TALCAHUANO, Chile – Talcahuano was hurt badly by the tsunami that hit Chile’s coast. The naval port was completely swept away and the water system collapsed. Those who lost their homes are being housed in schools and the Chilean government is helping to take care of their needs as well as providing water in the city. (more…)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – At 4 a.m. there was a tremor. I heard some neighbors quickly vacating their home. Later, our workers at the warehouse were talking about it and I heard from our customs broker that no one was working at customs for fear of buildings collapsing. (more…)

JACMEL, Haiti – Jacmel is a city with a population of 120,000 people. It is surrounded by mountains and beautiful beaches, a must-visit for tourists. Flowing through the city is a river where almost all cleaning chores are done. Women wash clothes, men clean their motorbikes, kids swim and people bathe in this river. (more…)

SILOE, Haiti – About 80 percent of Haiti’s population lives in Port Au Prince. The remaining 20 percent live in remote villages surrounded by beautiful mountains. Today, we traveled to the village of Siloe. The last few days I’ve had to ride in the back of a pickup truck, and for the first time this week, I was given a chance to sit in the passenger seat next to the driver for what I thought would be a comfortable ride. (more…)

L’ESTERE, Haiti – We started the day off with a small UN escort to L’Estere. It was scorching hot and a 2-hour bumpy ride brought us to sector 5 where we were to deliver the first food distribution. (more…)

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – This morning we had a long 2-hour drive to the bridge that crosses over to Saint Marc. The bridge is weak and therefore no vehicles were allowed to cross. It was chaotic on both sides of the bridge, people were everywhere. (more…)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – The news continues to report the extent of the damage and the lives lost. While in Chiang Mai meeting my other team members to strategize on how we are going to implement our projects, we met a couple of gentlemen from a large NGO. (more…)

SINGAPORE – Yesterday I met with the Ambassador who was very happy to hear about Operation Blessing’s willingness to respond, but he indicated that he is waiting for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give the green light to issue visas. (more…)

SINGAPORE – It has been a long and frustrating wait since I first received the news about last Friday’s devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar. (more…)

While waiting for the DHL flight to arrive with our shipment of water purification systems, Dorca, a DHL representative, read me the day’s newspaper report: 1,500 acres of crops, bananas, rice and corn worth $6.5 million had been destroyed. People have left their homes for temporary shelters in fear of snakes and electrical poles falling into the water. In many places, there are no drainage systems and the wells have become contaminated leaving residents without a supply of clean water. (more…)