Shelter From the Storm

Isaiah 61:4 They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage. They’ll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new. Message

Starting over, raising a new city out of the wreckage is exactly what we are doing in the epicenter of the devastating earthquake that took place January 12^th in Leogane, Haiti. People are beginning to see a glimmer of hope as new tracks of temporary houses are being erected. More than 1,200 of these shelters have been built in Haiti by Samaritan’s Purse so far, and thousands more to come.

Rainy season is here and with it came misery and the threat of a major outbreak of disease in the tent cities. Lives in these camps are hectic and dangerous for the hundreds of thousands of people that were displaced. The world they knew, came crashing down around them. Many losing everything they had, some even their entire families. Now they are packed together in what we would consider one person tents with five or six people.

 Just covered with a tarp, there is no  place to lock anything up, you have to leave someone behind or pack what you have each day as you go out to sell or make enough to just get by. Waiting in line to get pails of water and then trudging back to cook, wash clothes and drink.  It would be hard enough with just the blazing sun that shines between the storms, but now they must endure the thick mud that comes from the rain.

Many are getting a shelter from the storm. Each temporary house easily holds five family members. Communities pitch in and help prepare the land, dig latrines and put up the frames with pressure treated wood. Designed to withstand hurricane force winds, these shelters are the beginning of helping to build a city from out of the wreckage.

God has granted us favor, something we do not take lightly, and we know we are not capable of doing all that has been done so far. Others are still planning and talking, but we have moved into high gear and are putting out houses in production line speed. Thanks to all of you who continually pray for these people and for us working in Haiti. God is listening to your prayers.

Please pray that we will be able to continue to be the hands and feet of Christ here. That we would be strengthened to do even more than what is being done now, I personally ask for you to pray for those who are suffering so much. Many are the fears of the destitute that think they have been forgotten, but our God sees all things and hears the cries of His people. God will make a way for them to take the rubble and build a new city.