Friday Morning Update

This from an email from Marcia:

 

I am heartbroken for
the Haitians. We have talked and prayed with many. Last night spent time in the
hospital. Most people have something amputated. It is a pitiful sight.
Difficult to share with them because they mostly speak Creol and french. Every
age group, both genders, just fil the place up with casts and stumps, dressings
and pain. They look lost and devastated. They are homeless and still don´t know
where their family members are. There are many children here on the street with
one small bag of their life´s belongings and an aunt or neighbor or friend or
brother or sister, etc. When you ask about their family they immediately say,
¨My father  died,¨or ¨My mother died,¨ and on and on. Their stories are
horrific of grabbing the children and running for the door when they felt the
¨shake.¨ Some made it and some didn´t. This morning we see the same family that
we met with last night, sitting on the corner.

We have been giving out diapers and wipes and pedialyte to the moms with babies
on the street. We can buy those things here. We have been giving Michael´s
stuffed animals to the little ones. They accept them quickly and draw them in
to their chest and hold them in a hug. It is a small and beautiful
comfort.  We have also been buying mels and handing them out on the
street. These are refugees for a time. Most all of them are looking to escape
Haiti and want money for a ride into Santo Domingo, which is not possible.

One girl we helped last nioght was crying out in pain and holding her
stomach.  She was just sitting on the sidewaalk outside of the hospital
along with her sister and some family. It seemed to get worse as we talked and
became unbearable for her. She had told us that her father had died in the
quake and that she hadn´t eaten or drank all day. We ended up carrying her into
the hospital and staying with her for a bit. She became scared in there and
refused the pain shot. She went back to the sidewalk because she did not want
to miss the ride to Santo Domingo that she thought she was getting. 
Anyway we gave her some pedialyte and she was still hurting.  We believe
the stress was too uch to bear for her last night.  So much grief and
loss.

That is one short story of millions of course. We have seen alot of AID and the
atmosphere is in many ways a wonderful thing. The compassion of people of of
many countries is all in this place.  People stop to help and to talk and
share stories, info.  Taiwan had a great group with medicine. Lots of
helicopters and military everywhere. Red Cross, World Vision, Compassion,
USAID, UN, NYPD and NYFire Fighters were at the gas station with us this
morning. I talked with them.  They were driving into Haiti this morning.