Report from Dav Irnive

Hello all,

Attached is the report of the most recent food and shelter material distribution, involving approx. 180,000 lbs of food and more than 2000 tarps. This last delivery was made to specific targeted areas of particular need and to schools operating on the island of LaGonave.

The impact has been enormous, the feedback very positive, the recipients deeply appreciative. Never before in my experience have relief supplies reached so far into the rural areas or been so specifically targeted to the real needs. Paul Donn, Caleb and the rest of the team have accomplished a monumental task, clearly one of the best relief distributions in recent history here. This gesture of compassion has greatly alleviated the suffering of people on LaGonave and in the epicenter region.

The NYNE District and their funding partners, the volunteer distribution team, the YWAM and Wesleyan missionaries, and our Haitian colleagues deserve our recognition and appreciation for sacrificial service in the best tradition of our Christian faith.

Please feel free to use this material to communicate with those who have participated in this team effort.

Blessings,
Dan Irvine
Caribe Atlantic Area Director
Global Partners/ Wesleyan Church

Global Partners – Wesleyan Mission in Haiti

Food program / Food help for canteen in different schools selectionned.

Phase II – The Gonave.

      
From     : Paul Donn JEAN, Responsible

To        : M. Caleb THOMPSON

Object  : Report on the distribution of food to the schools for canteen.

Date of the transmission of the report:  22/05/2010

Food help / Report of the distribution on La Gonave area. 

English version 

      The distribution of the food assistance for the second step of the Wesleyan mission on the La Gonâve Island after the earthquake on January, 12, 2010 was begun on May, 12 / 2010 and was finished on May, 21 / 2010. After distribution, thirty two (32) schools have received food for canteen and fifteen (15) communal organisations have received food to distribute to the poor and hungry  people, those most in need of assistance .

      Thanks to good organisation and distribution planning before starting with the distribution and the security precautions, the distribution preceeded in the best conditions without problems or disorder. The different directors or representatives of the different schools were very happy to receive food for canteen and are grateful to the different donors  for the help.

      Its is important to underline that the remaining schools wish to find for their schools next time . People need help.

The mission to distribute food to those areas with a hungriest population is not easy. But, thanks to God, we have accomplished a successful distribution (Paul Donn JEAN and Caleb THOMPSON).

Caleb's Final Update: End of Food Relief

On Friday, May 28th, I carried the last bag of food out of our depot and into distribution. Our mission is finished and by God's grace we succeeded - 350,000 lbs of food delivered to churches, schools, and towns all over La Gonave along with many other acts of ministry. We sent 2300 tarps to Port au Prince, medicines to the clinic in Petite Guave, 2750 Gallons of Diesel to WISH, tools for WISH, tools for YWAM St Marc, and many acts of individual kindness. I say none of this for us to boast, God forbid. I want to point to what God has done because many people chose to obey Him together.

I could spend a long time writing about all of the different places we've taken food to. I could write about all the different schools I've seen giving out our food, the children that clapped for you and all sang "thank you" in unison in Creole, the parents who want me to pass their thanks to kind strangers in America. I could write pages of detail about the need I saw, both numbers and accounts. I could tell you how much what we did was needed, how much the earthquake magnified an already grave need and the ways we met that need. However, let it suffice to say that God asked us to feed His children and we did.

And now I believe He says stop. The reasons you already know. We can't continue relief feeding for too long or we'll create dependency, we'll ruin the food economy, we'll take the will out of agriculture. A few weeks into the rainy season is a very good time, just as many fruits are beginning to ripen. Again, though, I am stopping because I believe this is God's time for us to stop.

Haiti is different now. Some people say we've entered the new normal. In Port au Prince today, as I get ready to leave the country, I saw that the tents no longer look life refugee hovels, they look like people making the best of things, making a life where they are. That's a very Haitian way of being - "degage" in Creole, make do. The bedsheet homes are all but gone. Now tents and tarps have rugs on the floor, Christmas lights hung inside, and goods for sale out front. Are things where they should be? No, tents are not houses and churches lie in ruins. But, there is an economy again, and there is feeling that the crisis has passed. What I saw in Port au Prince is true on La Gonave, the emergency is over.

