Mustard Seed Missions, Inc.

This morning I phoned Bahamas Habitat to see when the tents would be flown to Les Cayes. They told me that they flew them there yesterday. I phoned John Vrooman who knew nothing about them. Amoce knew nothing about them. I phoned Bahamas back and they said they would check. I was in tears! It turns out that BH phoned John but didn’t get an answer and they forgot to phone Amoce. Somehow someone else at the airport picked them up and locked them up securely, but none of us knew that and none of us knew the person. By noon we had figured out who had them; I called his contact here in the US. The man who picked them up phoned Amoce. Now at 7:00 p.m. we’ve just gotten a phone call from Amoce and he has ALL 60 of the tents in his possession! Robert and Frantz went with Amoce to pick them up in a small yellow school bus. Wow…my emotions were up and down all day! We are so relieved!

Up before 3:00 a.m. yesterday morning, Josh, Laurel and I left Northampton at 3:15 a.m. with the van loaded full of 12 duffle bags carrying 60 tents destined for Haiti. (Thanks, Paul, for loading the van the night before.) It began one of the most amazing trips I’ve ever had. This trip was completely covered with God’s grace. We arrived at Bradley at 4:00 am, wondering a little how 3 of us were going to manage 12 bags and 3 carry-ons…that was 4 apiece and some were oversized and weighed 70 lbs. Well, there was a porter at the curb who loaded them all on his dolly. I drove the van away to park and found a space in the front row right across from the terminal…literally a 30 second walk. At the international counter we were waited on by a warm, friendly agent who kept thanking us for what we were doing. She was generous with the weight on our baggage, and even at 4 a.m., wasn’t the least bit cranky about how many bags we had to check. She started the day off right for us! She did warn us that the plane from Miami to Nassau was smaller and it was likely that not all of our duffle bags would make it on, but there were hourly flights to Nassau so they’d be there on the next flight probably.

At security we were scanned like usual. They thought the earthquake alarm that I was sending down to Amoce was a little weird, and they looked in one of the tents we were carrying on. Thankfully, they shrugged their shoulders about the tent stakes they found inside the tent they searched. The rest of the 4 tents went through without a problem.

Our plane took off on time, we even had an exit row with extra leg room. The connection at Miami went smoothly, and we were in Nassau by 12:30. We went through immigration, then to baggage claim where ALL TWELVE bags were sitting there waiting for us, along with another porter who loaded them all on her dolly. Going through customs, the agent there asked us to open 4 bags. He was a little perplexed by bags full of tents and kept asking us where the “stakes” were. I kept telling him they were inside the rolled up tents. I finally asked him, “You’ve never been camping have you?” To which, he laughed, and waved us on our way.

We phoned Cameron at Bahamas Habitat, and as pre-arranged she sent a large van over to pick us up. The van driver was Matt, one of the pilots. I recognized him from having met him at Les Caye airport in January; he may be the pilot that flew Greyson home. We unloaded the duffles onto another dolly, then wheeled it into the warehouse where we unpacked all of the tents. We found out that Habitat is making their final flights to Haiti on Sunday; were were JUST IN TIME! Matt and Cameron assured us the tents would make it to Les Cayes before Sunday. They even said they would personally phone Amoce to tell him when they were leaving. They are such super nice people!

We got back in the van, headed back to the airport, checked in without any problems, went through US Customs including full carry-on searches and body pats. Then we had 2 hours at the gate to wait for our plane to Miami. Another great connection. A three hour wait at Miami, and miracle-of-miracles our flight from Miami to Hartford took off on time! The plane wasn’t full and we were able to move around to emptier rows. We all got some good nap time on the way back. At the baggage claim we picked up our now-empty duffles and lo-and-behold, the same agent who checked us in that morning was there handling baggage claim! We were able to show her the photos so she could see the fruits of her labor, too! We arrived home by 1 a.m.!

