Frank Vaughn and John Dykes have returned safely from Haiti. We will have a report of their trip soon.

Frank Vaughn and John Dykes are in Grand Riviere, Haiti. They arrived safely on Thursday afternoon, January 21. They found that our orphans had been transported to Grand Riviere and had gotten there just before MFI landed. We are thankful that everyone is safe and uninjured.

Daryl Hobbs, former missionary to Haiti, now serves at a medical clinic in West Palm Beach where many of her patients are from Haiti. She writes:

A woman sat on the exam table at our clinic with tears streaming down her face as I asked about her family in Haiti. “I was so worried! My mother is 92 years-old, and lives in downtown Port-au-Prince. It was several days after the earthquake before I heard any news of her. I finally received word through a friend that her house had collapsed, and everyone around her fled. Hours later, a neighbor found her and took her to an open field with thousands of others. She was okay, but had no food or water. “I called my son, who lives in Kinscoff (about an hour away from Port-au-Prince), and told him that his grandmother was found, and to hurry to get her! He did, and said that my mother was so happy and relieved when she saw him that she burst into tears and threw her arms around him!” We are SO grateful that God took care of her!”

A man sat on the exam table, his smile not hiding the strain in his eyes…. When I asked about his family in Haiti, he struggled to maintain control – fighting back tears. “My brother lost 3 children. They heard one of them crying for help for 3 days, but they couldn’t get to him. After that, they didn’t hear him anymore….” My heart was bleeding with him, but I assured him that our God is the “God of all comfort,” and that we can trust Him completely. He nodded his agreement.

A woman came in for her annual physical. As soon as she saw me, she said, “I’ve lost all my strength….I lost my daughter….” As I asked for more details, she told me that her daughter just graduated from nursing school last year and married a doctor this past July. She had just left the hospital where she was working and called her husband to let him know she was going downtown Port-au-Prince for a few minutes. The earthquake struck while she was downtown, and she was buried under a collapsed building. Before she left, I prayed with her – praying that her daughter would be found, if still alive, and that God would give grace to the husband and family if she were not alive. As she left, she thanked me with a smile. Truly, we do serve the “God of all comfort!”

Frank Vaughn and John Dykes arrived in Grand Riviere today to find the orphans had already arrived! Thank the Lord. There is still much to be done. There is an immediate need of food and bedding.

On Thursday, January 14, Hope International Missions responded to the crisis in Haiti by sending in veteran missionary and Caribbean Region Director Frank Vaughn. The Vaughns served in Haiti for 15 years, and Brother Vaughn has intimate knowledge of the country, its people, and its customs. He also has a heart for people. We thank the Lord that HIM is blessed with a man of this caliber in such a position at such a time.

Brother Vaughn, along with approximately 20 other people, boarded a Missionary Flights International (MFI) plane on Thursday morning and set out for Haiti. By the time they reached Haiti, however, the Port-au-Prince airport would not allow them to land due to traffic congestion and limited resources at the airport. The flight continued on to Provo, Turks & Caicos Islands, where the passengers and crew spent the night.

By Friday morning, the situation at the airport had improved to the point that the MFI flight could land. Brother Vaughn was able to get a ride from the airport to Bon Repo where the HIM orphanage is located about five miles from the heart of the city.

These photos show a little bit of the damage to homes and businesses between Port-au-Prince and the orphanage. Many modern structures (a mall, for example) and large homes were brought down by the power of the 7.0 quake.

As was previously reported, the orphanage home was still standing. Quite a miracle, considering the devastation in the structures surrounding the home. (These photos show destruction of structures in the immediate vicinity of the orphanage.) The secondary building that the orphanage used as a kitchen suffered severe damage. Due to continued aftershocks, no one in Haiti is allowed to sleep inside a house of any kind – too much danger of an aftershock bringing down more buildings. So everyone is sleeping outside, including the ten boys and staff in residence at the orphanage. You can see their tents in one of these photos.

Have you heard the adage, “Good fences make good neighbors”? Our friends in Haiti take this a step further. Most of them surround their homes with a block wall, high enough to keep animals in or out. Without such a wall, your home could be open to chickens, goats, pigs, turkeys and MORE that freely roam about. Those who can afford it build a high wall to keep out aggressors of the HUMAN kind as well. These photos show walls in some state of disrepair.

Here are some photos of the boys at the orphanage. As you can imagine, they were “down” when Brother Vaughn arrived, but he was able to get them to smile! Some of these photos remind you of the “Got Milk?” advertisements, don’t they? Well, this isn’t about milk. The children have spread a skin lotion over their upper lip to keep the death stench at bay.

HIM has been planning to move the orphanage from its current location to further out in the country, approximately 50 miles from Port-au-Prince, where the HIM school and church are located. The new location needs some remodelling and major cleanup, which HIM hoped to accomplish with several work teams going in over a period of weeks. Now, the children are going to be moved immediately, whether the new facilities are “ready” or not.

Brother Vaughn is returning to Haiti on Thursday, January 21. One of his main objectives is to assess the needs at the new orphanage location. He will learn just what supplies are needed to complete the work and will get a better understanding of the overall work that has to be done. Then HIM will be in a position to plan for work teams to go into Haiti and get the job done.  Please pray with us for God’s continued guidance as we move forward in trying to bring some sense of stability back into the lives of these orphans.

It has been a blessing to see various groups working together to provide relief to the people of Haiti. Missionary Flights International has been a long-time partner with HIM in providing transportation to and from Haiti and the islands of the Caribbean. Another group, Missions Aviation Fellowship (MAF), provides in-country flights in Haiti, using small planes to make short runs within the country. Their organization had about 25 people located in Haiti when the earthquake hit. They were able to get their people safely out of Haiti on a MFI flight. Support staff and families were evacuated; four people (pilots) were left in Haiti to carry on their important work. When these MAF personnel arrived in Florida on Saturday night (with Brother Vaughn), HIM was able to host them on campus.

More photos:

Frank Vaughn and John Dykes are leaving Thursday, January 21, for Haiti. They will be helping to move the orphans from Port-au-Prince to their new location approximately 50 miles from the city. They will be assessing the needs at the new orphanage and preparing the HIM school for misplaced families.

Please join us in prayer regarding the huge financial needs resulting from the Haiti disaster. We are dependent upon God’s moving people to give, and then those people responding. Thank you for helping to carry this load!