And perhaps, now the real work begins? God knows who He will call. Our faithful friends, the Wesleyan Missionaries, whom I have labored beside, are beginning their great rebuilding of so many ruined churches. YWAM Montana, who's given so much in money and people, is looking to further study and work toward long term development on La Gonave. They'll probably even send a team in late June. Our friends in Calvary Chapel Spokane who have also given so much to help their brethren are considering how they can help in church rebuilding, to include sending a project manager, and possibly partnering with the same churches in the future. My prayer is that this is by no means all. Time is short and the laborers are few: let's pray for more. Let's pray for those who do labor and let's support them.

The Earthquake of January 12th was a terrible thing but out of it we have seen great beauty in God's people answering His call. If there is any one thing I have learned in this, it is that you CAN do something about it. God must open the doors and He must do the work but if a few people stand up together in Him, they CAN do something. I say this as a regular person and nothing more. I, we, have done nothing more than be obedient, but God has done something here worthy of praise. I want to give Him all glory for that.

Since this is the end of this mission, the very end, I also want to say one more thank you to all of my friends and team mates. We all did this together. For my part, I could never have done this without your prayers. Those who pray may be unknown on Earth but they are known heaven. I believe, in the end, that this entire mission is a result of people praying in accordance with God's will. This is His Kingdom. All Glory to Him.

HS.
Caleb

Caleb's Update 5/21/10

To Everyone Who Has Been Praying,

I intend to write an update at the actual completion of our food distribution but in the mean time my mother reminds me that I had better let everyone know how we’re doing. The answer is that the major food distribution is successfully finished. We have only some of the outlying Wesleyan Schools remaining and those principals will come to my depot and retrieve their own food. This last push was not easy. I feel very confident, both logically and spiritually, to tell you that without your prayers, we would not have won.

If you remember, our plan was to go very fast, as close to all at once as possible, with the last four containers (180,000 lbs.) We did and it’s a good thing. The security concerns on my mind were valid but God protected us from all of them. It wasn’t easy, but He got us through it.

For me personally, I am very glad to be finished. Everyday there were significant problems to overcome, whether the police on the mainland halting shipment because they wanted a cut or angry men on the docks threatening the life of my coworkers because they weren’t letting them steal the food or the long nights in the rain trying to coordinate with trucks that didn’t come while keeping vigilant for men sneaking in on other boats to steal out of our ships. I am not complaining, I am proud God gave me this job and I am incredibly thankful that for all the potential for loss, we got our food right to the children we meant to.

Not all good things are easy and this last big push was not – I needed every prayer that was said. Now, let me say thank you, all of you, ever so much for your diligence in prayer. God heard.

There are still a few things I would ask people to pray about. Like I said, our work is not quite finished. First and most importantly, there is a big bill waiting for me from a bunch of sailors and truckers who need to be paid. I could never get a straight answer on the final number and if that sounds reckless of me I understand but this country is not as easy to work in as others and we had to get our work done. Please pray that the bill is manageable – prayer is my only recourse.

Also, please pray for our good friends in all of this, Jean Bernard and his twin Bernard. It is strongly on my heart and some of my wingmen who were down here from Montana that God has a lot more in store for these two island boys. (24 years old.) They have helped us to no end and in many dangers (very real.) There is a Discipleship Training School at Ywam Montana that we would like them to attend but they must be accepted and then somehow money must be found to pay their tuition and costs. They have a deep desire, I think God gave it, to learn more of God’s ways so they can help their own people. Specifically, they want to learn better how to work with American Christians and their organizations so they can facilitate relationships with Haitians on La Gonave. This is a most worthy goal and I think we must pray hard for them.

Last, I would ask for myself that God helps me finish well and gracefully here in the next two weeks. Let all glory be His.

