HAITI – Two years ago, a devastating earthquake ripped through the nation of Haiti—changing it forever. Since then, so many of you have made such a significant impact in these communities that we wanted to share just a few of the things your support has accomplished over the last two years.

• Clean Water – At the height of our relief efforts, 35 water purification units provided safe drinking water to more than 100,000 people…every day. We also drilled more than 30 wells and have been producing and distributing enough chlorine to hospitals and orphanages to disinfect millions of gallons of drinking water each day.

• Medical Care – When the quake hit, you helped us ship millions of dollars worth of medicine to Haiti. A few months later, we were among the first responders to the deadly cholera outbreak. We also distributed more than 3,000 wheelchairs to those in need and constructed a new surgical unit and emergency facility at St. Luke’s Family Hospital.

• Food Distribution – Immediately following the earthquake, we shipped cargo containers of emergency food supplies to feed hundreds of orphans, children, and families in need. Today, we are giving poverty-stricken families a source of income and high protein food source through fish farms.

• Orphan Care – We joined hands with Partners in Health to open Zanmi Beni Children’s Home for orphans and special needs children. Today we are continuing to improve the home through a new dormitory and even growing tilapia to provide a source of protein for the children.

In 2012, we are looking ahead to even more exciting initiatives for Haiti including being able to significantly increase the number of wells we can build each year thanks to the purchase of a new well drilling rig.

We humbly thank you for your compassion for the people of Haiti and the suffering around the world.

Haiti – I’ll never forget the day I met Nastalie.

Our team had just arrived to her village of Luben, Haiti, which is in the heart of the region where the deadly cholera outbreak started.

The village is surrounded by rice fields, which just two months before had been flooded with cholera-contaminated waters, surrounding the village with disease and basically cutting them off from any aid or hope of help.

Nastalie’s mom told us how she had heard the warnings on the radio to not drink from the river. But the river was their life source—the place where they bathed, cleaned clothes, and collected water for cooking and drinking.

For four days, they went without drinking water.

The mom was desperate and cried out to God for help – and the very next day an Operation Blessing truck loaded with Lifesaver jerrycans arrived, which would provide them with purified drinking water and protect them against the cholera.

As we’re walking through the village and talking, this precious 5-year-old, Nastalie, reaches up and grabs my hand, and with her other hand begins to softly stroke my arm and presses it against her dirt-stained cheek.

I don’t speak Creole, so I couldn’t really communicate well with Nastalie, but her tender touch said everything that words could not.

Nastalie is alive and healthy today because of the compassionate efforts of our supporters who enabled us to send relief to her village…just in time.

On behalf of Nastalie, her family, and all the villagers of Luben, thank you for your compassion, and merry Christmas.

Operation Blessing staff Lara Coleman shares the latest on OBI’s relief and development projects in Haiti.

MEDAN BELIZE, Haiti – Today we brought our water truck and another vehicle filled with food down the treacherous road towards Lake Azuei. We were able to deliver 4,000 gallons of clean water and nearly 1.5 tons of food to the 45 families living in the village Medan Belize.

There were enough supplies to help an additional 30 families living in the neighboring village called Canez.

The items we delivered included packaged military food supplies and “Manny Food” packs, which are a mix of rice and soy, packed with nutrients to help malnourished children.

MEDAN BELIZE, Haiti – The rainy season has officially started in Haiti, and while the rains are needed for crop production, for many people the season spells trouble. Last year flooding from heavy rain spread cholera, resulting in the tragic death of thousands of Haitians. Operation Blessing played a major part in bringing the cholera outbreak under control in the Artibonite region through the provision of clean water.

Now Haiti is bracing for a resurgence of cholera and Operation Blessing is ready to respond with emergency water systems and disinfecting chlorine solution if needed. The rainy season will also bring misery to those still living in tent camps since the earthquake. Operation Blessing continues to operate 35 water purification systems to provide displaced families with safe water despite their unsafe surroundings.

For the villagers of Medan Belize, the rainy season is seen as a nuisance; the rain erodes their mud homes and leaks through their thatch roofs. But Operation Blessing is helping the villagers keep dry and make the most out of the rain. We distributed metal roofing materials to all 72 families in the village which will allow them to cover their homes and harvest the rain for drinking water.

