We just received a distressing call from Bobby and Sherry from the only cell phone they could find with any signal (it was one of the worker’s phones that just happened to work for a while). They have no internet anywhere in Fond Parisien, Haiti, nor do any of their personal phones work. Bobby desperately described the very severe conditions around them now:
No internet nor reliable phone service.
Generators are now disabled due to contaminated fuel bought on the black market… NO POWER.
Last night as Jackson was taking his 10 hours of daily dialysis, the power went out. They had to scramble around at 3 am to find a small portable generator and some fuel to run it for Jackson’s dialysis machine.
Fuel is scarce throughout Haiti, only available on the “black market” for $10-$40 a gallon IF you can find it. Most of it comes through the Dominican Republic (DR) border. But DR is now threatening to have to close the border to prevent being overrun by fleeing Haitians.
We have 25 containers of food and humanitarian supplies stuck now, held captive at the port that cannot make it out to Fond Parisien for distribution to the needy. The growing starvation is rampant and the worst they have ever experienced in their time in Haiti.
Young men are leaving the mountain area to join gangs as their only alternative for survival.
Word is (and fervent hope is) that the UN will be sending in troops to quell the gangs who have been in total control of the streets for weeks now. This has caused the gangs to recently get more active before the troops come to take back control and hopefully restore civil daily life. Banks can not open, and no business is able to take place because the gangs have closed everything down with their hijacking, kidnapping, and looting. Shelves are bare. People cannot come and go. With the streets being choked off, no fresh water trucks are able to deliver water, so people are having to drink nasty, dirty water, and Cholera is once again running rampant, with reported daily cases nearly doubling every day. Hospitals have to remain closed.
Bobby reminds us that it is all about the children. Their suffering now is beyond belief. Bobby and Sherry plead for your prayers for the children and the people of Haiti. Bobby said the violent gangs do not represent the normally sweet, gentle people of Haiti. They thank each of you for your prayers and your financial support, which is so critical at this time.
Rad Hazelip, Assistant Executive Director