Viewing disaster from a distance can be deceptive.  What we hear in the media is never the whole story, in case there is any doubt.  It’s been eye-opening to be in the midst of this.

Gustav was only a Category 1 hurricane when it hit Haiti.  We didn’t get the 95 mi/hr winds that were predicted to pass directly through our region. There were no deaths reported from the storm in our zone.  It’s tempting to say that we did okay.

Life is precarious here – and everything’s not going to be alright.

We may have been one of the remote regions predicted to get up to 25” with the storm.  It’s difficult to tell how much we did get.  My neighbours tell me that they rarely get this much water with one storm. Bridges have been collapsed, and the old partially washed-out areas on our roads have been made much worse.  The rivers are high.

Many people here live in houses with straw roofs and walls of wooden slats filled in with rocks and clay.  They soak up water and the walls collapse.  Even those fortunate enough to have metal roofs aren’t guaranteed to stay dry.  The water can still run in through walls, windows and doors.  One of our employees told me that she stayed up all night to sweep water away from her children who were sleeping on the floor. Everything inside gets wet.  Clothing takes days to dry in this kind of weather.

Crops, gardens, and livestock have been lost.  Those who were already hungry will be hungrier.  Funds intended to send children to school will be spent on other needs. We will begin to see more cases of diarrhea, malnutrition, respiratory infections and malaria in the hospital.

The day after Gustav hit, community leaders met with St. Boniface to formulate a plan. We will distribute bleach to help people sanitize their water.  We are contacting the large relief organizations for assistance.  We hope to get food donated to distribute, but assistance may be a while in coming because of the difficulty of transportation. Everyone is being encouraged to help in whatever way they can, even if it’s only helping to feed one other person, and we were reminded of the importance of taking the time to pray for each other.

We ask that you keep us in your prayers, too.

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