Life in Haiti

Earthquake

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake registering over 7.0 hit Haiti. The village we work in, Fauche, is roughly 10 miles away from the epicenter of that earthquake. Pastor Martin and his family are okay. There were a few deaths in Fauche; however, none of them were members of the church. Many buildings and homes were destroyed. Another Pastor we have worked with in the past, suffered the loss of his wife and two of his children when their home collapsed.

Pastor Martin lives in a village about an hour away. Many of the roads were destroyed, so he was not able to get to his congregation or help them for days. Also, there are no doctors or nurses in Fauche, so they were unable to get medical assistance for 10 days.

                                         A collapsed house                                                                         A camp of temporary houses

This was a very trying time for all involved. Pastor Martin was trying to deal with loss and destruction in his own village, and he was unable to reach his congregation for days. Once he was able to assess the damage, he did not know where to start to put things back together. We heard news reports, but getting news about Fauche and the people we know was very slow. All the banks had been destroyed, so we were unable to send any money for quite a while. We were not able to fly in to assist. Rescue teams were only focusing on Port-Au-Prince, and not going to the small villages initially. We felt extremely helpless.

But God has been there through all of this. Even in massive destruction, He finds a way for good things to come out of it. Pastor Martin’s church has been overflowing. He had to take out the back wall and extend the roof so everyone can fit. Now he needs to buy more benches. The first church service after the earthquake, 15 people came to Christ!

       The church was so full they had to take out the back wall                                    A new member in the family of God

The orphanage that was built last year was destroyed in the earthquake. The people of the village are currently in the process of rebuilding it, and building it stronger than before. The money that you have donated to S’MORES was used to buy food for the people, a generator, and many truckloads of sand and rocks for rebuilding. S’MORES and Pastor Martin could not have done it without your generous donations.

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                             Supplies for the new orphanage                                                                  Building the new orphanage

"But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish."  -  Psalm 9:18