Friends of Haiti,
First, an update. All the schools have reopened, although some of the kids are still afraid to go back into the buildings. They are having classes outside until they get used to the idea of going back in with the others. None of our children were injured during the earthquake, although some have not returned yet. The feeding programs, because of your continued giving, have never stopped. We are feeding more than ever before and more people are attending regular church services. The country in and around Port-au-Prince has a very long way to go. Many areas are as they were minutes after the earthquake.
Now a short story about a woman I (Steve) met the night of the earthquake and a story of survival.
The morning of January 12th started like any other morning in Haiti: roosters crowing, dogs barking, the sound of trucks running up and down the streets selling water, the smell of charcoal. A normal morning. I had called Terry on the way out of town as I normally do, just to check in and let her know what a pretty morning it was. It was so cool that I had turned off the a/c in the pickup, which is not a normal thing to do.
Joe (the person who watches over things there) and I were on our way to Desca or just west of there. We were starting a new feeding program and a good friend of ours had given us a small piece of land to use and build on. We were there longer than planned, and we were late getting back into town, where I was to spend the night at the guest house catching up on my email. I stopped at the guest house about 4:30 to tell them I wouldn’t be staying and went home. At 4:53, it would be destroyed in the quake, killing five people.
After the quake hit, we went to the guest house to try and help. We made sure all of Joe’s family was okay, and we risked going back into the house to get a few things (passport, briefcase, etc.), and headed for the American Embassy. Thank God they had built a new one in 2008 about 30 minutes from where I lived. The old one was downtown and we would have never made it there; in fact, I would have never tried to get there. As it was, the thirty minute trip would take over 2-1/2 hours. I’m not sure how many people were in the truck, but I told Joe to let as many in the back as possible. Everyone wanted to go with us.
When we got to the Embassy, there were maybe four other cars there. None were Americans. All were Haitians who had made it there looking for help or shelter. As it turned out, most at the Embassy had gone home for the evening. When I got out of the truck, one man ran up to me and said, “Thank God you are here!” He thought I was from the Embassy and that I was a medic reporting for duty, because I had a hospital scrub top on.
He had brought some injured people and friends there, looking for medical help. All of them had worked at a branch of CitiBank downtown, and the building had been destroyed. The three he had with him were those who survived. He asked me if I would look at his friends. I explained that I was not with the Embassy, but said I would. One woman had a broken leg, but was otherwise not hurt; she told me to take care of others. One had “crushing” type injuries, and there was nothing I could do for her.
The man then asked me to look at his friend lying in the back of his car. By then it was dark. After I shined my light on her I said, “This woman is dead.” He said, “She is not dead. She can talk to you.” Not believing him, I crawled into the car beside her. Most of the right front of her head, including her right eye, was gone — just gone, like someone had used a scoop on it.
I got down by her right ear and asked, “Can you hear me?” She replied, “I can hear you fine.” I could not believe she had answered me!
I asked, “Do you think you can walk if I help you out of the car?” She answered that she thought she could if I would help her. We walked her out and went over to the light of the parking area. One of the Embassy employees asked me what I needed; I asked him to get what medical supplies he could find. He came back with a big box of dressings, sterile saline, and gloves.
I began to try to stop the bleeding. As you can imagine, she was bleeding very badly. Every once in a while she would ask what I was doing, and I would explain. She would ask for a drink of water, and I would help her get a drink. I would work some more and she would ask, “Am I going to die?” I would just act like I didn’t hear that question and change the subject — because I thought for sure she would die.
Finally the bleeding slowed, and I told her friend that he had to get her to a hospital for her to have any chance at all of survival. All of us got together and prayed with her, and they drove into the night.
We have two daughters-in-law who work for CitiBank in St. Louis. I told them this story as soon as I got home, and one of them said she would try to find out what she could about the woman. Time went by, and I finally got word that she had in fact lived was was in a hospital in the Dominican Republic. This was almost too good to be true. Finally, after much time, the CitiBank supervisor in Haiti sent the woman’s email address. She said the woman would like for me to email her; we have been emailing each other 2-3 times a day since.
Marjorie with Steve
So now you ask, what is the point in my telling this story? I don’t think it is as much about anything I did — although I know what I did had to help — but more about what God did and is doing in this person’s life. I feel if God’s presence was ever felt in Haiti, it was felt that night in the American Embassy parking lot. And I feel it is about what the Spirit that lives within us can do, even in the face of certain death.
The Bible tells us that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, and I believe that Spirit saved this woman from a certain death, and will in some way use her in the future to share her story of survival with others — and in doing so will bring others to Christ.
There are so many people in Haiti that need our prayers — hundreds of thousands injured, over 1.5 million people homeless, and at the last count over 250,000 dead. An unknown number have been affected mentally — I would guess everyone who was actually in it, including me. So, to ask you to single out one person to pray for seems selfish, and we certainly don’t mean it that way. But we are asking you to remember Marjorie when you pray; pray for her recovery, and ask God to use her in a very powerful way. She has another surgery on May 8. Please remember that. She wants to be able to go home in June, and hopefully we can meet again, in much different circumstances.
Thank you for all you are doing to help us in Haiti. God knows without that, many would be going without. One of the men, Beaubrun, told me the other day that if it weren’t for American missionaries in Haiti, they would have nothing now. From what we can see, that is a true statement.
Terry and I thank God for all of you, and for the sacrifice you make for Haiti.
Serving HIM together,
Steve and Terry
