On Friday January 15th, a report was given at an assembly full of elders from all over the city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. [There are 50 assemblies in the city] The report was given by a brother who had just arrived the day before from Port au Prince, Haiti. Based on his report, the decision was made to send into Haiti two very qualified men via highway. They were to see and assess what would be the best way of helping believers and unbelievers alike in the area that they found and decided to focus on.
One of the brethren is Josue [Joshua]. He works for an American humanitarian society that has operations in the DR and Haiti. He is Haitian and a wonderful brother who is in fellowship in one of our assemblies in the capital. [Santo Domingo.] As of this morning, they have now returned from their trip. Josue has spoken with the organization he works for and they have made their facilities in Jimani [on the DR side but very close to the border] available for any operations/warehousing/home-base that the brethren might want to have. This eliminates hours of travel back and forth from the capital. A real blessing.
The Dominican brethren already have 25 doctors/translators lined up to go in to Haiti. They also have some engineers/technicians/workmen ready to go in for construction projects. These later teams however, are going after the medical teams have done most of their work as this currently is the most pressing need. The DR brethren have already requested authority/permission from the Haitian government to give our doctors full liberty/right to treat and prescribe medicines to the Haitian people. They have also requested that they have the right to send any critical cases to our current clinic in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. [The clinic there was not affected by the earthquake.] The main reason for this is because all the hospitals in Haiti are full and even in the DR they are completely saturated with cases. There is nowhere to take these critical cases. Our clinic will be swamped.
As far as supplies/medicines/food/materials, all are being purchased in the DR. The brethren inform that even most of the large international operations have now switched their supply-line from the ships/containers/ports in Haiti, to the DR. There is a complete infrastructure, open airports and shipping ports that are available. Supplies are being replaced continually and most everything is available in the DR. The brethren also tell me that they have decided to keep the administration part of the relief operations in Santo Domingo. The main reason is there are elders from different assemblies who are accountants, economists and computer savvy folk who can maintain accounting of how funds are spent, by whom and what for. They are looking for transparency. What a blessing!
Juan Manuel is our main point of contact and a man of immense ability and know-how. He is an excellent Bible teacher, elder, administrator, weekly radio speaker, owns his own business, organizes conferences and building projects, etc. Juan states that they have also sent out another team as of today to a different area hit by the earthquake. Like the first team, they will determine if this area can be helped efficiently and how they need to plan for it. The main contacts in this second area are with some native leaders of some very fundamental Baptist churches. These men have already sought help from the brethren because of their knowledge of the over 300 assemblies in the DR. They have promised to provide accommodations. They are in desperate need of food, medicines and doctors. Having accommodations or a place of safety, where to sleep and stay will help immensely.
Again in no way is this intended to be a solicitation for funds. It is intended to keep the believers informed as to the movements and work that we are supporting through the Dominican brethren who are so capable and familiar with the Haitian people. If you did not receive our first communication, I believe it is posted on the DNS web site. www.dnsrelief.org You will find there are five different addresses where one can help financially if they so wish.
United States:
• CMML - PO Box 13, Spring Lake, NJ 07762-0013
• DNS Relief - 4611 109th Place NE, Marysville, WA 98271-8355
• 56th Street Gospel Chapel – 3902 Corporex Park Drive, Suite 650, Tampa, FL 33619
Canada:
• DNS Relief - 301-34 Swansea Road, Unionville, ON L3R 0W3
• MSC Canada - 101 Amber Street, Unit 16, Markham, ON, L3R 3B2
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