A prayer from Scotland

In Haiti, there is anguish that seems too much to bear:

A land so used to sorrow knows even more despair.

From city streets, the cries of grief rise up to hills above;

In all sorrow, pain and death, where are you God of love?

A woman sifts through rubble, a man has lost his home,

A hungry, orphaned toddler sobs, she is now alone.

Where are you, Lord, when thousands die- the rich, the poorest poor?

Were you the very first to cry for all that is no more?

O God, you love your children; you hear each lifted prayer!

May all who suffer in that land know you are present there.

In moments of compassion shown, in simple acts of grace,

May those in pain find healing, and know your love's embrace.

Where are you in the anguish? Lord, may we hear anew

That anywhere your world cries out, you're there-- and suffering, too.

And may we see, in other's pain, the cross we're called to bear;

Send out the church of Jesus, to pray, to serve, to share.

sent to me by Alistair

Earthquake in Haiti

As you can imagine, I am devastated to receive the news of a 7.0 quake to hit Port au Prince. As Ewald and I sit glued to watching CNN. receiving email and test messages from numerous friends of Haiti wanting to know if we have heard from anyone, what is the latest news. We know very little really outside of what CNN has told us. Ewald's girlfriend is safe. Her mom has had a slight injury but their home was destroyed. His mom is ok but we have not heard anything of his sisters and aunt in Port au Prince. The same can be said for our many friends I have made during my visits there.

The place he worked before coming to the US- The UN building on Christopher has collapsed.

We have heard the Montana , a beautiful hotel less than a mile from our HHH property has collapsed. We learned a beloved St. Josephs Home for the street boys has been destroyed, but the thankfully the boys are safe. Wings of Hope sustained damage but the children are safe. St. Germaine is ok. The National Palace and the Cathedral has collapsed.

We continue to wait for news of our own clinic, guesthouse and apartments on the property leased by Healing Hands for Haiti org.

Haiti is not a country that is prepared to handle disasters- whether it is in the form of hurricanes or tropicals storms as we learned in 2008, or the collapse of a school soon after- this is impossible.

I feel helpless and I want to be there.

Mission 2010

Its been about 6 months since my last posting. Since then I've told a few people about my sight. Most recently, my 5th grade teacher said I should write about my experiences in Haiti. I told her about my blog site so maybe she will read it and decide maybe I shouldn't. ha ha! If I ever do, I will dedicate it to her.

Team Portland should really be called Team America or the Cross Country Team. We have accumulated team members from Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, Arizona, Las Vegas and San Francisco. We are leaving February 19, arriving Feb 20. Most of us will stay for a full 2 weeks of work and play and looking forward to some beach time for sure. After my visit to Kettle Falls and 'enjoying some 10 degree weather' I am more than ready for the heat of Haiti.

Our team this year is the largest I have taken - in 2006 we joined the team from Canada and there were 30 of us. This team Portland on this day is 24. (only 2 boys...)

We are planning a lot of educational classes with nursing students as well as the usual things we do like work in the clinic and visit the orphanages. I'm hoping the therapists can do some work in General Hospital as well.

Recent security issues with the airlines have raised some questions as to what we are able to take. I've been told we can only have one carry on which means some of our checked luggage will have to include our personal luggage. Hopefully, they won't include fees for our luggage as well.

I think I wrote about Madame Blaise and her orphanage in my blog. She is a Haitian woman that worked in New York city driving a school bus for special needs kids. Upon retirement, visited friends and family in Haiti. She found these abandoned children in a local hospital and used her retirement to build a home for them. I had recent news that she is planning to shut down and disperse the children to other orphanages. This makes me so sad. HHH and the teams have all had something of a special relationship with her and her children since she removed a dozen or so of them from the General Hospital's Abandoned Children's Unit. I am hoping to get some more information and will share it in a variety of places to possibly give this woman some financial assistance to keep the children together.

Check back to my site for future stories and information or email me at gailinhaiti@yahoo.com

Certainly if you are moved to donate to Healing Hands for Haiti or to Team Portland's mission or maybe even especially to Madame Blaise's children, know that it is truly needed and truly appreciated.