Earthquake in Haiti update

Here is the news I received from our Deciples Ministry partners:


Your Global Ministries Update: January 14, 2010




Disciples and UCC… together in God’s global mission - Visit us at: http://www.globalministries.org//

Haiti Earthquake Update:

Global Ministries received news this morning that Patrick and Francoise Villier are safe. Patrick is the president of CONASPEH, a grassroots movement of 6,000 congregations and our largest Disciples and UCC partner in Haiti for almost three decades. Patrick is also a member of the Common Global Ministries Board. We also learned that Polycarpe Joseph, the House of Hope Director, is safe. The leaders of our two denominational partners in Haiti are alive. We are grateful to God for this, but deeply saddened by the loss of so many.

To see the latest updates as we receive them at Global Ministries, please follow this link and return to it regularly:

http://globalministries.org/news/lac/haiti-earthquake-what-we.html

The blog posting from Kim Bentrott, GM missionary in Haiti with her husband Patrick and son Solomon provides the latest details:

Dear Friends and Family,

I will write more later, but just want to let you all know that Patrick, Solomon and I are safe. We had just gotten home when the earthquake hit, our apartment building went from 3 stories to 2 in one sickening crunch, but our space stayed miraculously in tact and the people on the first floor got out in the nick of time.

We had a group working with CONASPEH here with us from Tennessee. All members of the group were safe. Had they been on time for dinner, this note would have a different tone. Not all people in the guest house got out alive. We took the group to the embassy yesterday and they should be able to leave the country via the Dominican Republic in the next few days.

CONASPEH building has been flattened. All my nursing students were inside. Yesterday we helped pull bodies out of the wreckage and heard some voices within the rubble. Efforts continued frantically all day to reach them.

Patrick and Francoise Villier are safe. Their house seems to have held. They lost one of their foster care children in CONASPEH.

Communications are horrible. The phone network is either jammed or down completely. The manager of the guest house and our DEAR FRIEND has taken us under his wing and brought us up the mountain. He has a family with a 3 year old girl and a new born to consider as well. We are trying to figure out our next move at this point.

I will write more soon. Please pray for Haiti. In a minute's time, buildings crumbled and life was lost. So much life. And even with that said, I think the hardest times are still coming as people try to figure out how to put their lives together again.

Much love. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Kim, Patrick and Solomon

You can follow updates from the Bentrotts on their blog: http://www.kimandpatrick.blogspot.com/

At this time the most urgent need is for funds for emergency relief. Global Ministries has wired funds from the Disciples Week of Compassion (WoC) and the UCC One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) to CONASPEH and House of Hope, our denominational partners in Haiti.

As we walk in solidarity with CONASPEH and the House of Hope during this difficult time, let us re-affirm our commitment to pray for them and their leaders, Patrick Villier and Polycarpe Joseph. Let us do all that we can to help “meet God’s people and creation at the point of deepest need” with our gifts and service. Let us also remember that as Disciples and UCC, our Critical Presence with our partners in Haiti will be required over the long haul as we help re-build the infra-structure that is so essential to the life-giving ministries of our partners. For those that have visited the CONASPEH headquarters and the House of Hope center, you will know how important these places are to the ministries of our partners… May God give us all grace for the journey ahead! '

Jeannette