Haiti

My Uncle Ray & Aunt Therese have been in Haiti on a medical missions trip since last week. They have been serving in a mountain village about 15 km from Port-au-Prince. Although their team is safe, their return date is now indeterminable due to travel difficulties and more importantly, their group's medical supplies and training.

Please pray for their team as they face horrifying conditions, dwindling supplies, lack of sleep, and so many more challenges. Please also pray for my three cousins (Emma, Grace, and Kevin) as they must continue their lives here while constantly thinking of their parents.

The following is an email reply from the team leader to a request from the Tribune for information:

Our Little by Little team has been in Haiti working with Mountain Top Ministries (MTM) in the village of Gramothe, outside of Thomassin, about 15 km from Petionville [a suburb of Port-au-Prince]. We returned around 1:00 am from a local hospital 5 miles further up the mountain, providing trauma care to at least 100 severely injured people, working with one Haitian physician, a few nurses and a few other volunteers in conditions that were extremely poorly equipped to handle day to day care, let alone an emergency such as this. We cut up scrubs to use for bandages, and used broom handles for splints, and used anything else we could find to stop bleeding - we have been there since 4:30 this afternoon. Supplies were brought in from the clinic at MTM, so we were then able to better provide. Many of our team was walking home from a full day of clinic, down the mountain, crossing the river bed, when the ground started shaking, causing many to loose their balance or to fall. The rocks tumbled from the sides of the mountain like an avalanche into the river bed. Our team was safe but many villagers got caught in the shifting, falling rocks, walls and houses. Other members of our team were back at the house also feeling the quake with very strong tremors, causing the trees and the house to violently shake, but there was no collapse. Several brick walls and houses have tumbled where we are at in Thomassin and Gramothe, many, many severely injured. Communication throughout PAP is down, we have been able to use email. Thanks for reporting this catastrophe. The needs in Haiti are great!