Message from David Nichols on the Scene Transporting Food

Wednesday arrived at noon in Port-Au-Prince

We had a very good day.

Rev. Kevin Wright, Minister of Missions for Myers Park United Methodist Church, and I arrived in PAP at noon yesterday. We are arranging a small airlift to the people of Bayonnais, cut off from the rest of the world by Fay, HANNA, and even Ike. Most fall crops were killed, and also most animals (the farmer's savings account in Haiti). This is in a mountainous region already one of the poorest in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

We could not sit still waiting for the "powers that be" in Haiti, the U.S. or elsewhere to pay attention in Bayonnais.

We were met coming out of the airport by three college students - Faustin, Wallace and Kenold (respectively the 2nd doctor, 1st agronomist and soon to be Civil Engineer) outside the main terminal.

We (primarily Kevin) have lined up during the afternoon:

400 lb rice & beans, purchased locally near the guest house by Faustin, Wallace and Kenold with money we brought. We got them to also purchase 100 lb each for the college house, with Actionnel's happy concurrence. They were thrilled to be taking 200 lb (dry) of food home to greet their fellow students. We will take the other to the airport at 7:15 a.m., check it into the small airport building and hopefully it and Kevin will be aloft in a Bell JetRanger helicopter by 8 a.m. for about a 1 hour flight to Bayonnais. It will be less than full for the pilot's maiden flight there.

1,200 pounds rice & beans from Baptist Service Mission through Samaritans Purse, due here at Walls by truck in the a.m. We are paying for this, but no shipping cost. We will use a Walls truck & driver to move it to the small terminal for checkin and storage in the MAF hanger.

1,600 pounds of a high nutrition meal for such situations, arriving on a Missionary Flights Intl flight from Ft. Pierce FL at 12:15 p.m. at the main terminal. We only have to pay the freight charge, not for the meals. We will move it to the small terminal for checkin and storage in the MAF hanger.

So, we have finished getting commitments for 3,200 lb of food for Bayonnais (and sent 200 with the college guys) since landing in PAP at noon.

The Question is how many 'copter flights we can get. We have enough for at least many more flights after the first. There is a 2nd helicopter coming in from the Dominican Republic, so maybe that will help.

I hope to be on the 2nd flight, cameras loaded and ready.

If we get the 3,200 pounds up there, we will be mission accomplished and might standby Saturday.

2nd choice is to have a definite flight schedule set up to finish the job over the next 3 days.

If the way be clear, we could set up some future (near term) source/helicopter matchups for after we return home.

The college students were with us until after they had a dinner with us at Walls. Lots of fun shooting baskets with a foam ball. They had never shot baskets before. They are all great guys and very dedicated to the prospect of a great future for the people of Bayonnais.

If there are no more big storms ravaging Haiti for a few weeks, the local people will work hard to make the roads into Bayonnais passable. This will then at least allow normal commerce to function. So we need to arrange more food and send money so more local people can be hired (for very modest pay) and gravel & rocks can be bought to get these roads to the outside world at least minimally functional .

Sigh - just talked to Actionnel, raining at least in the mountains around Gonaives - more flooding. Hopefully we will have a good day for flying, maybe even a spectacular one. It sounds like the Air Cavalry is using a very good piece of equipment. Too bad it doesn't have a higher load capacity.

Thursday, a really full day

We each got to fly to visit OFCB Ministries in Bayonnais for two hours today as four helicopter flights carried rice, beans and dried prepared nutrition packed meals. 1,800 pounds are there now and possibly 1,500 more tomorrow. This will help OFCB deal with conditions that are unimaginable for us. If we get this done or set up tomorrow, we will probably standby for flights to Miami and then Charlotte on Saturday.

Kevin flew on the first flight at 8 a.m. and came back on the southbound return of the 2nd flight. I went up to Bayonnais on the second flight and back on the third return. The Dominican pilot, flying a Bell Jet Ranger, was very professional and skilled. The flights were spectacular. It was great seeing much of our normal route from 1,500 to 2,000 foot altitude. Coming up over the south mountain range and dropping into Cathor was really exciting. Seeing our friends there under such circumstances was majorly emotional and heart-warming.

If there are no more big storms ravaging Haiti for a few weeks, the local people will work hard to make the roads into Bayonnais passable. This will then at least allow normal commerce to function. So we need to arrange more food and send money so more local people can be hired (for very modest pay) and gravel & rocks can be bought to get these roads to the outside world at least minimally functional.

A great day in all in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

Doesn't the Bible say something like, "For as much as you do this unto the least of these, you do it unto Me."? (see Matthew 25:40) That is what we all need to do!

Life is full of risks, and the biggest risk is that we fail to take the risks that we should.

South Mecklenburg Presbyterian Church's address is 8601 Bryant Farms Road, Charlotte 28277 if you want to help out financially. Every cent will be deposited in OFCB Ministries' US bank account and will then be available for them to deposit in their Haitian bank and use to God's glory. Just mark it for flood relief. Many will thank our joint God for better health or even life itself!

David Nichols

Follow this link to a very good article about Gonaives and surrounding areas from Doctors Without Borders:

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=3104&msource=ADN080901E01