A letter from Don

Note from Karen:
Very seldom does Don feel the need to sit down and share totally what he is feeling. Normally, he gives me the ideas of what to write, and I do it. But God laid a burden on Don's heart and this is his sharing of that burden. I know it's long, but please read it to the end. Thank you.

Greetings,

I have been watching the news on the Internet (when we have electricity), about the severe flooding in Gonaives. There are reports from all over the world, even from the UK and China.

About 4 years ago, when Gonaives was flooded, it was because of a large dam that broke. That dam was never rebuilt, or the situation repaired. The flooding is far worse than last time. Gonaives is over 6 feet below sea level, surrounded by mountains on three sides that have all the trees striped off of them. It's the third larger city in Haiti and Cap Haitien is the second largest.

What you hear is only what is happening in Gonaives and a few other cities. The sad things is, many organizations are using this to get money. Yes, some goes to Goanavies, or other huge areas, but a lot of it doesn't make it here. We have experienced it with a couple of big organizations here. A lot of it goes for their operational costs (offices, vehicles, advertising, etc.). Not a lot goes here, directly to the people. Yes, we do know this first hand. We worked with one that raised $15 to $20 a month per child supported. We received here, at the most, $6 per month, per child, to house, feed, school, and deal with medical expenses. We are not saying all ministries work this way, but when talking with other missionaries here, we are finding that a LOT of them do work that way. But our concern is not about that aspect of things. Our concern right now is helping those who are in desperate need NOW!

There are many places all over Haiti where smaller towns and villages were also flooded and people have lost everything. Their gardens (and that is almost all of Haiti) are flooded and ruined or washed away. It will take a very long time before they can plant a garden again. But what do they do about feeding their families now? We are looking at at least 6 months, or more like a year before they can plant again. And this is only if they have not lost their tools. Then where will they get the seeds to plant? It's a very hard time for the Haitian people.

They have decided to open school 4 weeks later than was scheduled. They said it's because the families don't have the money to send the children. School costs have gone up a lot. For example, I gave one student $30 Haitian to sign up for secondary school. That is like high school in the states. Two weeks before school was to start, she was only the 7th person to sign up, in a school that has hundreds of students. A short note here, the average yearly income in Haiti is $350 US. And with an unemployment rate of 80%, you can see that the vast majority of people earn almost nothing, if anything at all. One dollar Haitian, to a Haitian is like $100 American is to an American.

We have more people coming to us this year for help with food, medicine and doctor bills, and money for their children to go to school. We have many more than we have every had before and it's very hard to try and explain to them why I can't help everyone. Some that I have been helping, I just can't help this year. This means the kids stay home with no hope. To some I was able to give just enough to get them uniforms and enough to get into school, but they need a lot more money, that we simply don't have. We need more support to help the poor that the Lord gave us to help.

The cost of construction materials, food, medicine, doctors and schooling have doubled, and in some cases tripled, in price.

Right now there is no fuel in northern Haiti because four main bridges have been washed out. Nothing can get from Port au Prince to Cap Haitien. You can buy gasoline on the street (in some areas) for $90 to $100 a gallon. It was up to $114, but they brought it down in some places. (That is between $11.54 and $14.62 US a gallon). Two years ago, when we had a little extra money, I bought 2 drums of diesel fuel. I praise God now, when there is no fuel. I am using it for our generator and I also put fuel in a truck to haul material to some of the victims of the storms. A gallon of cooking oil is $90. A cup to a cup and a half of rice is $8 to $10. A large bag of Charcoal is over $100, and on an average it would only last about 2 weeks. Beans, if you can find them, would be about $12 to $14 for about one to one and a half cups. These are all Haitian prices. But to a Haitian it is out of their reach. And these are the staples of this country.

There are times when I get a love offering to help the poor people. One hundred percent of it goes to help the people. If it's for material for their houses, or food, I will try to send a picture of the family with the item. I haul sand and gravel for the people and don't ask for gas money. It averages about $150 to $200 Haitian per day. Most of the time I pay for the sand and gravel, too. I want to do what God has called me to do...HELP THE POOREST OF THE POOR AND SHOW THEM THE LOVE OF JESUS BY ACTIONS AND NOT JUST WORDS.

I have been given some money for the flood victims. People have sent it to me because they know that 100% of what we get goes where it is intended. One family lost their home. There are a few parts standing, but touching it would cause it to fall down. The neighbors took them in. The only problem with that, the neighbor's house has no roof. But they DO have walls. so, we sent someone down to help put some tin on the roof, and to give them some food. This was not in Gonavies, it was north of there in the mountains. Another family had to rush to the mountains above Gonavies to save their lives, and lost everything. They ended up here, in our area, with a family member...there were 32 people in his yard...he had no where for them to sleep. We gave him some money to feed them and try to help them restart their lives. We also gave some money to a Haitian pastor who has had refugees come to his church for help. There were several families the money will help. Those in this area are suffering because there is no produce to purchase. Vegetables were all washed away in the gardens. In essence, their livelihoods washed away with the rains.

I have checked out some sites on the Internet if you are interested in finding out more about what is happening here in Haiti.
www.missionaryflights.org
http://news.google.com/news?hi=en&ned=us&q=haiti&btnG=Search+News

I am sure if you go to your search engine and type in "Haiti+News" you will find even more. I have heard more about Haiti from other countries than I ever find in American news. But that doesn't surprise me too much.

Help has started pouring into Gonavies. The two plants who produce water through reverse osmosis are up and running. (This is the same as Culligan water in the US).
Water is being flown in by helicopter through MAF. There is a US Navy ship with 16 helicopters on it, plus the UN is helping a lot. Canada is there helping also. There are at least 2 large ships hauling food and materials in. The Red Cross was one of them, with 300,000 tons of food and medicines. MFI had been "Standing in the Gap" for many, not only in Haiti, but other islands, too. Check out their web site.

This is great and really needed, but...what about he other areas? Where is their help coming from? From individuals like you and me. Stepping in where needed. We don't have the big ships, the big organizations or any of that help coming to these people. They either have us, or they have nothing. Sad, sad, sad! But true. We need to step in and help where we can with what we can. We need to bring Jesus to them along with physical help. Can you be that help for us? We really are praying God will touch people to help us help those in need.

Thank you for listening and praying for us. God put us here for a purpose. This may only be a small part of that purpose, but helping the poor and needy is our constant mission.

In His Service, in a destitute land...
Don & Karen Davis