The Rescue Mission Continues……With Help!

The weekend of October 15 saw five more men arrive in Haiti to help JUST MERCY. They were such a help!!!   I’ll let them tell the story of the next week in their own words and the words of Tim’s wife who posted her information on Facebook.  We are so grateful for all of you who are making this possible with your gifts!!

Tim wrote on October 18:

Jesse and I went to Madame Bernard (the largest village on the island) this afternoon on the dirt bikes to try and fix some electrical issues within the special needs orphanage there. Upon looking at the way that some of these buildings are wired, of course all solar powered, it is surprising that there is an island left unburned. We got it figured out what needed to be done, but realized that we were running out of daylight and had to get back to Kaykok.

Barcley and Eric worked on the water catchment systems and hiked through a village that was one of the hardest hit areas that we have seen so far. Nearly every house was destroyed or damaged. Eighteen people were living in a space the size of a quarter of our bedroom at home. Really puts a lot into perspective.  (More pictures below the update.)

Over dinner we discussed what we were going to do about it with the time that we have here. We are going to start just by getting the sawmill up and running tomorrow morning and getting some of our Haitian helpers’ houses fixed that were also damaged. We are going to see where that leads us through the day and venture from there. Jeromy and I are going back to Madame Bernard tomorrow morning to finish the electrical fix and try to see if we can fix the only tractor on the island.

October 18, 2016 – Tim’s wife posted about that day:

The team is working so diligently to be as productive as possible with their time on the island. Tim had brought some formula with him and was able to deliver a bottle and some formula to an extremely malnourished baby…with some teaching of course! Tim and Eric worked to excise a golf ball size boil under a sweet 10 year old little girls arm. He said it was hard to communicate during the process but they had an interpreter. They have all been repairing roofs today and will continue to do so in the coming days.

October 19, 2016 – Barcley

Barcley here.   I’m just sending an update from today.  Last night it rained HARD from about 3AM – 4:30AM.  The guys sleeping on the top deck got soaked so we decided that one of the priorities was to put the steel on the roof joints to seal the roof.  That was done this morning while others did some more assessment work with the damaged homes near the base.  They assessed the needs that we could address quickly as well as have the longest range impact.    The plan was to get a project rolling to use the sawmill to make planks so we can get as many roofs on homes as possible.

But as you know, plans change here.  Damian called (from Haven, the other organization on the island) and asked us help him unload 3 and 1/2 tons of relief food in Madame Bernard so we wrapped up our morning projects, put the sawmill work on hold, and headed out to help.  While in Madame Bernard we had teams of people fixing electrical issues in the orphanage and the Digicel crew’s house while others fixed a tractor that people will be able to use to get some farming going asap.   Eventually the food arrived by boat and our team unloaded and delivered the HUGE shipment of food that filled an entire shipping container.  The unload went really well over-all.  There was just a little “disturbance” at the end with a couple guys trying to grab bags of food and leave.  (Tim said, “We stopped a riot during the food delivery, without any injuries!!!”)  Bill, Cristian, and Jesse all were amazed at how much more smoothly this distribution went -vs- the previous one.

Overall the team, while exhausted, is doing well.  We were pleased to get the food ready for distribution safely BUT we also have heavy hearts as we know it is a temporary fix for a large population of hungry people.  The team continues to build strategies that will both meet current needs as well as set up future teams for greater impact.

We know that what we are doing here is helping.  It is helping by providing specific solutions to problems but we can also see the HOPE that Just Mercy is able to share with folks.  The team, but Bill specifically (watching him interact and love-on the people here is absolutely beautiful), is a bright shining light in this place and I feel that it’s an honor to be a part of it.  Hope is what they need most.  Hope is what they can experience as God cares for them through Just Mercy.

October 19, 2016 – From Tim (who is an EMT)

I put some sutures in a gal’s foot that was cut wide open. Fixed another older lady’s knee that was starting to look infected. The girl with the boil is doing great. Cristian and I got called out to a really sick lady that’s been vomiting for 4 days. We got her set up with some antibiotics and rehydration stuff. Had some really good talks with everyone. We are exhausted.

