Dear family and friends,

The last weekly update I sent was a strong attempt on my part to find a silver lining in many dark clouds,

I had hardly pushed the "send" button when another thunderhead roared at us, and threw lightening in all directions.

Marie Ange was kidnapped from our NPFS home for children called St Anne, the community made up of both disabled children and very small fully abled children.

Gunmen came over the wall, made their way across the roof of the pigpen (where we raise the pre Duvalier era Creole pig, to try to reintroduce it to the peasant farmers),

and without effort, climbed down the ladder used for reaching the cisterns where we reuse water from our Tilapia farm to irrigate the fields.

This is Jounal Odilan, he is 48 years old and has 3 children. He lives in Plaine Martin in the south. These last few days of his life and that of his community have become very strange. Days before the earthquake they prayed for rain because they almost all have gardens to feed themselves. Then came the earthquake which destroyed all their houses. Now they do not know if they should pray for the rain because they have no place to sleep and they also know if there is no rain they will not have water for the gardens and no food.

The St Luke team is doing huge work, and there are updates on the2021 Earthquake Response — St. Luke Foundation For Haiti (stlukehaiti.org) website

These particular messages are the work of my own team. The work is tough and requires a lot of rough driving, loading, carrying, walking, visiting people, listening to their challenges, and practical help.

"I was at a funeral at Sainte Famille Church in Camperin when the earthquake hit last August 14 in Haiti. Who would have thought? We were about fifty people who gathered to say goodbye to a young girl who had died. At 8:30 a.m. the earthquake passed and the church fell on us.

As we slept under star stars in Les Cayes two nights ago, having led another caravan of medicines, supplies and building materials to the South,

and while mosquitos ate us alive, the heavens were spectacular and the earth was all music.

It's been 15 days since the earthquake, and our teams are still working. We're focusing our efforts to various areas severely affected by the earthquake in the south, at Port Salut, Camp-Perin, Maniche, Maceline, Rambo,St Louis du Sud .

1. Our medical team is working daily with the people at the various tragic sites, with their base at Port Salut,
2. St Luc Hospital (among other hospitals) is receiving medically evaluated patients,
3. We are sending loads of supplies daily to our emergency medical team, to other St Luc clinics in the affected areas as they restart their function,
and to hospitals and clinics in Jeremie and Les Cayes as we receive requests,
4. We are starting to put a solid roof over peoples' heads.

I always loved August as a kid, and I still enjoy the feel of it.

No school, my birthday, my mom’s birthday, my grandfather’s birthday, summer fairs, plenty of neighborhood sports and games, special mass for the Assumption on August 15.

Last Saturday (August 14) I turned 68, and after mass and COVID rounds, I was going to work for a while in our 60 beehives : hive health checks and the harvesting of honey.

I was having a second cup of coffee with some of the workers, and the ground started heaving. It heaved and heaved, and we went outside so the high stacked goods in the warehouse wouldn't fall on us.

What happened next, well, you have all seen the news.