As many of you will remember from our last blog post, the president of Haiti was assassinated on July 7th. This created a power vacuum, with no clear direction for the power to be assigned to a successor. The acting Prime Minister had resigned (or terminated...not sure) and the president had appointed a replacement, however he had not been sworn in. The next person in the line of succession would be the Chief Justice, who died a few weeks before from Covid. The ,then acting Prime Minister, was pressured by the international community to step down. He stepped down and the appointed Prime Minister became official. The new Prime Minister has since been implicated in the assassination (along with about 40 something other people) and in response has removed the primary investigator investigating the assassination. The other people implicated include the director of the president's personal security detail, and group of Colombian mercenaries, a private security firm in Florida, a few Haitians in Florida, and many Haitians (I am sure there are others I do not know about). We have also learned in the last few days that the elections have been once again postponed. These elections are to elect a new president, Parliament, and Senate (none of these are functioning right now). Wow, what a mess, just writing this reminds me how confusing this has all been. Please pray that God will touch the hearts of those in control and they will do good for Haiti.
On August 14th we experienced an earthquake. The earthquake was a 7.2 and was centered in the southern peninsula. It was about 8:30 in the morning, I was outside sweeping the driveway. I ran into the house and told everyone to get outside. Most of the kids were sleeping, and didn't move quickly. Once outside and things settled down, you could hear the trauma and fear from all of the people in the yards of other houses in the neighborhood. They all remember the Jan 2010 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people. The estimates for this earthquake are currently at 2200 killed. Unfortunately this natural disaster was followed closely by Tropical Storm Grace on the 17th, delaying rescue efforts. Rescue and Aid efforts were also hindered by a gang that controls the only road that allows passage to this region. This forced a lot of aid to be flown into a small regional airport from Port-Au-Prince. We have been in touch with some Haitian people we know in the southern peninsula, and they have confirmed there are a lot of damaged buildings.
We also had some excitement in the neighborhood. The house across the street has been empty for the last 2 years. We recently had neighbors for about a week. They did some repairs t the house, painting, and cleaning the street in front of the house. Then the police arrived and removed them from the house. They said the people were squatters and the house was scheduled to be torn down. Three days later, a track hoe started demolishing the house. For the next 2 weeks every day was a noisy, dusty mess.
Linda took a small team to Guatemala for medical clinic. They were able to serve over 400 people while there. There are often patients with needs beyond the scope of a rural mobile clinic. Through her many years traveling to Guatemala, Linda has learned what resources are available and was able to use this on her last trip. A family brought a 3 year old boy who had fallen onto some rebar. It caused severe damage to his face and other serious injuries. Linda was able to use her resources to get him and his family to the best hospital for that type of injury. She helped facilitate transport for the family to a hospital 3 hours away. Please pray for this young man and his family. Thank you Lord, for having Linda in the right place at the right time.
Linda is now back in Haiti and has started Gymnastics. We have lost a lot of students from last season. Many are not in Haiti, and many more are too concerned about security. A lot of families only leave their homes for work/school and necessities. We are providing gymnastics for a few students who are unable to pay. If you would like to help with this, please prayerfully consider this. Donations marked for gymnastics will be used to get leotards and supplies for these students. The kids are having fun and Linda is trying to get a small group ready to do a competition with another gymnastics school, possibly in the Dominican Republic or the US. Please pray that the security improves and we can get back to more gymnastics.
There is a common saying in Haiti "si dye vle" it means if God wills. We pray that God's will is for Haiti to prosper and that it is time for that to happen. We pray the security improves, the kidnappings stop, the fuel shortages end, the poverty is relieved, and that it is all done for the glory of God. Please prayerfully consider supporting our efforts financially or in prayer, si dye vle