HS.
Caleb

Update from Veronica

Perhaps some of you know that Veronica led the YWAM's ministry to La Gonave. Below she wraps up their involvement to date on La Gonave.

If you haven't yet, check the facebook page (link at bottom) since it is the repository of photos and videos.

Haiti Update

May 16, 2010

After the devastating earthquake turned the world’s attention to Haiti, God brought the island of La Gonave to our focus. La Gonave was experiencing an enormous influx of refugees (750-1,000 per day) after the earthquake, but were drastically lacking food supplies due to the focus on Port-au-Prince. So, through prayer and discussion, a goal of raising $50,000 was set in order to purchase 2 containers worth of food and medical supplies to send to the island.

Here’s what’s been accomplished thus far:
• $43,000 was raised in under 2 weeks.
• Two containers were purchased at the end of February.
• Each container held 46,750 lbs of food (93,500 lbs total).
• Opportunities and finances opened up which sent two of our staff to Florida in March to oversee the loading of the containers, and then on to Haiti for 2 weeks to scout out future possibilities for YWAM Montana to pursue.
• In April, a third staff member spent 3 weeks in Haiti helping to prepare a system to distribute the contents of our containers, as well as the contents of two additional containers provided by the Wesleyan District of New York.
• God moved quickly to cover $3,200 in Haitian customs fees to process the containers.
• All 4 containers, holding a total of 185,000 lbs of food, have been unloaded and are en route from St. Marc to provide desperately needed supplies to the residents of La Gonave.
• Overall, we saw approximately $53,000 come in to provide both containers as well as scouting and distribution costs.
• Through it all, God has accomplished what seemed impossible.

We are currently in the process of moving forward with more long term development on La Gonave. A Foundations in Community Development team will spend two months this summer formally assessing the needs and priorities of the people to improve living conditions in their communities.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this project to get critical relief supplies to the people of La Gonave. Whether you donated or supported through prayer, you have helped to save and change lives.

For continued updates as well as pictures & videos from La Gonave, please see the facebook page: Facebook

Caleb's Update, 13May2010

Two Away. 13May2010

A quick update on food distribution – we’re at about the half way point meaning we have completely distributed about two of four containers. The pace the last few days has been absolutely break neck compared with our speed in February and March. However, thanks to God our plan is working, at least the parts that have survived contact with the enemy.

I have had to modify our strategy a little. The boats are proving a little slower than I’d hoped and the trucks on the island are a lot faster than before due to our larger, less frequent distribution points, the schools. Also, security in Anse Galets has been better than I expected so far. (That can change so please don’t stop praying.) Security on the far shore has been a little worse than I expected. (Don’t sweat that, if you remember part of the new plan is that we’re paying someone to guarantee the food until it reaches the island so he will replace any losses we might incur.) What all that boils down to is I’m going to do more trucking on the island and less boat runs around it.

We’ll still be going around to some of the coastal towns hopefully on Monday but the large network of trucks that our economist has arranged for are making pretty short work of our supply. I’ve been out for the last couple days on some of these runs. I see my role before distribution as strategic and administrative but during it my most important job is providing accountability to our system. I’m also constantly making sure various things arrive when they should and various people connect, but my foremost job is observation. I am in as many places as possible so that we can all know that the food went where it should and so that I can find and fix problems with logistics or security before they get very big. I’m happy to report, so far, that our food is going exactly where we want it to – especially into store rooms in schools from where it will be given out to lots of children and their families in the coming weeks.

On a personal note, the experience of this is very fast and often almost, but never quite, chaotic. I have a kind of constant sense that if I don’t watch carefully and make things right, they won’t be made right. I guess that’s called caring about my job and it makes it pretty easy to get up at 4:30 and not mind.

Contrary to that pace, however, there is a sudden pause this weekend and I’m going to take the opportunity to connect intelligently with our players to make sure we have a good week coming. I was planning to go to Port au Prince for a mad rush delivery of the remaining tarps, which are sorely needed or will be the next night it rains, but after praying about it I feel very convicted that I must not go. I’ll confess the series of transports I needed to get there tomorrow, around for distribution, and to St Marc on Monday early were a little on the sketchy side, but not too much worse than normal. Still, turning a deaf ear to God is about the most stupid thing I can do here so I’m listening to Him and staying here.

