and J.P. Genasi help unload the plane on the ground in Port-au-Prince.

Last Friday evening, World Relief made us aware that they needed to send 3 team members to King’s Hospital in Port au Prince and that they were in critical need of medicines and medical supplies. These needs were communicated to a number of medical professionals in our community and as a result we were able to gather 1800 pounds of medicines and supplies named on their list of critically needed antibiotics, IV medicines and orthopedics supplies.  By Monday night, we were able to collect and load these supplies on the plane and world relief’s team members had arrived.  The team left at 6:30 am Tuesday morning and landed in Port au Prince at 8:15 am.  After a short trip to the hospital, the medications and supplies along with the team were delivered into the hands of the doctors at King’s Hospital and were put to use the same day. The World Relief/King’s Hospital team were overjoyed at receiving almost everything on their wish list and wanted to us thank the NPCC community for making this possible.

We hope to make another trip to King’s Hospital in the coming days.

From Del Camino Network | Report from Tom’s trip to Port au Prince

It was a challenging trip. Conditions are as bad, if not worse, than what you are seeing on the news. The complexity of the situation is overwhelming. The pre-earthquake conditions and challenges Haitians faced and lived in are now multiplied tenfold.

The resiliency and survival abilities of the people are amazing. There is a lot of activity on the streets. Street markets are back up accommodating themselves to the rubble and obstructions on every other corner and vehicular traffic is heavy.

The scale of the devastation in Port-au-Prince is hard to get your arms around. Most city blocks have multiple houses, apartments and businesses destroyed. Streets are obstructed. At dusk most streets in neighborhoods become blocked off making it impossible to use vehicular traffic as families camp out under sheets and tarps to sleep on the streets.

Yet, through all of this despair there are still followers of Jesus. People who are suffering the same conditions and bleak outlook as their neighbors are reaching out to identify and serve others in need from their churches and communities.

DCC Relief Effort Progress | Phase One

In this first phase we are concentrating on the immediate survival needs of the families who are now refugees of the catastrophe. As a channel of resources, DCC has received and channeled $33,556.00 dollars which have been used to purchase, prepare and deliver over 1200 family kits + 1000 gallons of water.

Haitian pastors have helped us set up two reception and distribution sites, in Delmas #41 and Croix Des Bouquets where through their contacts with churches (26) have moved the supplies to families in extreme need in 28 different areas of Port-au-Prince (Delmas, Tabarre, Cite Soleil,) several sectors of Croix Des Bouquets, and Leogane.

Through other contacts with Haitian churches through the Dominican Network we are hoping to expand this emergency distribution system in the coming weeks.  We are preparing the third truck of 600 kits, 500 gallons of water and some 60 bedding supplies to get out from Santo Domingo on January 28th.  Over $17,000 dollars more of donations that were made through e-giving are being processed and will enable us to follow this truck with another in several more days. Thank you for your generosity and support of this networked effort.

Please continue to pray for the Haitian pastors who are serving in the identification and distribution of the supplies. It is incredibly complex and challenging. The distribution of food and water is one of the most difficult aspects of the relief effort due to the chaos and difficulties that plague the distribution process. As a result, many organizations want to avoid it all together and leave it in the hands of the larger response efforts (UN, Red Cross, etc). But these efforts tend be concentrated in the huge improvised refugee centers throughout the city and do not get out to the forgotten, poor neighborhoods that have been devastated.

DCC Relief Effort | Phase Two

When we find that we are covered in the basic food supplies, we will let you know where our focus on donations will be shifting. We are still working on the water purification systems, which take more work related to the logistics and placement of those systems and have several good connections to possible solar panel donations.

Ongoing Prayer Requests

Health issues are going to continue to worsen under these conditions. In response to that need, DCC and the RdC DR Endeavor ministry are currently facilitating the logistical support to a 20 person medical team that has arrived from Rush Presbyterian Medical Center in Chicago. These doctors and surgeons will be working to visit areas of high need where little medical attention has been given. Please pray for the logistics, on the ground connections and safety of the team for the next 5 days while they are there. It is an extremely challenging environment to be serving, especially in terms of the logistics that are entailed in getting around, set up and organized, etc.

Once again, thank you for your support. We will continue to channel and coordinate in this collective effort from the DR to bring help and hope to our Haitian brothers and sisters.