Oct. 19, 2016 – PM – Bill

All is well.  Must rest in Gods providence but work while we have the day.    Will take the people some food in Baiu de Mesle. (Bedzmel, the coastal village we embark from) Almost out. Need to find more.

Need to move the sawmill to higher ground.  Raining. Muddy mess. No lumber in Les Cayes to buy to fix roofs.  Need to start sawing.

No shelters in Odo Kachiman. (The village over the hill that was destroyed)  North wind and rain coming in a month or two.  Thinking how we can use the coconut logs. They are everywhere.

People are hungry and wet. I feel bad for them. Food and shelter are needed. We’re working on it.         God knows.

October 21, 2016 – Tim’s wife posted:

Yesterday Tim got the chance to hang out with the locals. I made him throw in some kids books and they were so drawn to them:) This sweet little girl had him read four different books as she slowly made her way to sitting on his lap. Then a couple of other kids surrounded him for story time and kept asking him what different things were in English. He went down to rinse off in the ocean later that evening and a bunch of little bare Haitians piled in the water around him…life is definitely a world apart from the states!

Cristian and Tim have been checking in daily with the sweet little woman who was so sick and throwing up for 4 days. They will be bringing her more IV fluids tomorrow and going to Odo Kashima to feed some more people. His heart was broken tonight as he was trying to take it all in. He said he saw people sleeping on mattresses covered in water. It almost hurts too much to write about this. I can hardly wrap my brain around being in such devastation. It rained literally ALL day…torrential down pour style.

October 22, 2016 – Bill    12:05 AM

The Marines dropped a load of rice for the locals in the largest village on the island yesterday. The riot to grab the food lasted long into the night. They were still fighting the last we heard.  We have better success here on the ground than most. Encounters with looters on both shores. Loading from the mainland and then here on the smaller island.   We have loaded a total of 20,000 pounds of food from two locations and unloaded the boat in the sea.   Later.

For King and Kingdom!  Bill

8:50 AM – Hi sweetheart. Sorry it’s been so long. So many needs, so many directions, so many problems to solve. Been raining since last night.

Took this from up top looking toward the mainland. Do you see that line in the sea. Flooding in the mainland caused that. One morning. Pushed the floodwaters 8-10 miles out to sea! Must be bad. We will try to go to Baiu de Mesle to check on them this morning and cook a hot meal.

Logistics difficult transporting food to Ile a Vache. Plan to set 2- 20′ containers for staging ground in Baiu de Mesle. Talk with any one you can. I can send coordinates in a bit.  This will get worse before it gets better if it ever does.  We need to replant everything.  Think of the erosion problem.  We need a good agronomist.  Reconstruction will take time and money.  North wind and cooler temps coming soon. The people will be sick.  I hear cholera is resurging on the mainland.  Love you honey. All is well. No violence here though it’s hard to pass out food. Not from extreme hunger but fear. Gonna need a lot of help.

For King and Kingdom!   –  Bill

October 23, 2016 – Tim’s wife posted:

Tim said the little women that was so so sick is much better! Thank God they could get her IV fluids or who knows what her destiny may have been. A few of the guys were able to go to Odo Kashima and cook and feed some more people yesterday. Tim was headed to church this morning…what an experience that will be!

(Barcley, Eric, Slim, and Jeff all left the island that day to go home. What a blessing they had been!)

October 26, 2016 – Tim’s wife posted

Just spoke with Tim. They loaded another 6,000 lbs of food onto the boat and were waiting on a delivery of sheet metal to fix peoples’ roofs…they are running out of daylight and may have to return in the dark.

