Samaritan’s Purse staff writer Gary Martyn reports on the medical and relief work in Haiti.

“Right now I’m with a group of surgeons and nurses that came to Haiti to help treat patients at the Baptist Haiti Mission hospital. The 100-bed hospital is in the mountains, about 20 miles outside Port-au-Prince. The hospital wasn’t damaged by the earthquake, so it’s being overwhelmed with injured people seeking help. The hospital staff had to put mattresses on the hallway floors to make room for everyone.

“Many people have broken and crushed bones. Others have head wounds and injuries from being struck with falling debris. Since we arrived yesterday, three people have died. At the same time, 11 people accepted Christ in response to the ministry of a team of chaplains who are here from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. In the midst of the tragedy, people are being saved.

“When I asked one of the surgeons, Dr. Lealand McClusky, how it was going, he took a deep breath and said, ‘You could get overwhelmed by the chaos of it, but you just have to go to work. We’re trained to step into emergency situations and just get started, doing what we know how to do.’ All of the doctors and nurses have the same great attitude and want to do all they can to help.”

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Jose Nunez, a CH Global regional director, provides this update on progress in Haiti.

“I’ve been in communication with Elsa Hiaire (Country Coordinator for CH Global) and Pastor Oliam Richard of the United Brethren in Christ. They expressed some of the current immediate needs, which vary from fuel to clean water and basic medical supplies. Thankfully we will be able to deliver these goods.

“We have also received a significant donation of portable water filters from a Florida-based Sawyer Water Filtration Inc. These filters operate on gravity and not electricity, and can be used to purify water making it potable and immediately available for consumption. CH Global will deliver these filters to United Brethren churches as well as to key areas in Port-au-Prince.”

Thus far we have forwarded $5000 of the donations we received to support CH Global’s efforts to help our UB churches in Haiti.

In addition, we forwarded $7000 to Samaritan’s Purse for Haiti relief. Samaritan’s Purse teams are working with a network of pastors to distribute critically-needed relief supplies for victims of the massive earthquake that rocked Haiti last week. They are distributing supplies such as hygiene kits, plastic for shelters, blankets, and solar flashlights to beneficiaries located in and around Port-au-Prince. This distribution network is expected to provide aid to at least 300 families per day.

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Nicholas Kern, CEO of United Believers in Christ, writes, “If you or your congregation wishes to do so, please send your contribution to the United Believers in Christ Fellowship. We will send any monies collected through the Global Ministries department of our parents (The United Brethren in Christ Missions Dept) designated to our Missionary in Haiti.”

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On Sunday night, January 17, Star 88.3 hosted a benefit concert for Haiti at Pathway Community Church in Fort Wayne. About 250 people attended. Money raised went to Mission of Hope, a Haitian charity run by HU graduates Brad and Vanessa Johnson.

An article about the event in the online Journal-Gazette gave this information:

• All 80 orphans in the charity’s care were alive.
• Mission of Hope’s emergency food stores provided 100,000 meals to Haitians on Saturday, January 16.
• Mission of Hope is being used as a makeshift hospital for the United Nations and US authorities.
• More trucks were needed to transport supplies.
• At least two Mission of Hope teachers were killed in the earthquake.

NBC Nightly News ran a segment on Mission of Hope on January 19.

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You may have seen this compelling report Tuesday night (Jan. 19) on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams in their “People Making a Difference” segment. Brad and Vanessa Johnson are Huntington University graduates (1993 and 1994 respectively). They, and their organization Mission of Hope, are on the front lines of the earthquake relief effort in Haiti, truly impacting our world for Christ.

Mission of Hope–orphanage, medical clinic, school, and church–is located about 20 kilometres from Port-au-Prince. For now, scores of orphans are living outside until they can be sure the buildings are safe. Says Vanessa, “We’ve pitched tents and have tried to make it as fun as possible, like a camp-out experience.”

They have enough fuel to keep the generators going for a few weeks. Donations have poured in.

On Friday night (Jan. 22), a concert in Nashville by Christian artists Michael W. Smith, Nicole C. Mullins, Dave Mullins, Cindy Morgan. and Tommy Sims will raise money for Haiti. Three charities will split the proceeds. Mission Hope is one of them.

Some other links about Mission of Hope:

• The Mission of Hope website.
• An interview with Vanessa by the Niagara Falls Review (Vanessa is from Fort Erie, Ontario).
• A website by HU graduate Larry Lance in support of Mission of Hope.

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If you are interested in participating on a work team to Haiti, it would be wise to begin getting the necessary vaccinations so you can respond quickly. For example, Hepatitis B requires two vaccinations before you leave the country.

Visit the Center for Disease Control website for complete information.

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Right now, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, it’s best to let government and relief agencies do their work…and stay out of their way. So we have no plans right now to send work teams. In the future–sure. But not right now.

Many relief agencies, including Samaritan’s Purse, have announced that they are not soliciting volunteers. The UB churches of Canada had a work trip planned during the next couple weeks, but postponed it.

For the moment, the best ways to help are:

• Give money.
• Pray.

A disaster of this scale requires a huge amount of relief money. Funds sent to Global Ministries for Haitian relief will be channeled to one of two agencies:

• CH Global, an organization which works in Haiti and is used by the UB Church in Canada in their work with our churches in Haiti.
• Samaritan’s Purse, with whom we’ve partnered in other causes.

UB people in Canada and the US have already adopted 42 Haitian children through CH Global. We plan to direct support and aid directly to their families and to our UB churches in Haiti through this partnership, which we finalized at our last Global Ministries Leadership Team meeting. Our program administrator in Haiti is a member of our Delmas church and the wife of the Port an Prince Police Commissioner.

Let me emphasize that 100% of your contribution to Global Ministries for Haiti Relief will be sent to either CH Global or Samaritan’s Purse.

If you want to send money for Haitian earthquake relief, put “Haiti earthquake relief” on the memo line, and make the check payable to Global Ministries. Send to: Global Ministries, 302 Lake Street, Huntington, IN 46750.

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1. CHGlobal, an organization which works in Haiti and is used by the UB Church in Canada in their work with our churches in Haiti.
2. Samaritan’s Purse, with whom we’ve partnered in other causes.

Tonight, the General Conference delegates here in Honduras had prayer with Oliam Richard, our superintendent in Haiti. The following money was then presented to him:

• $800 was collected from the Bethel II church tonight in their evening service. It’s great to see our Honduran brethren reach out in compassion in this way.
• $900 was presented by the Canadian delegates.
• The two Guatemalans gave $50 out of their own pockets. This, believe me, is a LOT of money.

In addition, the Jamaican delegates presented $6000 raised by Jamaica Conference for the conference center currently under construction in Port Au Prince.

Stay tuned to UBCentral for additional information. If you want to send money for Haitian earthquake relief, put “Haiti earthquake relief” on the memo line, and make the check payable to Global Ministries. Send to: Global Ministries, 302 Lake Street, Huntington, IN 46750.

We will direct the funds as soon as we have better information and a good plan.

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