Today Nick and I drove over the mountains to Leogane.  It’s been the first time we’ve been over the mountains since the quake.  We’d heard Leogane was bad. Wow.  Didn’t quite expect HOW bad it was.  You see, I have heard in Jacmel that around 50% of homes were destroyed.  But that’s kind of a deceiving statistic as much of the major damage was in a few pockets.  In these pockets, nearly EVERY house is destroyed but outside of those pockets, it’s not nearly as bad.  Estimates for Leogane say that there is somewhere between 80-90% of homes are destroyed.  Seeing what I saw today I would say that is VERY possible.  The WHOLE city is in shambles. It’s not just in pockets.  Downtown, uptown, in town, outskirts of town.  It’s a MESS.  All of it.

Even so, the people of Leogane continue to march on.  There is a lot of aid we could see on the ground and things seemed to be running very smoothly.  The streets were all cleared and swept.  There were even women spreading water over the roads nearly continuously to keep the dust down.  The main refugee camp was well organized.  There were no tents—it was all makeshift, semi-permanent structures organized into sections.  It’s still not great.  I mean come on, it’s a refugee camp. People have lost everything.  They still have many needs that are not being met.  But they continue with their lives with a tenacity I just can’t explain.

We’d love continued prayers for the situation in Haiti.  It’s out of the front pages now, but the need will continue for months and years, possibly decades, to come. Pray for continued provision.  Pray for our families as we adjust to our new normal.  But most of all, please pray that we would daily turn our hearts towards God—the giver of all good things.