The lows ... and highs in Haiti

John Freund, CM
January 24, 2010

I am back from Haiti exhausted more emotionally than physically based on the grief and despair that was on the faces of everyone I know. I assume you know that Stephanie and I were in Cap H. when the earthquake hit. The force was so strong in the north that I feared the worse for Port-au-Prince.

The days that have followed have been indescribable. There was no one to met the first medical relief plane that arrived in the north so Stephanie and I found ourselves running to the airport, this was after we have visited Scared Heart Hospital to see firsthand the situation on the ground. There was a mass exodus of injuried and dying arriving in Cap Haitien and the hospitals began rapidly filling up.

I work with Daughter’s of Wisdom who have suffered tremendous loss and I am working with Father Eddy Edeustache who is the Head Psychologist for Partner’s In Health . He telephoned me two nights ago in need of food for his PTSD team who are working the hospitals. By the grace of God I was able to send two planes of food to him this morning.

When the earthquake hit I had just left the Archbishop of Cap Haitien’s driver who was helping me with getting my supplies for our children from the port. As you know, saddly the Archbishop of Haiti died during the earthquake. The Archbishop of Cap Haitien is the new Bishop for Haiti.

Father, I have been in Haiti for almost 10 years now and can say without a doubt the Catholic Church is the best organized efforts for the country! To see them in such need now is beyond my comprehension.  Father Eddy Edeustache of PIH and Sister Immaculee’ of Daughter’s of Wisdom serve thousands daily in their HIV hospital’s and medical clinic’s. I know you will would be glad to have their contact.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers

I have film footage( from my flip video)  from the first official Mass after the earthquake from the now new Archbishop of Haiti. I recorded his homily so I could go back and listen to it when I returned home.The footage of the Haitian people clapping, singing praise and giving thanks in their deep despair is more than I have ever witnessed in the Human Spirit!


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