Four weeks of quaked earth tragedies

                                                  Four weeks of quaked earth tragedies

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.


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Checkmate?

                                                                     Checkmate?

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.

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One week later, the earthquake and signs of the Holy Ghost

One week later, the earthquake and signs of the Holy Ghost

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.

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Earthquake Emergency

                                       Earthquake Emergency

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.

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