Without the harvested rain water, the villagers would need to make a four-mile trek to collect water from a well. Operation Blessing distributed Lifesaver jerrycans to each family in the village, the jerrycans allow the families to filter the rainwater before drinking; it’s safe and effective and is making a huge difference.

As I write this a huge thunderstorm is raging outside and it’s pouring down rain. But tonight families in Medan Belize will be hearing these raindrops beating against their new metal roofs instead of leaking through the thatch and tomorrow they will have safe clean water to drink.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – It’s Mother’s Day in Haiti, and for the kids at the Zanmi Beni Children’s Home it’s a time to celebrate and say thank you to all the staff “moms.” All of the children at Zanmi Beni are either orphans or were abandoned at birth, so it is the female staff members here that have developed special bonds with the children and shown them motherly love all year long. It is so evident when you hear the children calling out “Mama!” that the kids and staff at Zanmi Beni are one big family.

It was a special day for the Operation Blessing team since it was the first time the new dining room and kitchen had been used. Last year’s Mother’s Day celebrations were held under a mango tree. This year, after continual improvements and construction at Zanmi Beni, the party was held in a beautiful new building on the campus.

It was also great to reflect on how far along the children have come. Little Natasha was a tiny infant last year, just a few months old, today she was sitting in a high chair with pink ribbons in her hair. Thanks to the hard working physical therapists, some of the children who were sitting in wheelchairs last year were on their feet and dancing with “Mama Loune” today.

As the “moms” were served a big Mother’s Day feast, the kids put on headbands that read “Happy Mother’s Day.” Music was playing and children were dancing, singing, and hugging the staff. Soon all these children will be able to move into the new dormitory building, which is just days away from completion.

The Zanmi Beni campus continues to expand and improve and the children are flourishing. It was clear today that the Zanmi Beni “family” is growing closer and that on Mother’s Day these beautiful children get to feel true motherly love.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there from the Operation Blessing Haiti team.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Today is a heavy day for us here in Haiti as we stop to reflect and pray for the victims and their families. The Haiti earthquake anniversary is bringing back memories and emotions of those difficult hours, days and weeks that we all endured last year.  Yet through the challenges we faced, it’s amazing and miraculous to look back and see our accomplishments and consider how much we were able to achieve as a team.

Yesterday I visited our fish farms, our fishing village, went to the general hospital and attended a candlelight vigil for the dead at the site of the mass graves at Tetanye. Eric installed washers and dryers at the cholera clinic and was making big improvements to our guesthouse. It is still nonstop here—a year after it all started.

Watch “The Hope That Remains: Remembering Haiti One Year Later”

Despite the media’s criticism over the seemingly slow pace of the recovery effort, every day we see positive change thanks to our work and the strength given to us by God. One of the most powerful miracle stories that reflects this is the story of Jessica.

It was day seven after the earthquake and our team of Israeli paramedics were working tirelessly to treat wounds and do everything they could to save the lives of injured Haitians. OB had established a field hospital in the heart of Port-au-Prince and it had become the focal point for many of the wounded in the city. Suddenly the already noisy clinic was roused with the shouts of two men running into the stadium carrying a little girl. They laid her on one of the consultation tables and screamed frantically that she was “still alive.”

The fact Jessica was still alive was a miracle. She had been in her home when the quake struck. Her grandmother grabbed her arm and bolted for the door but it was too late—the house collapsed around them entombing them in layers of concrete. In the pitch darkness Jessica was completely pinned and unable to move but could still feel her grandmother’s hand gripping her arm. For three days her grandmother would squeeze her arm to let her know she was still there, but on the third day the squeezing stopped and her hand went cold. Jessica knew her grandmother had died. She laid there four more days in the heat with no food or water.

The doctors scrambled to get IVs into her withered veins, her eyes were rolled back and she was completely limp.  I could smell the stench of death on her, the smell of her grandmother’s decaying body.  

She was as close to death as I have ever seen anybody, as close to death as you can possibly be. But despite every imaginable pain, darkness, sickness, and fear that had come against her, 30 minutes later Jessica opened her eyes. She was alive.

I first saw Jessica seven days after the quake. She came back to life in front of my eyes and was soon able to talk in a faint whisper. It was one of the moments that will last with me forever, one of many moments that have come to define our success in Haiti. So today, 358 days after we first met, I wanted to see Jessica and check on her recovery.  

We drove downtown through streets that were once covered in rubble but are now clear, past the general hospital which now has improved infrastructure thanks to OB, past the stadium where it all took place, to Jessica’s new house.

