Haiti: Bentrotts Receive supplies for Orphanage

Hopeful news this morning as Kim Bentrott has two new postings on her blog. The first one describes their journey yesterday to meet a private plane that had brought supplies from Colorado to the orphanage where they adopted their son, Solomon. They also have learned that Solomon is on a list of children from that orphanage waiting for visas to be matched with their prospective parents...the link to "Supplies Arrive" is here: http://kimandpatrick.blogspot.com/2010/01/supplies-arrive.html

And then there is more good news: this morning Kim received a call from one of the nurses in the class she was teaching last Tuesday right before the earthquake. Given the destruction of the CONASPEH building, Kim believed all of them had died. But at least one has survived and is ready to help with the medical outreach efforts that CONASPEH is trying to re-establish. "Words Delivering Joy" can be found here:http://kimandpatrick.blogspot.com/2010/01/words-delivering-joy.html

As I read these posts, I am struck by how much help the Haitians are giving Kim and Patrick--as Kim says, they could do nothing without them. But the Bentrotts are also providing that "on the ground" kind of help that only they can give. They gained entry to the airport to meet their plane easily--because they speak English! Yet they are able to ascertain the needs of the people they have served because they speak Creole. Their friend Veniel, who managed the well-known guest house before it collapsed, loaned them a large truck to transport the supplies. They had no problem navigating the streets--no bandits, no riots like we keep seeing on TV. Veniel has set up an office in his parking lot, is gathering tents and figuring out food sources, has plans to rebuild his ruined wall and soon the "guest house" will be up and running with security so that teams who want to come to help rebuild or continue the aid missions will have a place to stay. Today the staff of CONASPEH, the mission that Kim and Patrick serve, will be meeting to see how it can regroup. As their president said, CONASPEH is a concept of churches working together, it isn't a building. The Bentrotts will be there at the meeting. However, they are running low on cash and gasoline, so our prayer is that the supplies and funds that are being collected here in the US for them will reach them soon. It's another day, and the relief effort goes on.