MAF in Haiti

As Todd arrived back in Haiti he found the chaos a little more structured as MAF’s role in the relief work shifts as the population’s needs shift. As regular commercial flights have begun to operate, the need to handle large numbers of international passengers (in cooperation with Missionary Flights International) is diminishing. As more aid is able to arrive via the seaports, less needs to be airlifted in. We are still making many flights each day to take food out to remote areas that are trying to support large groups of displaced people. Currently the MAF program has been loaned two turbo prop airplanes, both brand new Quest Kodiaks. They have allowed MAF-Haiti to haul a much greater quantity of food and people. One of the Kodiaks is an MAF aircraft ultimately destined for Papua, Indonesia. The other Kodiak belongs to Samaritan’s Purse and will be operating in Haiti through the end of March (thanks, Franklin). Todd got his first taste of turbine maintenance today as he learned how to do compressor washes.

Thanks for keeping our family and our ministry in your prayers. God’s hand on us has been especially tangible over these last weeks.

Carnaval Canceled

One amazing thing that we heard from friends was that the Carnaval celebration which is usually HUGE was practically cancelled as the entire nation was called by the president to pray for three days. Churches were packed, and the prayer and praise overflowed into the streets. Oh, how I pray for a change and rebuilding that will come from the inside, that will leave behind the past bondage to fear and allow the country of Haiti to rise from the rubble stronger than ever. I know that God can bring peace in the midst of the storm, a sense of untity and solidarity instead of blaming and division, honesty and integrity instead of an opportunity to exploit other's generosity.... What a chance for Christians to offer hope and help! Pray for Haiti's children and youth, especially.

Adjusting…but Remembering

We continue to adjust to life here, and our routine seems to become more “normal” each day. However, there is always a little tinge of sadness that gnaws at my heart in spite of our great blessings here. I know that the rainy season is creeping closer and closer each day, also bringing the possibilities of hurricanes and tropical storms. Right now the little tents made of sheets are keeping some people out of the rains that have begun, but we all know that they will not be sufficient..... News media seems to have moved on to new stories, but it does make me happy to still see signs of people here, so many miles away, still remembering. The kids' school is having a contest to raise money for Haiti relief this week. Our church is still collecting items for "Crisis Care Kits" (contains things like soap, toothpaste/brush, washcloth, shampoo...). The tremors continue, and recently there have been some strong ones that have caused new damage to buildings that withstood the original quake.

Todd’s Visit

Todd left for FL Monday, and by Tues. afternoon he was back in Haiti. We enjoyed almost three weeks with him here in Clarksville!! He was here for three of the kids' snow days, so they enjoyed some nice snowball fights. He had individual "dates" with Megan, Kyle and me, and then some time when we were all together. He was also here for important days like my mom's 65th birthday, Valentines Day and the SUPER BOWL!!! It was just the right amount of time for him to catch up on rest and enjoy some time with his brother and family in Nashville and my family here in Clarksville. Of course the ideal would be for us to all be together, but we know that this temporary arrangement is best for all.

Spring

The first signs of spring are visible here in Clarksville, TN, in spite of a few white patches of stubborn snow that refuse to melt. Although I do not expect real warm weather for another couple months, the temperature is slowly rising and the annual "bulbs" are starting to push through the frozen ground. Change, change, change......
The kids are doing well in school and are making friends. The public library is just across the street from their school, so we have gotten a membership and have been reading in the car, at home... Last night we started on Little House in the Big Woods, a Laura Ingalls Wilder book (the first in the Little House on the Prarie series) that I remember reading as a kid. :) Just behind their school is a learning center, which I visited for the first time this morning. It is packed full of all kinds of learning games and resources. So as we use our community resources to the max, I am hoping that learning will become even more fun for them.
Along with all of this learning, the kids are enjoying exploration in my parents' woods, playing with their Clarksville and Nashville cousins, and all of the special attention from their uncles, aunts and grandparents. Two of my brothers are expecting babies in the next few months, so soon there will be new little friends around!!

MAF-Haiti Disaster Response

I (Todd) have been back in the states for a few days, now. It has been so wonderful to see Jennifer and the kids. I didn’t realize how tired I was, but discovered that most of the nights spent here don’t seem to be long enough. I think I am beginning to catch up on my sleep now.