Please pray that I hear Him on all things for the coming week. Pray that every arrangement that needs to be made, will be. Pray for all of the people in our network, but especially for our economist consultant, Jean Paul Donn, and his assistant Fridy, who are so critical to our work. Finally, please pray for our success in this whole endeavor and that all the glory goes to God.

HS.
Caleb

Caleb’s Update. First Day of Distribution (almost.) 11 May 2010

I’ll confess I don’t feel like writing tonight because I would rather go straight to bed. However, I think I owe those who pray for our work here an update so they can pray accurately. Maybe this can be a simple update – I’ll just explain what happened today.

I got up at 04:30 and was out the door for the ferry to the mainland at 05:15. I intended to just go across and meet some trucks to watch them load our food into the wooden ship we’ve hired. The ferry was really fast though and I was an hour early, enough time to get to Ywam St Marc and watch the trucks load to keep that process counted and accountable. I prayed about it and jumped on a cargo truck full of people bound for a town halfway to St Marc, “Mori,” which means death in Creole. There as I was trying to find my next transport I ran into a guy I know who doesn’t speak English but seems to like me. Three of us rode on his motorcycle to St Marc and I was in time to meet Ywam’s import guy, Ben Fontane, and watch the first truck load up. (We’re emptying the container that has buried 1700 of our tarps for people sleeping in the rain in Port-au-Prince.)

No problem loading, ready to leave. I asked God if He wanted me on that truck or if I should wait to keep number two accountable since there was plenty of time. I really felt like I needed to be on this one so I got in and it crept its wallowing self South, probably overloaded by twice. Just South of Saint Marc we hit a bump and broke some of the lug bolts on the rear dual tire. The most important thing was to get our prized cargo out of sight quickly and we did. We hid it in a walled gas station owned by my shipper. Then, we waited for more than three hours as the mechanic came, worked, and went for parts.

This delay brought us up to and through the time we were supposed to have the food in Anse Galets by boat. I called our economist but couldn’t get him to answer until the very end. At that point my shipper showed up in a fuel truck and said he had two more trucks on the way and the mechanic and parts so we’d just get all three to the public dock at Carias once the other two loaded at Ywam. So much for threading the needle. Still, I think it was good that I went back to Ywam because my count for some of those items was useful later. I think God wanted me in every part of the process today and was willing to allow delays for that to happen.

When got to the docks at Carrias with two of the trucks, after getting fuel for the ship for half an hour, we could only drive them halfway down the steep hill to toward the boats. The second half the way is clobbered with markets and debris. We paid men with wheel barrows to move almost 60,000 lbs of food onto the boat. As they carry their huge loads down the hill they almost run and they yell and scream all the way – it’s like a circus act accept nobody’s acting. This took hours.

During the process some bags broke. Because those bags were broken and I’m clearly not Haitian, some people assumed those bags should be theirs. At this point I was glad for three things. First, that my shipper made it very clear to everyone working that the food was his personal property. Second, that I have three months of culture practice. Third, that God is always with me. I said I couldn’t give people this food. I said this because if I gave out one crumb there would be a crowd of hundreds in minutes and I’m not exaggerating. The people I told this, mostly women, did not like that I said that and they yelled at me as such. There were many of them yelling at once and very loudly; again, it was circus time. Their faces were wildly angry but my intuition was to argue as though they were joking. This worked. I stayed calm and amused asking them how I could do this when many people elsewhere would be very angry with me. It was a hard act to hold for a few minutes and they even hit me with some cardboard. However, the scene suddenly broke and they all started laughing and called me a coconut. You read right.

