This morning our team woke up at 6 a.m. and less than 5 minutes later, a very strong aftershock (measuring 6.1) hit. Team members immediately ran out of the orphanage house where we are staying. This morning’s 6.1 aftershock was pretty significant in that it was stronger than all previous aftershocks, and comes more than a week after the initial earthquake. It was strong, but short.
Our team is fine as well as the children and staff at the orphanage we are staying at. Even though our medical team will not be working at the orphanage or directly with the orphans, because we are staying at the orphanage, we will have time to interact with them all week long by befriending them and playing games with them. I am also grateful that the orphanage has electricity and internet access!Many people in Port-au-Prince are highly fearful and extremely nervous about the future. It is a great climate to share with them there is a God who created them and loves them personally. Tonight and for the rest of the week, we sleep outdoors under a tree.
One week following the killer earthquake in Port-au-Prince, in which some estimates range as high as 150,000 – 200,000 dead, the smell of death is still in the city. People are walking around with surgical masks on the faces to keep from smelling the decaying bodies. The stench was particularly bad today under this building, indicating some one or several people were dead beneath the rubble, and they haven’t been dug out yet. It is still heartbreaking to see families who have lost everything now huddled under a tarp. People are desperate for water, for food, for medical treatment, for help of any kind.
Within spitting distance of the National Palace, tent cities have sprung up. People who have been displaced and have nowhere else to go have put up tarps or tents, or sometimes just taken a place on the ground as they wait for help. The tent cities are all throughout the capital and even where there are buildings with little or no damage survivors are fearful of entering because of the risk of more earthquakes. People do their cooking, their laundry, and everything right out in the open. The need for help is enormous as the people suffer from a lack of all the basic essentials for life.
YWAM Tyler’s MercyWorks team of 12, consisting mainly of medical personnel, work out of the National Police headquarters, just one block from the National Palace. The police station was ruined in the earthquake, but there are five rooms that are still standing in the building. This central location is ideal for helping the injured as many people are brought here for treatment. wo MercyWorks volunteers, a third year medical student from Duke and an R.N. from Dallas tend to an injured woman inside the National Police headquarters.
What do you think this is? If you guessed an operating room at the National Police headquarters in Port-au-Prince, you would be right! YWAM MercyWorks teams will be working here for the foreseeable future, sending in waves of teams every week. We are so grateful for all the volunteers who have committed themselves to serve with MercyWorks in the months to come. The situation is desperate and the working conditions dangerous as we help heal lives and restore hope here in Haiti. The next team consists of 20 medical staff and they will arrive in Haiti on Wednesday, January 27. Please keep our teams in your prayers.
January 21st, 2010 at 05:15
If I took some holiday and paid my own fare to come to Haiti could I be of any use to you
January 21st, 2010 at 10:43
thanks for the articles. my parents are down there with you now, Mike and Karen Wyatt. We are keeping up with them from posts to facebook from his iphone. We are praying for all of you!!!!
January 21st, 2010 at 21:29
I am filling out my application, sent in for the expedited passport and am ready when all this is. The Lord won’t let me rest til I do! Loving Him and His people. I’m so glad you are doing what you are! PS I live in Lindale, am an RN and can help from here now. Is there anything I can do while I wait for the passport? Jackie
January 22nd, 2010 at 14:21
I have been previlaged to go with YWAM two other times. As I prepare to leave agin I thank God for all of the team members that have helped me.( The Tsuamia and the China earthquake,) YOU will never be the same.. GOD has already arrived before you , and it will be AMAZING to see HIS power. It takes a good shaking to get our attention back on what is really important, TO HELP THOSE LESS FORTUNATE. GOD BLESS Virginia
January 24th, 2010 at 06:14
Thank you for being obedient to God’s calling in your lives! May He bless you and the lives of the Haitians that you touch! I pray that God would bring restoration and salvation to Haiti and it’s people – in Jesus precious name – AMEN!
January 26th, 2010 at 14:45
Ok my son got the ok from Mercy works to day He will be joining the team in Port au Prince..hopefully to continue the work of Mike Wyatt in Haiti .He leaves monday for dominica then into hait i believe. After a misssion trip he always comes home with story about miracle after miracle…so happy to be a mother of a ywammer!!!!
January 30th, 2010 at 15:31
so glad to see my friends doing what they were called to do… i miss you all but know that you are about the fathers business
January 31st, 2010 at 00:52
Thank you to each and every one at Mercy Works for the work you all do with such dedication, strength and love.
Please, remember to take care of you as well. That is a simple thing, but too often overlooked because of our involvement at the moment.
January 31st, 2010 at 00:56
My thanks to all at Mercy Works for the work you are doing in Haiti.
February 3rd, 2010 at 16:39
ok Brandons there in Haiti arrived tuesday feb 2nd stationed at orphange in Port Au Prince.Mom and all of us praying for you son.Gods blessings.See you around feb21st
February 4th, 2010 at 14:53
I was with the !st wave and will be going back again Keep everyone up in prayeer. Bonnie e-mail to let me know you made it and I luv you Bob