MAF’s involvement in the relief efforts in Haiti has been multi-faceted. Our initial response was more that of survivors. In the first days after the earthquake we were not sure how soon we would have access to things like groceries, fuel for vehicles & generators, water, propane for cooking, and school for our kids. The exterior security walls around the properties of two of our families’ houses had fallen. Each MAF family had various amounts of the staples needed to survive. It was decided that the wise decision would be to move most of the staff and families back to their home areas before we reached a crisis point. We kept enough personnel to fly our three aircraft out of the country if we felt they were endangered. I also stayed on in an I.T. role to handle any communication problems we might have with our internet satellite link, which was our only link to the U.S. in the first hours after the quake.

Our families flew out on Missionary Flights International’s (MFI) turbine DC-3. This flight kind of marked our transition from earthquake survivors to relief workers as that same plane brought in an initial wave of supplies and people responding to the earthquake. In partnership with MFI, we were soon coordinating flights, cargo, and people on the Haiti side of relief operations. Various businesses such as Hendrick’s Motorsports donated their aircraft to fly people in and out of Haiti. Airplanes ranging in size from Cessna Caravans to C-130’s brought thousands of pounds of cargo. By the time I left we had handled roughly 2500 passengers and 500,000 lbs of cargo

. With the start-up of the NASCAR racing season, we no longer have the use of the Hendrick’s and Joe Gibbs Racing aircraft, but the stream of cargo and passengers continues.

It was several days after the earthquake before avgas for our little MAF airplanes was available. The fact that some of the cargo aircraft that were coming in to Haiti are four-engine avgas burners (DC-3’s, DC-4, & DC-6) meant that the local supply of avgas was soon exhausted. We had been able to store some avgas in drums and flew a few drums in (very expensive), but this has meant limited operations for our Cessna 206 and 207’s. We have been able to respond to many requests for food, transportation of the injured, and movement of medical personal. Most of our flying for regular passengers has been very limited. Fortunately, MAF was able to loan us one of the new Quest Kodiaks that are just being integrated into the worldwide MAF fleet. This aircraft uses Jetfuel which is much more readily available. It also can haul significantly more cargo and people. From the day it arrived it has been invaluable for helping meet the demand for flights within the country of Haiti. Currently I am scheduled to rotate back to Haiti on February 22. The plan is that I will be working to support our in-country operations (Cessna and Kodiak flights).

I want to extend a huge thank you for the tremendous outpouring of concern and prayer, and the many other ways you have supported us over these last few weeks. We continue to see God’s hand at work.

Working Together

I LOVE to see the networking that takes place between different groups and individuals to accomplish the most good. Here is a story about a flight that Will White (pilot pictured here) and Mark Williams took a few days ago.

This morning MAF had been scheduled to take a team of doctors to Pignon. The night before, someone called and cancelled the flight, so we were not expecting to do it and did not go in early. The doctors showed up about 9am and I told them they would have to wait until after a flight that was previously scheduled. We had arranged for a film crew to fly to the island of La Gonave. We were dropping off food supplies and picking up a team that was inspecting the Wesleyan hospital for damage from the earthquake.

When we arrived at La Gonave, Dan Irvine, the director of the mission, said he had a 9-year-old girl whose feet had BOTH been crushed in the earthquake. The hospital on the island had done all they could and they needed to find an orthopedic doctor in Port au Prince (PAP) for surgery. According to Dan her feet looked like "ground beef" and if infection set in would be fatal quickly. I agreed to wait for her to show up at the plane.

On the flight back, Dan was sitting next to me. Knowing the huge strain on the field hospitals in PAP, I was not hopeful of the girl finding an ortho unit to perform surgery. I asked Dan about it and he said he thought he had a contact that might help.

As I was flying back I started to think about the doctors that were waiting for me in PAP. I seemed sure they had said they were orthopedic surgeons. When we arrived in PAP, I taxied to my parking place and ALL of the doctors were standing right next to the plane with all their supplies. I told Dan I thought that they were an ortho team and introduced them to each other. In no time the team was examining the girl and making plans to take her directly to the Pignon hospital. We removed the girl from the plane to fuel it, and they were able to start an IV and examine her more thoroughly.

After loading the plane I was able to fly 3 doctors, the girl and her mother to Pignon. I asked the doctors to let me know how the surgery went and to follow up about her. It was so exciting to see how God worked the events of the day to bring these two groups together. I was humbled to be a part of it.