This sort of thing continued all afternoon. Finally, after a double flat tire held it for more than an hour, the third truck arrived, we loaded it and were under way. Our distribution plan for Anse Galets and the surround was to start on the island around 12:00-1:00. It was 5:30P.M. and we were just leaving by a big 17th century sailboat with two puny outboards. It was dark by the half way point and the sea came up pretty fast. There was a nice Christian woman who prayed and sang and I think rebuked the wind and the waves, literally, if my Creole is right. We got to the dock here with no problems.

Our economist wisely said that unloading the ship of food in the dark would be too risky so he and my shipper worked out that the captain and crew would sleep on board tonight to guard our food. Tomorrow early we’ll start the distribution of it and hopefully at the same time do a repeat of today’s logistics on the far shore.

In the end, this was a fairly intense fourteen hour day but I don’t say that for sympathy. To be honest, I’m very blessed to be given this work for the Lord. Even if its hard, I can’t think of a challenge I would enjoy more.

Please pray for God to continue helping me/us with even the most minute detail. Please ask Him for all grace in this without which we’re already finished. Please specifically pray that no matter what delays come up, we can still go really fast. Finally, please ask God to bless my working relationship with our allies and their relationships with each other. This whole venture hinges on that.

Detailed Haiti update and prayer requests

For almost 2 months 4 containers have been held up for reasons which were beyond our control; between shipping delays and the very lengthy Haitian customs process, this has been frustrating, to say the least. Several men were called, funded, and have traveled to Anse a Galet, Haiti, for the purpose of helping Caleb with the distribution of the contents of the 4 containers. Let me list them: Peter Thompson for 4 weeks from Calvary Church, Spokane, WA, Chris Campbell and JD Goding for 3 weeks from YWAM, Lakeside, MT and Johan Bester for 3 weeks from YWAM, Lakeside, MT. All of these men came and went from Haiti, having never seen these containers delivered.

In our human minds, the 180,000# of rice, beans, cooking oil, and canned fish has been long overdue. We may never know why but we must trust in God's perfect timing. In addition, 2300 tarps have been delayed: these tarps will be given to the homeless who have only bedsheets as a "roof" over the shelter they have created. Rainy season is May (heaviest month) to July. For the recipients of these tarps, the fact that the rainy season is several weeks late will have been a blessing. FYI, the information we have on the "rainy season" is that May statistically provides about 8 inches of rain which means 2 inches a week. Since this rain typically comes at night, you can assume it comes down hard. Now imagine the bedsheets.... Hurricane season is July to October; pray the Lord spare the country of hurricanes.

Caleb, who has worked with Haitians to devise a distribution plan, asks everyone to pray for these particular needs:
- for all things to work together in the times that have been allotted, with the understanding that the speed of the process is critically important.
- for key Haitian players to work together in concert.
- in particular, for Tuesday's transport of food into Anse a Galet with security in mind.
- for the safety of the Haitians who are assisting in this - by labor or transportation.
- for a particular Haitian economist who has been essential in coming up with this plan - his name is Jean Paul Donn.
- Caleb asked specifically for prayer that he himself get all the information he needs when he needs it: this has to do with logistics.
- for the safety of the food while it is in storage.
- for the unknown costs of this distribution process. In Haiti, it is not possible to get written quotes or even verbal ones. Caleb is concerned he will discover there is a transportation bill or unexpected cost he won't have the funds to pay.
- and of course, that the food will get into the hands of the most needy.
I personally am asking for your prayers for Caleb's safety.

The ultimate plan for the contents of these containers is:
Approx. 2 1/2 will go to schools all over the island of La Gonave for what is called "dry" feeding: children who are attending school will be given the raw food to take home to their families.
The other 1 1/2 will go to the poorest of the poor on La Gonave.
The 2300 tarps will be distributed on the mainland in the hardest hit, under-reached areas.

If it is God's will and all goes as planned, the distribution process will be completed by sometime next week; an update will go out.

What's next? Unfortunately, there is very little food money coming in now. It appears the mission to get food to the inhabitants of La Gonave will be changing to church partnering and community development. These concepts involve long term effort. Pray the Lord provide leaders and skilled workers for these tasks.