“I’ve never witnessed anything like this.  People are dying in front of our eyes, Lou.”

This evening, Jay Loucks called Lou Hoekstra (the President of Haitian Support Ministries) and I (the guy that spends far too much time on the internet) and filled us in on some of the emotional scenes that our team is witnessing in Jacmel, Haiti.  Though I couldn’t see it or have the same experience here in the States, you can feel it in Jay’s voice that the situation in Haiti isn’t just another tragic occurrence in a long line of devastating events for Haiti.  This was something even more.  This is a catastrophic tragedy unfolding right before their eyes that was affected them in profound ways.

But there is hope.

News came to the doctors that a city to the north (Grand Goâve) had been devastated by the earthquake and a clinic had 1200 people waiting in line to get medical attention.  One of these people was a baby that desperately needed an amputation.  After hearing news of the tumultuous medical situations in this small city, some of our team (Dr. Millers, Dr. Hannon, and Nyby) went to the Jacmel airport and waited on a helicopter.  As you can imagine, there is very little order in Haiti right now and there wait for transportation took hours.  Hours that could have been used for saving lives.  I asked Jeff Brown if he needed his passport when he arrived in Haiti, his response,

Don’t think there is any customs here. I asked about showing our passports to immigration last night and the lady who received us from our flight just laughed and thought I was joking. Then said there isn’t any immigration department anymore.

The team that was headed to Grand Goâve waited at the unorganized, mismanaged airport most of the day to be finally ushered to their destination.  Dr. Dave Miller sent a message to us tonight saying,

Made it to Grand Goâve.  Staying at Life Line tonight.  Working with medical group from Massachusetts.  Four doctors, three nurses with Mission of Hope.  God is good.  We are working and doing great.  Tremendous needs here.  We are blessed to get to be here.

The other team (led by Dr. Ben Mannix) went to our girl’s home to set up a base there.  They checked the health of the kids and got a better grip of what’s happening in Jacmel (specifically by our mission).  The Red Cross might be helping us at this location.  More to come about that later… if anything comes of it.

I’ve really come to appreciate the power of twitter.  Last night, I received this message…

franklinpolanco: @nateloucks @MelyMello @JoyInHope any orphanages in #jacmel?

Because we have an orphanage in Haiti and I’ve got fingers built for shooting six-shooters, I quickly replied back to him…

nateloucks @franklinpolanco Yeah, we have two orphanages in Jacmel (boys and girls). 70 kids. One of the buildings was destroyed.

After a few messages, we had a helicopter and plane load worth of supplies ready to be delivered to our team in Jacmel.  Incredible!  Here’s a picture of some of the stuff…

Tomorrow, another load will come to Jacmel for our team as well. All of this because of a 140-character or less connection through twitter.  Nice.

Tomorrow brings a new day with new problems and new people.  Continue to keep them in prayer.  They need it.  They feel it.

You can continue to support the work of Haitian Support Ministries by donating online.  Every dollar you donate truly matters.