I was half expecting to meet a child still bearing the mental scars of her ordeal, but instead I saw Jessica at the window smiling and waving, excited to have visitors.

She ran out and gave me a hug, giggled and took us inside. She couldn’t remember me from that day, but I hadn’t expected that. Her parents had told her that we were “good people who had saved her.” Jessica is doing amazingly well. She went through a time of therapy and is now back in school. I asked her what she would like to be when she grows up and she said “a teacher.” We laughed with the family and spoke of the remarkable circumstances of Jessica’s survival. After a big high five and a hug, we left. I was so happy to see Jessica thriving.

Jessica’s survival represents the destiny of Haiti and the Haitian people. Despite all the cards stacked against this nation, at rock bottom in a seemingly impossible recovery, Haiti will spring back to thrive again one day. And just like Jessica’s determination in not allowing her will to be crushed, the Haitian people will end up surprising us all in how quickly they can recover given the right circumstances.

I’m proud to be a part of our organization and knowing that there are countless “Jessicas” in Haiti that we have saved and will go on to empower in the coming year. Please stand with us in prayer today for Haiti and for the strength to enable us to continue to play a vital role in Haiti’s recovery.

LUBEN, Haiti – Tony Cece, OBI’s video producer, was on the ground in Haiti at the height of the cholera outbreak, and now, 2 months later, he is back to visit the patients he helped.

I’m pretty tired after the weekend up in the St. Marc region, but I just wanted to share my personal excitement and answered prayers with you.  All three of the worst cholera patients that Operation Blessing helped in Luben in October survived and are doing very well!

Mejin and Louvenskeigh are the two children that Eric Lotz, OBI’s national director for Haiti, and I drove to the clinic a couple miles up the road.  I didn’t even recognize Mejin because she looks much younger now that she is healthy and her face has filled in.

Mejin when she was ill with cholera in October, and now healthy.

It was unfortunate to learn that her 8-month-old sister had died on Oct. 18 of cholera, before they knew what it was and could properly treat the disease.  Her mother had feared that she would also lose Mejin.  She was very, very grateful for the help we provided.

The villagers all recognized us from that trip. To the villagers’ delight, I showed them pictures on my phone from that day. But I kept skipping over photos of Bernice because I really didn’t think he could have survived, and I really didn’t want to hear that he had died.  I had prayed so hard for all three of these individuals ever since the day we met them; I didn’t want to have failed them somehow.

When we were at Mejin’s house, I turned around to see a smiling Bernice right behind me.  He quickly grabbed my hand and shook it, and I shook back in complete awe.  He looked fit and healthy.  We keep finding such testimonies of a powerful God that is working through everyone at Operation Blessing to breathe His life into His children.

Bernice when he was ill with cholera, and now fit and healthy.

GRANDE SALINE, Haiti – At around 7 a.m., we loaded the box truck with a boat, motor, fuel, and about 50 gallons of chlorine solution, picked up scientists Stacy and Gretchen, and headed up the road toward St. Marc.

Stacey is a chemist and Gretchen is a biologist doing her Ph.D. on cholera and copepods. Both are graduate research assistants at SUNY School of Public Health near Albany, NY.

The 2-hour drive along the coast was spectacular—crystalline waves lapped sandy beaches and coconut palms swayed in the breeze. What a startling difference in scenery between these coastal postcard vistas and the chaos of the city we left behind.

St. Marc is a medium-sized city where the first cholera victims showed up at the hospital. In the early days of the outbreak, doctors from Partner’s in Health told us they interviewed every patient to find out where they lived, and then drew lines on maps to track the source of the disease. All lines pointed to the Artibonite River and a canal that originates from the Artibonite and meanders through the lush patchwork of rice fields and small villages.

We turned off the paved highway and drove for about 30 minutes along a narrow, cratered dirt road that paralleled the canal. As we drove along, villagers with sunny smiles waved and shouted greetings in Creole. Eric said that they recognized our vehicles. OBI vehicles had been on that road during the first rain soaked days of the outbreak, using bumper-mounted winches to drag our SUVs through the deep mud in order to deliver life-saving water purification systems and jerrycans.

