Cholera

Just a quick update on my parents, sister, niece and Manise (my adopted sister from Haiti) in Haiti. They went in and arrived safely in St. Marc Wednesday night. Rain has slowed some projects, but provided some good rest time and fellowship time. Manise has really enjoyed connecting with her family, a brother, two sister's and her Papa. Her biological father is so grateful to my folks for bringing her in to see them. It has been a long time, and I know he has missed her. When I called at one point Manise was sitting at the kitchen table playing pick-up-sticks with two of her siblings. Lots of laughter and good times! Many are aware that there has been some kind of epidemic going in Haiti, it has been covered up by the government (Haitian) because of the upcoming elections. We found out about it shortly after my folks landed in Port Au Prince. It is in fact Cholera, and many have died. We are not in the area infected, but because it is in the water, in can spread. However, many of the sick are being brought to St. Marc for treatment. Pray for swift deliverance from this epidemic. Cholera is still a big problem in third world countries and claims many lives every year. It can be treated quite successfully now days with IV therapy, it's just that often that is not available to the masses in these poor nations. Here is another thing to give thanks for at the end of the day, our tremendous heath care system. We are privileged to live in a land where we get the kind of help that we do, it may not be perfect, but it is light years ahead of where these poor people live. The other bright news today is that we have a pump in the well at the orphanage, and it delivers 10 gallons a minute, the same as our distribution well at the church property. The new pumps we took in on this trip run on a very small amperage draw. We can run them on the little generators we have purchased to help when there is no electricity which happens to be most of the time! We are so excited about this development, the city water lines to the orphanage building we discovered are broken and we have no idea when they will be fixed. Now it doesn't matter. We have clear water coming up out of the ground. What an amazing blessing as the rise of Cholera seems to add it's own exclamation point to this accomplishment! Keep my family in your prayers, they will be heading home Sunday afternoon. Blessings tonight.