CrossWorld Update Feb. 11

As people give, pray and volunteer for Haiti, generally there are five main issues of concern. How are we doing, one month after this major disaster?

Crisis Management:
The Crisis Management Team is composed of CrossWorld members and Haitian leaders on the ground, and they are supported by a team in the CrossWorld office in PA. We have been coordinating logistics, personnel, finances, expertise and resources and the organized application of them for the crisis. The trauma team which arrived this week is hard at work today, helping people with emotional and heart-level needs.

Today, CrossWorld Director for Haiti, Dwight Lehman, arrived in Haiti for top-level talks with the Bolosse Crisis Team, the national church and seminary leaders. We are moving from the critical life-and-death stage to more long-term planning for recovery and projection for the future. This requires national church decisions and a strategic plan.

The real CrossWorld heroes of this crisis are those who have remained in the place of suffering in spite of the physical and emotional toll - working around the clock - holding the hands of the suffering Haitians - staying on their computers late into the night - providing liaison with the outside help coming in - and all the while giving God the glory and pointing people to Jesus! Thank you Dave, Phyllis, Bruce M, Cindy and Roger at Bolosse; and Denny, Rich and Carol in other parts of Port-au-Prince; and Bruce R, Deb, Jenny and Gail in Northwest Haiti. We are all holding up your hands from afar.

Food and Water:
The World Food Program of the UN has now issued ration cards to those in need and this has relieved the pressure of finding food for those on campus. Basic food needs such as rice are being provided for everyone while other foodstuffs are available for sale though most people cannot afford them. The water purification machinery provided by Samaritan's Purse is supplying pure drinking water for thousands on and around the Bolosse campus.

Health and Sanitation:
The Bolosse camp has been divided into sectors and people are being trained to assess medical needs and educate about sanitation. New latrines are being dug. Health efforts are focusing on preventing communicable diseases that result from overcrowding and poor sanitation. Our Bolosse camp is one of the largest in the city.

Shelter:
A major goal is for people to return to their home areas, but there is still a major lack of tarps and tents available, and people are fearful to go inside buildings. A full-time logistics liaison officer is now giving much needed attention to procuring resources from the UN, US Aid, NGOs and others. The rainy season is less than two months away, and after that comes the threat of hurricanes.

Security:
Crisis leader, Dave S, reports that "... people's patience/tolerance from living in close quarters is being strained." There are reports of increased violence and crime in the surrounding community and two gangs are fighting nearby. In the camp, there is reasonable success with people policing themselves, but a camp security team is being assembled.

Thank you for the outpouring of prayers, finances and volunteerism. We are carefully accounting for the use of all financial aid, and will eventually provide details of services and goods provided for things such as: Protection services for the camp, a new generator, fuel for transporting much needed goods, purchase of some foodstuffs, repair of some structures, the repairing of Haitian homes, upgraded communication services, physical materials needed for recovery strategies and general help to the poor and suffering.