Update: Harvest Field Ministries #12

Update from Brian Lloyd of Harvest Field Ministries

The last several days since I returned from Haiti have been very busy. We have been working diligently to get more help for our friends in Haiti. Here is an update on where we are on several fronts.

Our medical team is back safely – they worked extremely hard in difficult situations, spending the majority of time in Leogane, which was extremely devastated by the earthquake. They helped hundreds of people and we are so thankful for their willingness to give. We are pleased that our flatbed truck was able to be utilized as an ambulance for several days to help transport those who could not make it to the hospital. The medical team we worked with, a group of great guys from Iowa and Minnesota, (associated with worldwidevillage.org) are incredible and we hope to be able to team up with them again soon.

Our structural engineering team arrived back safely after spending several days reviewing the damage at our Camatin Facility, as well as working on rainwater collection at Coq Chante. We are excited that the damage to Camatin is primarily cosmetic, however there is one area in the back of the building where the partially collapsed cistern structure is still leaning against the building and there needs to be some remediation and shoring installed so we can start the process of removing the cistern. Once that is complete we can begin utilizing the Camatin facility to house the girls from Coq Chante, for storage and distribution of supplies, and for bringing medical and work teams in to serve in the hard hit areas. We hope this can be accomplished in the next 2 weeks so we can start putting the building to good use.

The 6 adopted children are home and adjusting well to their new homes and families. Life has been chaotic for them the last few days with the major transition and lots of press coverage, interviews, and meetings; but things are now beginning to settle down (a little) for them. I’ve seen most of them several times in the past few days and they are doing great. Their parents have done a great job getting them together and letting them talk on the phone to each other. They love the snow flurries they’ve seen for the first time, but are not a big fan of the freezing temperatures in Knoxville right now.

Future Teams are something we are looking at and we are so appreciative of the many people who have contacted us in recent days about going to serve. Our teams going down in the near future will be very specific task/gift oriented teams. Due to the safety issues, logistical challenges, and extremely chaotic working conditions, we have to be fairly selective about who will be going down on teams to serve. If you are one of the many people who have offered to serve, we say thank you for your willingness, and ask that you keep that passion for the long-term because we will need many teams going down for months & years to come. But for the immediate future we will not be able to take lots of teams down like we have in previous years. Pre-Quake Haiti and Post-Quake Haiti are two entirely different worlds. Thanks for your understanding of this, and look for more info in the future once we get to a place that we can take lots of teams down and serve effectively.

We are working diligently on the fronts of 1) fund-raising and 2) networking with the large relief organizations (Red Cross, UN World Food Program, World Vision, etc.) We have had lots of meetings, phone calls, emails, etc. and there are lots of ‘irons in the fire’ but haven’t had any significant commitments yet. Of our 7 facilities that completely collapsed, 2 of them were in the city, but the rest are in very rural areas where the relief efforts are not reaching yet. We believe partnering with larger organizations will allow us to help the people in these rural communities, but we need your prayers for God to open doors and lead us to the right people who can help us to minister to these hurting communities.

Many have been emailing us inquiring about adoptions and the humanitarian parole process to bring Haitian children to the United States. We are staying in touch with US Immigration officials, the State Department, and adoption advocates in Washington DC, and there is still much unknown, but what we do know at this point, is that it will not be an easy process. There are still hundreds of children that were in the final stages of adoptions that have not been able to come to the states yet. The state dept has said that once they complete all the adoptions that were already in the pipeline, they will then begin reviewing the humanitarian parole applications. The process has slowed down significantly in recent days due to the concern that lack of investigation could allow some children to be placed in unsuitable homes or even worse, trafficked and sold into sweat shops, child porn, organ harvesting, etc. Our prayers are that the Haitian government, US government, and the international community will find common ground to work together to expedite this paperwork so orphans and abandoned children can come to the states to strong families that will love and care for them. We will keep you posted if we find out new information on the adoption/humanitarian parole process.

For those of you who have given financially, with prayers, or offers to help we sincerely thank you.

Keep praying,

Brian

For more information about what we do you can visitwww.harvestfieldhaiti.org. You can also follow Harvest Field Ministries on Facebook and Twitter.

Bondye bon tout tan!

(God is good all the time!)