The Journey in Haiti Wednesday January 13th 2010

Wednesday
7 am devotional, lot of speculation on damage. A somber mood with people working here, many with family in PAP. Seems most all communication here is done by cell phone. Everyone keeps looking and trying their cell phones for service. All is down though, the internet is up and running with a generator, firing off a quick e-mail to family, In limbo as to our next plan of action.
I help cook for the school kids and the orphanage, school is cancelled and a few kids show up. Jeanette cooks pasta with smoked herring and tomato sauce with some fresh vegetable from the market. I think she is pretty happy about our trip and stowing away some supplies for the kids. Yesterday we were cooking and we gave her some salt, she was out! For how long, I wonder? What would the food taste like if she had something better to use? What a lady, she is like the mother hen to these kids, dishing every plate for them! We give out portions big enough for 4 kids here in the states. A Styrofoam plate full of rice then topped with a large tomato, herring sauce pasta and half a nutria-grain bar. The kids’ eyes are huge as we hand out the plates. The younger kids get help carrying their plates. One of the little girls comes back wailing, I was wondering what the commotion was about… she had dropped her plate. They try to console her and we get her another plate…… I feel this is like the last supper for these kids on the eve of a bad storm. Mike and Jan, the head couple went to PAP in search of the Pastor and Missionary we had not heard from. We are all awaiting word from them.
We ran outlets, wired plugs and helped to take a tin roof off of the building with the crack. As we sat for dinner Mike, Jan and the Missionary came back from PAP. Their faces told the tale. They told of collapsed buildings, whole neighborhoods collapsed, lots of dead and of bringing the bodies into the streets. The decision was made to leave in the morning. We work into the night to store supplies, and finish projects.