My brother in law, Chris, sent me this email and I was so touched I had to post it here. The NC Baptist Men are a fantastic group who serve the Lord so eagerly and passionately. Reading this makes me proud to be a Baptist!! :)
Dear Family and Friends,
You may not know but here in Haiti we are wearing new shirts that are red. They say Rescue 24 which represents our rapid response search and rescue teams from NCBM (North Carolina Baptist Men). I have just come in from hanging the clothesline full of red Rescue 24 shirts. They are quite a sight flapping in the breeze. Scott has told the story of being mistaken for an angel when our disaster volunteers wearing yellow shirts arrived on a site in Gulfport after Hurricane Katrina. Here in Haiti our red shirts are our badge to travel and enter into any area we need. They are so respected that our handymen can walk into the operating room freely. Our Haitian drivers wear one to have access thru the gates of the compound and clear passage on the roads thru roadblocks. This morning our newest interpreter was given one to wear to the clinic and to gain entrance to the compound. He beamed from ear to ear...."NOW I am a member of the team!" he said.
Team 8 arrived two days ago..after a 10 hr. road trip from the DR....all "green" and full of questions and energy. Team 7 left this morning to return to Santo Domingo and home. They are now veterans and well-bonded from their shared experiences in the hospitals, long drives on hot, dusty, congested roads, scenes of Haitian peoples and tent cities, sights of piles of rubble with people digging to find anything of value and of sharing our only 2 bathrooms and close living quarters. The medical staff have experienced medicine in different conditions, lack of facilities, lack of their customary equipment, working in tents and in courtyards under tarps, seeing diseases that are rare at home...TB, malaria, scabies, thypoid. ...falling in love with orphan children.
Two days ago our doctors retrieved 19 children from an orphanage run by an 86 yr old lady.
These 19 were sick, starving and malnurished. They were taken to Community Hospital were a tent was set up for them to receive treatment for the next four days. Our feeding people prepared special "rice soup" for them to eat. Some were not able to eat it yet and are on Pedialite. They were all clean and cared for.....they simply didn't have any food.
Arrangements are made for them to go to another orphanage upon release. But I am sure that they will never forget the "angels" in red shirts.
Our feeding team has been feeding 300-400 patients and staff at the hospital ...delivering meals to each room and trying to manage the many people who line up wanting a meal but perhaps are not staff. ....cooking with Haitian volunteers in a basement kitchen on small gas burners in gigantic pots. Our handymen have installed 3 sinks with running water and some lighting down there. They have also built shelving to try and organize the mountain of donated supplies and food that come in and have been stacked in hallways. And they have began constructing a small shower house for the male team members here at the team house. That will relieve some of our "necessary" needs.
Our medical director here for NCBM ... Dr. Eric has started two clinics here in nearby villages. In the clinic in Cite Soleil he and other med staff saw 280 patients last week and had 3 salvations. The new clinic in Cabaret will open tomorrow. I was excited to accompany Dr. Eric and 3 team guys to scout out the location. It will be in a classroom at a church and school. The church and school both are heavily damaged but one room is save and secure for use. I will have to tell you that both sites have some toilets that I have never seen before. They are pit toilets built of concrete with square holes for the openings. Outside the gates of the church yard, there is a sight that I can not get used to seeing.
People are living in shipping containers. They have them set up on metal tire rims for cornerstones. On the open door end, they have built a thatch covered "porch". I have seen them also in other areas. I cannot imagine how hot and dark they are inside. But I also cannot imagine living in the open with rice bags stretched on sticks for walls. Rainy season is approaching. It has rained a little for 2-3 nights. The UN and US Army has switched their priority from food to shelter and waste management. The once bare mountainsides near our compound are now dotted with make shift shanties. The number grows daily. There are an estimated 1.2 million displaced people here.
Please pray for our volunteers who are giving so much of their selves. Please pray that others will say "Yes, send me." Please pray that people at home will continue to care for "the least of these" and not forget. Please pray for the more than 400,000 orphans here. For they are truly the "least of these". Please pray for our military who are not only helping the Haitian people but providing needed security for us. Please pray for the volunteers who are coming with Samaritan's Purse. They are doing much good here.
Please pray that our witness will be bold. Please pray for our continued strength and wisdom in carrying out this mission. Please pray that I never tire of hanging out Red shirts!
In Christ's love and service, Janet and Scott
http://www.baptistsonmission.org/Projects/disasterrelief/2010Response/Haiti.aspx
Jim Burchette
Special Projects Coordinator
North Carolina Baptist Men
jburchette@ncbaptist.org
800.395.5102 x 5612
919.459.5612 Direct Line
919.467.5100 Fax
www.ncmissions.org
Your generous giving to the North Carolina Missions Offering and contributions through the Cooperative Program make the ministries of NCBM possible. Thank you!
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