Thank you from Haiti

I was planning on only sending out an update once a week but I just have to tell you about my day today. I had a very strong day. You must have prayed really hard for me because I felt very good all day long. This is a real contrast from last Friday and Saturday. I felt like a "2" last week and today like an "8"... Thank you for your prayers.

We delivered six loads of 3500 gallons of water. One to a hospital, St. Catherine's run by Doctors without Borders, one to another hospital and one to a Christian school. The other three loads were directly to the people in the streets of Cite Soleil. These three loads are unloaded bucket by bucket, 5 gallons at a time. The kids are so amazing, they pinch me and touch my arms and literally hang on me as I help with the water. All they want is to be noticed, a smile, a pat on the head... some sort of acknowledgment... it brings the biggest smile to their faces. I'm faced with the challenge of delivering water while at the same time trying give them all some sort of touch that they dearly desire.

I saw another little girl, about 6 with severe burn scars all over her face and forehead. Her lips were bloated and cracked, but she had the most beautiful smile. Please pray for her, that God will heal her and remove any pain she is going through. I wonder how these children become so burned...

We ran the water truck delivering water bucket by bucket on the last load until 5:30. It was just getting dark in Cite Soleil. By the time we got all our hoses put away, it was dark. It is amazing, being in a neighborhood with over 200,000 people, with not electricity... many small fires were burning, you could smell the charcoal in the air. My eyes began to burn. As we drove off, the only real light was from our truck. The roads are only 10 feet wide and with our truck being over 8 feet wide, it is a very very difficult challenge to weave our way out of Cite Soleil. About two blocks from our last stop, the lights on our truck started to flicker, they'd go off, then come on and then go off and come on. Eventually, we lost our headlights altogether. We had to stop and spent 1/2 hour trying to figure out in the dark, what the problem was. Not having any lights, or tools, we resigned ourselves to drive out by the light from our flashers.

I do believe this was God's gift to me. He was showing me, what it is to live without any light... something these people live without every night... we are all so blessed.... I would show you some pictures of today, but Keynol took my camera home by mistake. I guess it's only fitting that in this very dark night, I have no photos.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please pray for the people of Haiti, the hungry, the thirsty, the burn victims... these are many of the people I've met in my first few days. To me, they have a face, to me, they have a voice, please know that they are real.
Blessings....

Jeffrey Gacek
Executive Director
www.buya.org
Connecting people who have much and need little...
to those who have little and need so much.