Will White; MAF Pilot, Haiti
January 22, 2010

Details.....Then and Now

When the earthquake hit....
.....Megan was in the neighbor’s front yard playing with their daughter Abby. Kyle was out sliding on the slippery cement around the pool. Jennifer was in the kitchen. I was up an extension ladder at a power pole installing split-bolts to improve our Program Manager’s electrical connection to his house. A neighbor grabbed Abby and Megan and hugged them tightly. Kyle started into the house but met Jennifer as she exited. I swayed like an inverted pendulum along with the transformer next to me. Fortunately I had a good, strong hand-hold before the shake started, and with Mark and Amber Williams holding the ladder I was able to climb down without falling (although I was afraid Mark was going to rip me off the ladder when I got down within his reach J).

The Damage.......and the Decision
The aftershocks were frequent and strong. Most people slept in the street or their yards for the next several nights. Damage to our house was minimal. A structural engineer is supposed to come and look at the MAF houses tonight. Damage to the contents of our house was also quite minimal. Books fell off shelves and stuff fell off counters. Our TV fell to the ground but seems to be functioning. Water sloshed out of all the toilet tanks. The only glass to clean up turned out to be a poor ceramic snowman in Megan’s room who hadn’t been put away from the holidays yet. The kids were troopers, very helpful, very flexible, and very well behaved as we sorted out the situation and tried to form a plan of action. The MAF staff took stock of our situation, the food on hand, water in cisterns, fuel in the vehicles, fuel for generators, propane gas for cooking. Unsure of how long it might take to open a supply line, and how quickly the stability of the general population could deteriorate, the decision was made Wednesday evening to “drawn down” our staff to just enough to fly out our aircraft if need be. I also was selected to stay behind to help make sure our communications system stayed open. Our satellite internet link remained online throughout the crisis, which was initially our only form to communicate with the outside world. It was so comforting to know that family had been notified quickly that everyone was okay.

Leaving Port
We reserved space with Missionary Flights International for 23 people to leave Port-au-Prince on Thursday afternoon. Because of the massive amount of air traffic that had begun to arrive, there was very limited space to park airplanes and the MFI aircraft was not permitted to finish its flight into Haiti. Those coming in on the aircraft spent the night in Turks and Caicos. MFI was given a new “slot” for Thursday morning. By the time we arrived at the airport, their slot had again been denied and they landed in the northern Haiti city of Cap Hatien. After talking our situation over with the tower, they agree to let us park in the general aviation area.

Open Doors
This began what has been a pretty good system for getting MFI relief flights (workers and cargo) in and US Citizens out. Hendrick Motorsports (NASCAR) has been a phenomenal help as they have partnered with MFI to bring relief workers in and so many people out. Today they will complete their 12th and 13th flights into Haiti with their 45 passenger aircraft. Besides MFI’s own DC-3’s, we have unloaded a DC-6, a DC-4, and a C-130. Lots of supplies are coming in. It is gratifying to see our staging area pretty much empty at the end of the day as partner organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Blessing keep the distribution going. With MFI’s consent we have held back a small amount of food and water which we distribute to the many people inside the airport who have approached us for food to eat. We also have been able to provide MRE’s (the military’s Meals Ready to Eat) to some of the police and security around the airport. Hopefully this has allowed them to do their jobs better, especially since these were the first meals some had been able to find following the earthquake.

Todd's Role
My initial role in the operations has been as the MAF liaison with the Air Force personnel in the tower. As our system has become more finely tuned, that role is no longer very time consuming. I have today off so that I can start up with MAF aircraft maintenance tomorrow. We’ve not done as much MAF flying as we might normally, since our staff has been pulled in a lot of different directions coordinating all of the relief flights coming in. We are trying to ramp that up, however. Avgas, the type of fuel that our airplanes use is in short supply, so our flying may continue to be limited. We are hoping to fly in some barrels of avgas with MFI. We are also expecting the arrival today of one of the new MAF Kodiak airplanes, which uses the plentiful Jet Fuel. As I type, they have arrived at MFI in Fort Pierce.

As someone “on the ground” in Haiti, I’ve been able to be the eyes and ears for several people trying to contact others here in Haiti. A friend from my years living in Ecuador works with HCJB Global, which offers consultation and technical assistance to Christian radio stations around the world. They had an engineer here helping out with Radio Luminere’s Stereo92, and had limited contact with him. My friend was able to give me the location of this engineer and the two people from Taylor University who were also working with him. I met up with them and was able to leave them some water and a bit of food in case they ran out. They eventually got back up the mountain to stay with their host family. Over the next few days they were able to coordinate the departure of their engineer on one of the MFI flights, thanks to the help of Baptist Haiti Mission and a medical team from HCJB Global. Taylor University also recommended that their two people (a professor who had previously lived in Haiti and a student who had come with him) exit as soon as they could safely and practically do so. When they were able to get back down to the radio station, MAF connected up with them and gave them a ride down to catch an MFI-coordinated (Hendrick) flight out.

