Earthquake Jan. 12, 2010

(This is a photo of the 5 story Hotel Le Regent that I lived in for 10 years.)

ROYAL PALM CHILDREN’S HOME Fond Doux, Haiti W.I. It was a few minutes after 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday January 12 when the house began to jerk violently. I was sitting on the side of my bed. Little Children began to scream but they could not run to get help. As they tried to run they fell as no one could stand when the earthquake hit. Daniel, one of our boys who attends a school in Petit Goave had just arrived home. He left the school at 3:00 p.m. and was encouraged to stay for a special event but he came on home. The school he was in all day was completely destroyed, one floor collapsing on another. All left in the school were dead. Violine was sitting in a chair and was thrown to the other side of the room but she was alright. With the exception of some cuts and bruises all the children and young people in our home were accounted for. The electrical poles and transformers fell with a mighty crash and when night fell it was total darkness. You could hear crying coming from different huts as people were told that their loved ones were dead. A pastor who has a Church next to us lost two of his daughters. One died instantly, or so he thinks as her body was never located, and the other was seriously injured and died Sunday morning. People began to come to our home to use the phone to call their folks in the States. They pushed one lady up the hill on a bicycle with a compound fracture to her leg. It was bandaged and blood was seeping through. They carried her to the phone where she called her people in the U.S. to inform them that she was alright but the rest of the family was gone. Others came with horror stories you cannot believe. The little town close to us is completely destroyed. You could not drive down the streets as homes there were destroyed filled the street. Our home was damaged but still stood. Cracks appeared in the Church but it to is still standing. People of the area are in desperate need as no help has in our area. The city next to us of Petit Goave is completely gone. The smell of rotting bodies is so strong that people have to wear rags over they nose and mouth to be able to breathe. We have no water and the food is not nearly enough for everyone to have what they need. We go out daily trying to find something for the Children here. We are in desperate need of power so we can pump water out of our 195 ft. deep well. If we could do this we could supply drinking water to the entire village of Fond Doux thousands of people make their homes. Now they are drinking contaminated water and many are sick with dysentery. If something doesn’t happen fast there will be an outbreak of typhoid. Help from around the world has not reached us yet. Relief supplies of food and water have been distributed in Port au Prince and some other areas but have not reached us as yet. In all the 35 years I have been here I have never witnessed anything compared to this. In spite of this we continue to hold services in the dark and the power of God is so real. Pray for our Children as school cannot be resumed this year because of the infrastructure that is broken down. Pray for our Pastors who have lost so many of their congregation and loved ones. Pray that God will bless us with enough funds to purchase a much needed generator for our Orphanage and Mission’s Compound. Missionary Bob C. Jones