Shipment of Emergency Supplies

As soon as we heard about the earthquake, Les Babcock and I made preparations and headed in to Haiti to help. Within one week we were in Haiti , had collected emergency supplies of drinking water, medicine and food, rented a bus and driven into Port-au-Prince . While Cape Haitian is only 90Km away as the crow flies, it is about an 8 hour drive through 3 mountain ranges on very bumpy gravel roads. There were many many miles on this drive where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face while sitting in the bus, for the dust inside. We thank God that the driver got us and all the supplies there safely! The devastation was hard to see and the smell of death hung heavy over the city, but we were able to unload the supplies onto pickup trucks a bit at a time and bring the life giving water, food and medicine right to where survivors were huddling under tarps. We also spent time searching for Katie Hadley, a 30 year old colleage from Canada who was found in the rubble of the Montana Hotel. This personalized the loss, but also made the distribution of the water and emergency supplies all the more meaningful. On behalf of all who received the gift of life and the blessing of hope from these items, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Finally, we were able to fill the bus with refugees and their meager belongings and bring them to Cape Haitian where we know there is safe water and places for them to stay. Thanks for this sponsorship that made it possilbe to carry out this timely emergency effort. Where larger organizations were handicaped by the bottlenecking effect at the Port-au-Prince Airport , stopping supply distribution, because we were small and working within the country itself, we were able to reach out and help many. We will really never know how many lives were saved by this effort, but we do know that it made a life giving difference and we are very thankful for your support. Jim Gehrels, Volunteer and President, Lifewater Canada