Dear Friends and Family,
As you know, the storm was not as bad as it was first predicted to be. We couldn’t be more relieved or thankful for that. Thank you for your prayers. It would have been another major disaster if the eye of the storm had hit Haiti with full force. Instead the eye moved all the way west of Haiti and followed the channel between Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. This was good news for everyone, but we are hoping the threat of the storm will remind everyone that the work from the last disaster needs to be moving forward much faster to ensure better safety for all the population of Haiti.
Jean and I watched the approach of the storm on the internet. Right up to the last moment it looked like the eye was going to go over the southern peninsula where we live, so we were trying to prepare for the worst. We were letting everyone know they could go to our old house, the school or the church or go to a neighbor with a stronger house. The storm arrived 12 hours earlier than we all expected, but thankfully no one’s home fell apart even though there were tons of rain and enough wind to do minor damage. We had at least three large trees in our yard that lost their top halves and the street was littered with large and small branches.
Monday and Tuesday had been vacation days from school and the rest of the week was scheduled to be exam days. We usually give three days for exams, but we decided to do longer days and push it all into two days. Wednesday was bright and sunny with no problems. Thursday morning looked iffy, but it was not raining and all the students came. By the time it started raining almost all of the classes had been released. I found the first graders still in class and insisted they be released even if they weren’t finished yet. They may have gotten rained on, but not too badly as the rain quit for a couple of hours that afternoon until it started later in the evening and didn’t stop for the next 18 hours.
A group of 13 volunteers had arrived October 30 to spend the week with us. We have four locations where we wanted to build homes. We were hoping they would be able to complete three of them. They were able to complete a two room unit and 3/4th of a slightly larger four room house. A member of the group left earlier in the week because we weren’t sure how quickly we could get them to Port-au-Prince after the storm to catch their scheduled flight and his job required that he be back. This left 12 people whom we insisted all should come to our home for the night. Our new home is across the creek from the guesthouse. We knew our small creek would become a raging river and we didn’t know how long it would stay impassable and didn’t want to be stranded apart from them. We were able to spread out on the front and back porches until the wind got stronger and then we all had to find a place inside. It actually never seemed too overly crowded. The ladies and I had a slumber party in our room while Jean and the guys spread out throughout the living area and the boys’ room; Jacques got some privacy in Jean’s small home office. It did not rain all day Friday, but enough rain had come Thursday night that the river did not get to crossing level on Friday so the group also spent Friday night with us. They had come with snacks for breakfast and lunch and I made them lentil soup for dinner.
They were scheduled to leave early Saturday to spend the night in Port-au-Prince and catch their flight home Sunday morning. They were packed and ready and then had to sit around all day because our cars couldn’t cross the larger river at Lhomond and the alternative road had fallen rocks and large rain crevices making it impassable also. We had recalled the bulldozer ahead of the storm from the mountain community where it has been cutting new roads since August. We sent it out to try to make the alternative route passable. It took all day and it was still the roughest ride Jean says he has ever done on our roads, but we got them out and they made it to the city by midnight
While we were taking care of the group Saturday morning, the school was having its regular first Saturday of the month parent/teacher meeting. We normally have a couple hundred in attendance; only 50 parents came, but we were thrilled and pleased with those faithful 50.
The whole country has given a huge sigh of relief that no part of the storm was as big or bad as we thought it could have been. On the other hand, it is still our hope and prayer that the work to get everyone out of the tent cities will progress even faster before another threat arrives.
We cannot thank you enough for your thoughts and prayers.
Yours in Christ,
Joy Thomas
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