An update from Cindy McMartin, missionary with CrossWorld living on the Bolosse campus (where my David lived for 2 years, and where Samaritan's Purse went with a water purification system yesterday:
Where to begin? It’s hard for us all to remember what day it is, let alone what happened during the past few days. David [Scmid] said to me today, “We’re into our 3rd week since the earthquake, right?” I said, “no, it hasn’t even been 2 weeks.” The days run together and there is always so much going on. We go to bed exhausted and usually wake up weary.
There has been some progress made. Some men from Samaritan’s Purse arrived up here on Friday and Bruce walked around with them so they could assess our water system here and plan how to set up some pure water systems. They came back both Sat. and today and we do have two systems for purifying water that are connected right into our water system. After the church service today here on campus, the people were told to bring their 1-gallon jugs so they could get some pure drinking water. Everyone was happy and grateful.
We had a medical team here through Friday and then two doctors with Medical Teams International based in Oregon came up on Saturday and will be returning Monday to live up here on campus to continue giving medical care. Again, the people are grateful for this aid.
Yesterday we were to receive a delivery of food aid accompanied by an armed UN escort. The community committee helping us organize all the displaced people who are here on campus had been given the task of dividing the people into groups, registering names, and appointing group leaders. At noon we asked all the group leaders to meet in our yard so David could explain to them what was happening and instruct them with the orderly procedure that had been planned to distribute the food. After waiting for 4 hours and trying to keep the group contained in our yard so the news didn’t get spread and others begin coming to the campus, we found out the aid was not coming. Needless to say, EVERYONE was disappointed! We felt so heartsick for all the Haitian people up here who needed the help and for hopes that were raised and then dashed. The aid group who had organized this left with promises of another day, but we were left to deal with situation here on the campus. We were so proud of the people up here. There were no angry outbursts and no apparent blaming us for nothing showing up. We trust God in knowing what is best for us all up here and for why this didn’t work out. Please pray for this to work out for another day if that would be best.
We are doing our best to handle the situation up here and to give help to meet the immediate needs of those here on campus, but our long term desire is to help these people up here be able to return to their homes or move to families out in the country or get established in a new location. We cannot continue to handle all these people on the campus.
We are doing our best to take advantage of the opportunity up here to minister to spiritual needs too, but it is not easy. The two other profs up here, the few students who are still here, and we missionaries are being taxed to our limit. There are devotions nightly – a time of singing, praying and praising God – it is really quite beautiful to hear. Both Sundays we’ve held services and Mon/Wed/Fri we’re having kids club. Friday a Christian film was shown. Groups of believers from the surrounding area have helped with these activities.
Today I washed my hair for the 2nd time since all this began – it sure felt good! I also did some laundry – my Dad said every time he sees me I’m wearing the same thing, so I guess it was time. I also baked cookies today – we all needed a treat and decided we’d use a bit of butter and flour to do this. Bruce has already tightened his belt 2 notches in order to keep his pants up. Phyllis and I hope to go out tomorrow to try to find some groceries. We’ve been told that stores won’t have any supplies for very long so we’re going to see if we can find anything. We are doing fine though and have very sufficient food and water. Please pray for safety for all of us as we make trips out from time to time.
Well, our love to you all. Thanks to so many who write and continue to encourage us with your prayers, love and offers of help. We do covet your prayers as we continue to deal with so many things in the midst of this disaster.
Love, Cindy for Bruce too
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