Finally we came to a spot on the main river where we could launch our boat. We backed up as far as possible through a wall of green thorn bushes, and then carried the boat, motor and supplies to the river’s edge. The water level had dropped about 5’ since Eric’s last visit, so we had to be careful not to slip down the steep, slick, muddy embankment. I was amazed at the power of the current as it swept and swirled, the water the exact color of chocolate milk.

We launched and headed downstream. It was a 45-minute ride to Grande Saline.  Between the current and our tiny 9.9 horsepower outboard, my GPS reported a speed of 8.3 mph. In spite of our slow speed, the bow of the boat was still throwing some spray because we were running so low in the water. The muddy water speckled my shirt and glasses.

Stacy and Gretchen warned us to keep our mouths closed when facing the bow, so that contaminated river spray couldn’t get into our mouths. They explained that cholera bacteria can only live when wet; once dried, it dies, but while waterborne… it is deadly. Hearing that, I turned around and faced the stern but kept sneaking glances over my shoulder because we had to watch for floating logs and debris. A bent prop or sheared pin would be a problem, since there was no coast guard or anyone to tow us in.

We arrived at Grande Saline and pulled up next to OBI’s water purification system. A group of smiling villagers ran to meet us. As soon as we verified that the system was functioning properly, we explained that we were there to do research and needed to get back in the boat to secure water samples. Gretchen wanted to pull water samples from multiple locations, starting at a point where saltwater was mixing with river water.

We motored to the river’s mouth and tested salinity with a device called a “refractometer,” but since there was an outgoing tide, the current of the Artibonite prevented any saltwater from flowing upstream. We were reluctant to go off shore because of the danger of being swept out to sea if the motor quit. Repeated refractometer tests showed no salt, so we eased offshore about a mile and found perfect conditions; about 10% saltwater mixed with 90% fresh. The scientists then dragged a tiny, funnel-shaped, fine mesh, seine net behind the boat with the hope of capturing some copepods.

Copepods are tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that generate minute quantities of sugar that cholera bacteria love to eat; so they hang around copepods. If someone drinks water that contains free-swimming cholera bacteria it’s very bad, but if the water contains any (almost invisible) bacteria-infested copepods, the unfortunate person gets a super dose of the disease-causing bacteria. Salt excites copepods as well as the bacteria, making for a powerful “witches brew” swirling in the mouth of the river. There is speculation in the scientific community that Grande Saline suffered an inordinate number of deaths because of this. 

We collected samples from different locations and the scientists were ecstatic. They said we had captured copepods and tried to show me. My aging eyes could only detect minute white specks flitting about the test tubes in erratic movement that reminded me of the flight of a bat.

The women explained that their research into how cholera bacteria relates to its environment could help open the door to better understanding of the origin of the disease. They told me that their research could result in a breakthrough in the fight against the disease, and thanked us, saying that OBI was now a part of their research effort.

After we finished gathering water samples, I met with village leaders to discuss how OBI can help the people of Grande Saline by providing ocean fishing gear. During my previous visit I had requested that the (41) fishing families elect two spokespersons, then make a prioritized list of items that would enable them to catch and sell more of the fish and shrimp that abound in the waters just off shore. I am confident that once the threat of cholera passes, that this village, situated on the edge of a sea teeming with fish, shrimp and lobster, can break the bonds of poverty and prosper. All they need is some gentle guidance and some gear.

The leadership committee presented me with a list written in Creole. Eric translated and helped me understand it. I asked some questions and promised to return to the U.S. and start gathering the items. The people are very excited about this development. Grande Saline will become the first saltwater model in OBI’s ever-expanding “Teach a Nation to Fish” program.

The sun was getting low, so we headed back up the river to our launch site. With five of us in the boat, our tiny outboard struggled against the unrelenting current and the trip took almost twice as long as it had earlier in the day. The river looked so peaceful, the banks lined with enormous mango trees just starting to fruit and drooping coconut palms. White crane-like birds glided gracefully along looking for an evening meal. So much beauty amidst so much suffering. As we passed scattered villages, I was aghast to see hundreds of villagers crowding the rivers edge, dipping multi-colored pails into the muddy water.

The villagers had waited until the cool of evening to go down to the river’s edge to gather water for drinking and cooking. The shouts of children laughing and splashing carried across the water as we passed by.

My heart ached as I thought about the agony sure to come to some of the families as a result of drinking the poisoned water of the Artibonite. There I was, safe and sound, swigging bottled water, worried about a few drops of river spray landing in my mouth, while whole villages bathed and drank from the river that had already killed so many. As I watched the villagers and my eyes started to ache, I experienced a powerful epiphany:

The people of Haiti are dying from cholera, but it isn’t the river that’s killing them… its poverty. Underneath it all, Poverty is the silent killer.