(We had arranged to buy some good galvalume metal for roofs, not the cheap thin tin most Haitians use which rusts out so quickly. The metal delivery was supposed to arrive the same time as the food truck but coming over the mountain, the load shifted and hit the back doors which popped open and the metal fell out on the road. They had to stop and pick it all up so it was delayed a few hours. The team ran out of water as you have to bring all drinkable water with you. No local source. It was a long thirsty sail back to Kaykok that night. – Janet)

Tomorrow they will be delivering food to one of the most decimated parts of the Island, so pray for patience in the people waiting for their share. A fight on their food delivery started to break out today as people shouted out asking where their share was. Can you imagine? My heart sinks just thinking about not being able to serve everyone.

October 27, ,2016 – Tim’s wife posted:

This morning the men unloaded the food from the boat. They had gotten in so late that four of them slept on it to ensure it all stayed protected. While on the boat, Pierre, one of Bills Haitian helpers, lost his sunglasses in the ocean and was super bummed as he’s sort of known for his sunglasses. Tim was able to communicate with him and had Pierre row him over in a tiny boat to Pierre’s brothers place and was able to get scuba gear. Leave it to MY HUSBAND to scuba dive in Haiti where he had about a one in a million shot at finding Pierre’s sunglasses and found them on the first descent! What a memory…and I mean SOME time had went by before he got to them!

After that, the team headed to St. Jean and sawed through trees all day. He said there were about 90 massive trees blocking the roads and fallen on peoples homes! Later tonight he went on a medical call to a man that had kidney stones. He was able to get him some IV fluids so he has more in his system to try to pass the stones. As my husband’s trip nears the end, I can’t help but smile just thinking about all the blessings. We are meant to love and care for one another, not just skate by to get done what our own agenda holds. Tim Young, you are an amazing man and your gifts that you shared on this mission have impacted many! I am just so grateful to be loved by you!

October 28, 2016 – Tim’s wife Posted:

As Tim gathered his stuff to start the journey back home, he found himself surrounded by grieving hearts. First of all, Bill asked him to ask his wife if he could stay longer and Tim said, “Do you want to call my wife?” And Bill said, “I guess you are going home!”  He told me of the little girl he first started reading to, Estane’s daughter, and she cried today as she clung to him. Shirley the interpreter said the little girl was saying “I don’t want you to leave!” Then, he talked about Soner’s wife Lana, the woman who had been so sick and vomiting for 4 days that he cared for and gave medical attention to, saying how she did not want him to go! Pierre, the guy that helps with the boat whom Tim found his sunglasses was able to say “Tim, you come back!”, and this is special because Pierre can understand some English but NEVER speaks it!

Then…ugh…here are the tear jerkers. For starters, there is a little girl that lives beside the camp with her grandma. Her dad abandoned her and her mother died. Tim said she was sort of staring at him yesterday and so he picked her up over his shoulder and jokingly said, “You stop that or I will take you home with me!”…not even realizing how literally she might take him. She then replied, “To the states? Yes, please…I love you!” Breaks my heart!!!

Then, Cristophe had expressed his sincere gratitude for all that had gotten done with the team in his village in St. Jean yesterday when they went to cut down and remove trees. A boy from the village wrote…as Tim stated…one of the most eloquent letters of gratitude for their help and how this team was able to impact his village. The people were SO grateful for the team coming to help, saying that no one else had come to help them.

Tim was sorting through our luggage, giving it out, and happened to find a pair of pearl earrings I brought back from the Phillipines to give as a gift to those that supported my mission last year. He asked if I meant to put them in there and I said “No, but could you bless someone with them???”, and he immediately said “Absolutely! That’s why I was asking.” That was such confirmation to him! He was able to bless Paulette, one of the staff there at camp and oh, how excited and grateful she was as she accepted them with tears in her eyes!

Tim left Ile a Vache on Oct. 28, two weeks after arriving, leaving just five JUST MERCY personnel behind.  We are so grateful to these men who gave their time to come these first initial weeks to help the people of Ile a Vache and share God’s love with them. They were such a blessing to them and us!!!  Please continue to pray for JUST MERCY and for wisdom as we seek the best way to go forward.