Hi everyone,

Wow, our world has sure changed over the past few weeks! Without a doubt, none of us have ever seen anything like this and hopefully, won’t again.

Haiti’s first positive Coronavirus case was reported March 16 and, like other countries, they have shut down too. Flights and the border with the Dominican Republic are shut down. As far as we know the only people getting in are healthcare personnel from other countries, and especially Cuba. Cuba has a long history providing help to Haiti, and we have worked with Cuban doctors, sending patients to them or one of their facilities for tests or x-rays.

As with any disaster in Haiti (and this disaster comes just behind good news, as they have no new cases of cholera) people are just going to die — most because of a lack of care and knowledge. Hopefully things we have told them and taught them come into play as they did with cholera.

We also know there are times when people can’t help or give. We understand that, especially now. Since all schools in Haiti are closed, as are most other business, any funds we receive will go into the nutrition programs and nothing else. And it won’t be for just kids; we will just feed whoever shows up until it is gone. We know this goes against our “social distancing” practices, but we feel that we cannot let the kids go hungry. We plan to have food cooked, and then they can pick it up and leave. They would just starve if ministries shut down these programs.

Terry had the transplant, is home, and doing fairly well. We had to stay in St. Louis for two weeks, in the hospital for eight of those days. She has been having problems with kidney function and some counts are not coming up as quickly as we want, But having been through this once, we have some idea what’s next. Her hemoglobin and hematocrit are very low, which causes her to be very weak, and since the chemo destroys everything, her immune system was weak as well. The only times she gets out is for a trip to the bone marrow clinic and back home.

It is a time for us to pray:

  • for each other and each of us be as careful as possible,
  • for doing the things each of us have to do, including getting out,
  • for a cure,
  • for those who have lost jobs,
  • for those who have lost loved ones,
  • for Terry,
  • for our friends in Haiti, and their needs,
  • and for all of you.