We must do more.

ST. LUCIA – Our two WMI water purification systems are now in St. Lucia and out of customs. The first system is in place and will begin pumping clean water tomorrow morning. It is in a town named Canaries (pronounced “Cannereez”) with a population of more than 2,000 people.

The town has been without water since Hurricane Tomas came through. Since then the townsfolk have been drinking from streams and rivers and setting up makeshift water spouts out of bamboo tapping into the mountainside.

OBI was asked to target Canaries because the government has no idea when they will be able to restore water to the area; the damage to the pipe infrastructure was massive. Our water system will be a lifeline. Tonight, as we were setting it up, members of the community were clapping with excitement.

Yesterday I attended a local press conference and was asked to explain how our water systems worked. I also gave a demonstration of the puritabs and water test kits OBI donated.

Our second water unit is destined for a community on the south side of the island and will arrive there tomorrow.

HAITI – We are leaving at 7 a.m. for a three hour drive north to what I call “The Mesopotamia of Misery,” otherwise known as the Artibonite River. The Artibonite seems to be the main source of the cholera bacteria in Haiti.

We are taking two scientists from Albany, NY to the Artibonite. One is a biologist doing her PhD on cholera and copepods and the other is a chemist. They tell me that the tiny copepods (shrimp-like crustaceans) give off a type of sugar that the cholera bacteria love to eat, so the bacteria hang around them. The biologist explained that their study will shed light on the relationship of the bacteria to the environment, and in so doing, open the door to a greater understanding how to combat the disease.

The scientists have very fine mesh nets to capture the little critters. They want to get to the mouth of the river (where I was three weeks ago in the UN chopper) and drag the little nets behind the boat. There is something about the tidal area, where the salty sea mixes with the fresh water that sets the bacteria into a feeding frenzy.

One of the scientists is the niece of Father Rick (from St. Damien Hospital) and she told me her story in his office yesterday morning after services. When I heard about the net and catching stuff in the water that might hold a key to cholera research, I told them that if they changed their tickets to a day later that we would take them to the mouth of the Artibonite by boat.

Today’s trip will be a bit dicey. Our new inflatable boat with 30 horsepower Yamaha motor is stuck in customs where it has languished for almost a month. David borrowed a bass boat from Valentine Abe (founder of NGO Caribbean Harvest) with 9 horsepower motor a couple weeks ago so we could service our WMI water system in Grande Saline. It does fine going downstream, but struggles coming back against the current. Eric took the boat to Grande Saline last week with diesel fuel for the WMI system and chlorine solution for the villagers. He said it took about 20 minutes going there and two hours running back against the current.

We bought a new 30 horsepower outboard motor yesterday. It is the only kind available in Haiti. Eric was running it through the break-in regimen in a 55 gallon drum of water when it seized up. He rushed all the way back across Port-au-Prince to the dealer and arrived just before closing time. He exchanged the motor for new one. After returning, he started up the second one, which ran for about 30 minutes when it also seized up! Better there than in the river today where a dead motor could allow us to be swept into the open sea.

This is so typically “life in Haiti,” where even new products have problems, and the good materials are stuck in customs. It makes it hard to get work done here. It takes a special attitude to hang in there. You have to fill yourself with a fierce determination and an absolute refusal to give up.

Besides the science project, we will check on our WMI unit in Grande Saline and I will meet with the fishermen there. When I was there a few weeks ago I asked the fishermen to make a list of what they need to catch more fish. One exciting thing they told me is that there are beautiful shrimp in the sea, and “plenty of lobsters,” but of course no gear to catch them.

I know already that it takes more than nets and traps to be in the shrimp or lobster business. The community needs ice! It would be wonderful to revitalize Grande Saline by putting in a small ice-making plant and supplying some better fishing gear. When in Aceh, Indonesia, following the tsunami I learned that “whoever has the ice controls the fish market.” Right now the market in Haiti is wide open!

I have laid awake nights wondering why there isn’t a vibrant saltwater fishery in Haiti, a country surrounded on three sides by the bountiful Caribbean. It looks like Grand Saline might be OBI’s first saltwater “Teach a Nation to Fish” model.