Inside a Haitian Refugee Camp

At the end of the day, I had to take Enel home. He asked earlier if he could have a bucket of rice from the container and I told him of course. He told me his house had crashed and he was living in a refugee camp across from Pure Water. As we pulled into Bobby Duvall's soccer field where we keep our two water trucks and containers he held tightly to the corrugated box he had found that he was going to use to sleep on. As I opened the container he asked if I had a blanket or something else to sleep on. We searched and found a blanket and sheet that he quickly packed into his backpack. He picked up plastic banding material outside the trailer and told me he would use it to hold up the top of his tent. I too was sleeping outside and I grabbed a blanket also... but my conditions are much better than his.

As we drove to his "camp" he asked me to pull over a block away so that I would not be mobbed by the other refugees at the camp. It's amazing that in the midst of all this he is concerned for my safety. I told him no... I want to see where he lived and see his mother and children... we continued to argue as I pulled the motorcycle into the camp.

The sign on the wall outside the camp read "USA Refugees Camp - your help is very important for us" written in charcoal.

Here is a video of one of the many spontaneous refugee camps that are all too common in Port au Prince. So many people have been displaced from their 1 or 2 room concrete shacks. They either have crumbled and collapsed or they have so many cracks that the people are scared to stay in them. They beg for food, for water, for help, for someone to care. Today we will bring a truckload of water to the camp.

Please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers. Ask God for mercy, for comfort, for relief for those suffering from this tragic event. Ask God to awaken the world to the plight of Haiti and it's people and to move them to sacrifice for those in need. We pray that God will use all that is good to respond to those in need.