The rainy season got an early start based on last Saturday’s floods in Les Cayes. We have collected 72 tents to distribute to families who need them. Forty-seven of those tents will be taken down on Thursday; the rest will go down the first week of April with the medical team. There’s a bit of a tents vs. tarps discussion going on in the press and amongst relief workers, since tents won’t be fully waterproof in heavy rain, but on the other hand, they do offer protection from mosquitoes which carry malaria and dengue fever, and from blowing rain. They also offer a bit of security to a family’s belongings. Tarps on the other hand will offer protection from rain. I’ve read about people in PAP who stood all night under an umbrella in order to try to keep dry.

Starting this week we will begin to collect clean, new tarps to take down with us in April. We’ll allot 250 lbs of our luggage to tarps, 450 lbs. to taking the tents we already have, and the rest to medical supplies. Students in one of the classes at LPVEC are collecting rope for the tarp project. You can order a tarp through the Amazon link on the right and have it shipped directly to Mustard Seed at 2 Old Stage Road, West Hatfield, MA 01088. Look carefully at the shipping charges, though. If you can find a better deal for the same sized tarps, that’s OK. We’re looking for 9×12 or 12×16. [Thanks to Judy who found 12x16 tarps at Big Lots and Ocean State in prices ranging between $11 and $17 (for those who live locally).]

For those who donated tents, read this and understand how appreciated they are. This was written by Valeri Wooley, the director of a school in PAP. Today we received 12 tents from Tracy, Tony, and group. Fantastic! Our teachers, staff, and Sabe will sleep protected tonight! For some it will mean some blessed privacy. Adeline was explaining how last night she wanted to go to bed at 8 but her husband said no since they were dependent upon others and they wanted to go at 11! She was so happy to have their own tent tonight! Hopefully more will come for others. For some it is so difficult because they aren’t receiving help because they aren’t in a tent city yet they have the need even for basics such as rice. Rice is unavailable to the middle. They give a sack a week to those of the tent city but none is available wholesale like to Joe. And 5 pounds in the market is $50! Outrageous! Beans the same. I know because I bought some today for Sabe. Joe can’t find rice. I am so fortunate.

End note:  The tents that were donated to Mustard Seed are not going to a tent city; they’re going to people in small communities in the countryside at or near the epicenter who are facing these kinds of conditions.  The same is true of the Days of Hunger food distribution.  The tent cities, for the most part, are all located in/near PAP.

Amoce and Carli arrived home safely last night after flagging down a tap-tap, then calling someone from Cayes to pick them up. The news this morning confirmed that there were 8 people dead as a result of being swept away by the flood.

Amoce left Les Cayes this morning at 5 a.m. with Carli and Smith. They’re travelling in a closed truck that is full of rice and beans to give to families in Leogane. They’ve hired security, Haitian police, to travel with them. He said it had been raining heavy all night long, since before midnight, and was still raining when they left.

7:30 a.m. They have reached Mirogoane.

9:45 a.m. They have reached Carrefour Dufort, the crossroads at the Jacmel road. He said there are two UN police trucks there also and they are waiting with them. They are waiting for one more UN truck before they meet up with Pastor Mede. He has been in contact with Pr. Mede, who is waiting for them. The involvement of the three UN trucks lends new meaning to the word “security”.

12:30 p.m. Amoce just phoned me on his way back from Leogane. They have distributed the food (with the aid of the UN police trucks). He sounded very, very serious with the edge of panic in his voice. In the last couple of hours, he’s been getting many phone calls from friends and family about severe flooding now in Cayes.

There was heavy rain since 11:00 last night. The city is full of refugees and more are evacuating out of the earthquake zone, where they have no shelter, to Cayes where they perceive shelter will be, turning a difficult situation into a desperate one. Even under normal circumstances there are areas of Cayes that flood very badly. For families who are housing extended-family-refugees this is creating havoc. With our blessing, he is planning to open up the house we rent, and house as many as he can.

2:00 Amoce is nearing Les Cayes and said the national road (the main road along the south coast) is flooded. He is unable to reach his family by phone. His phone cut out while he was talking to me.