We continue to thank God for His hand of protection upon our 134 children and the peaceful atmosphere on our compound. For miles around our area, wherever there is any available space there is a tent camp or shanty town. People are even sleeping on the center medians of major roads, creating a traffic hazard when driving at night. The staggering number of homeless people presents enormous challenges to NGO’s and agencies trying to reach them with food, water and relief supplies.

A 24X10-ft. portion of our wall was destroyed, but has now been repaired, so there is no access to the compound except via the main gate. The children continue to sleep in tents arranged in clusters by age group and gender. Tents for the younger children and girls are close to the main building in a sheltered area; tents for the young men are toward the back of the courtyard between the church and the boys’ dorm. Some staff members who lost their homes also have tents in this area.

Dr. Franco and Pastor Jometre have organized a regular schedule of activities so that life on the compound is running smoothly. The 900 or so townspeople staying at the back of the property leave every morning and return in the evening. Hundreds of them attend morning and evening prayer services, Bible studies, and other church activities. In the surrounding neighborhood there are signs that people are trying to salvage what they can from the rubble of their homes and move toward rebuilding their lives.

 It appears that three of our main buildings—the orphanage, church and clinic—have no serious structural damage, but the school and the boys’ dorm may be damaged beyond repair. The Haitian government warns that because another quake is predicted, even buildings that appear to be safe should not yet be reoccupied. We hope to have some American structural engineers come to Haiti to evaluate all the structures within the next few weeks, but inspections by a government agency will be required before move-ins are allowed.

 Because everyone is going to be living in tents for some months to come, a major concern is that when rainy season begins in March, the tents will be mired in mud. This not only presents the threat of disease outbreaks on the compound, but also could lead to increasing despair on the part of the townspeople living in “tent city.” To address this problem the board has agreed to use some of the disaster relief funds to purchase pallets and ply-board to build platforms to be placed under all the tents on the compound. Pastor Jim Rowe, a CHO board member with a military background, is returning to Haiti soon and will oversee this operation.

The mayor of Mariani has reached out to us for help, as the township has no place to put all the homeless people. He has committed to increased police patrols of our area and the removal of anyone who causes us difficulties. This, with 24/7 guards at our gate, provides excellent security on the compound. When Pastor Rowe returns to Haiti he will meet with the mayor to be sure we have a clear understanding as to what CHO is able to do to minister to the needs of the people in the community in the coming months.

 Because generator “downtime” could have a severe, long-lasting impact in terms of health and safety issues, we are seeking to install a backup generator. This will be especially important when we enter the repair and rebuilding phase, to provide adequate power for construction teams that will be working on the compound. Pastor Rowe will explore the availability of a 100KW generator and qualified personnel to install and maintain it on his next trip to Haiti.

 We would like the younger, more vulnerable children to be in a safer location before the repair/rebuilding phase begins. A possible area for relocating CHO children ages 13 and younger is Croix-des-Bouquets, a community east of Port-au-Prince that reportedly has not been seriously affected by the earthquake. Two workers who help oversee the orphanage will visit Croix-des-Bouquets in the next couple of weeks to investigate housing availability, schools, transportation and access to medical care. Based upon their report, and a visit to the area by Pastor Rowe, the board will be able to evaluate the feasibility of moving forward with this plan.