God's Timing
The other people that I’ve been in contact with are a couple who are with the Navy, living in Italy. They’ve been in the process of adopting two Haitian siblings for a long time. The adoption was finalized but they had not yet received the passports. I met the family back in November when they were visiting the children, after Jennifer sat next to the sister of one of the adoptive parents on the airplane while flying up for Hannah’s wedding (Jennifer’s sister). Two days ago Julie, the adopting mother, was able to get into the country and I saw her at the airport. The last I’d heard around noon yesterday she still had been unable to actually connect up with the children. Keep praying for her as she finds/comforts the children and tries to get the necessary permission to take the kids back to the U.S. She mentioned to me that it has been exciting to see God work out the details for her to even get to Haiti. She was proceeding with boldness, knowing that God is in control.


*Picture captions:
1 A home ripped apart--not ours!!!
2 The four of us together as we were waiting to leave on MFI's flight that did not come in....nice to have a little more time together
3 The 23 MAF staff/families who came back to the US for a time, standing in front of the Hobe Sound Bible College bus after going through customs in FL
4 A Hendrick Motorsports flight crew gets ready to depart Port-au-Prince
5 MFI chartered a DC-6 to bring supplies in for Samaritan’s Purse
6 Will White taxis for departure to La Gonave carrying food
7 Food for an orphanage is loaded onto a pickup. We met the gentleman in the foreground while on deputation in Alum Bank, PA

Todd's Earthquake Notes--First Impressions

As the shaking and the roar of the earthquake subsides, the cries of thousands of people rise. At the end of our street two houses down is a ravine with hundreds of houses built in a maze. I expect to see many of them flattened as I run over to look. In fact, none seem to have been significantly damaged. "That must not have been as strong as I thought,” I decide. Before long the dull roar of people excitedly chattering is drowned out by wailing and screaming, coming from all sides. We survey the damage to a neighbor’s house. Several of the perimeter walls around his house have fallen. His cistern is still quite full, but his fears will come true as over the next few hours fissures will drain it completely. We look up the mountain and see great clouds of dust. Down the mountain are more. Word begins arriving. “Caribbean Market has collapsed!” No, surely not. That’s where we do our main shopping. At 5 pm it would be packed with people. The story must be exaggerated. Then come aftershocks. The yells and screams crescendo. Soon, the sound of hymns being sung can be heard. Members of a nearby church have gathered and are singing praise to God. They probably sing their praises for a variety of reasons. I am sure they are just happy to be alive. Some probably sing because it brings a tiny bit of calm to their spirit. Most sing because of hope. They have faith that God is in control. They have faith that even if they were to perish, their eternity with Jesus is secure. Faith with expectations is hope. Jesus is our Hope.

The reality for the bulk of the suffering people is that they do not have hope in Jesus. Some just hope for food this day. Many hope that their missing family and friends might miraculously turn up. Others hope that government can begin to function and control can be established. These hopes might be fulfilled but they will ultimately be empty. Please pray for the millions in Haiti, both Haitians and foreigners, that somehow through this tragedy they might find Hope.

*Pictured here is our former grocery store, Caribbean Market, quite flattened.

Each of the MAF guys who are down in Haiti right now has a different job they have been assigned to help coordinate. Todd has been working with the guys in the "tower" to get MFI aircraft into Haiti. Not much of a tower, just a table in the grass. Today Todd delivered a couple packs of donuts to keep them happy. :)
Here are some pictures taken by Will White showing him working with the military guys who are in charge of all of the air traffic at this point. These are pictures of Todd, but I know Will, Mark, Michael, and John & David are all doing a great job coordinating the logistics of the flights into Port and then the MAF flights into different areas of the country.
Please keep praying for their strength, wisdom and peace and they function on reduced amounts of sleep and increased amounts of stress. I talked to Todd this morning and he still seems very positive and upbeat and mentioned that the other guys seemed to be doing well, too.

Recognize this first little guy????

Here is a video about MFI's first 72 hrs of disaster response, mostly showing the MAF families leaving Haiti. Since then they have been coordinating with different groups to get supplies down and evacuate other families.

http://www.missionaryflights.org/field-reports/146-mfi-haiti-relief-the-first-72-hours-on-video