We are still working on pinning down heavy duty equipment and an operator to remove the rubble and bring down the rest of the kitchen/guesthouse complex as well as the school before the reconstruction process can begin. There were some initial scheduling compications with Jose (the business man Roger and Albert met in the Dominican Republic), but we are hopeful he may still be able to help us out. We have also made connections with Samaritan's Purse who are conducting rubble removal for much of Grande Goave. If neither of these sources work out, we will look into leasing equipment.

Please check out Rebecca's blog for more information on what is happening in Haiti. (www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com)

Here at home, our food and rice collection programs are maintaining a steady pace. To date, we have collected the following:

• 6 pallets of relief goods from Kodak
• 517 buckets of food
• 303 boxes of rice (over 40,000 kg)
• Most of the schools in the Abbotsford school district have donated rice and/or money, as well as several other schools from Mission, Coquitlam, Surrey, Langley, Richmond and Clearwater.
• In Alberta, the Rocky View School District is currently gathering rice and/or money and will continue to do so until at least March.

Two more containers, these ones filled with flour donated by Rogers, are now in transit to Haiti. Another container being filled with lumber and other relief supplies will be leaving Red Deer Alberta within the next couple of weeks.

Many of you have emailed asking about possible medical and/or construction teams going down to Haiti over the next year. We are compiling names of volunteers wanting to travel and work, so if you are interested in joining a team, please send an email to John Neufeld, our chairman, detailing your name, address, phone number, skills, age and availability for 2010. John's email is: johnneufeld2@gmail.com

Thank you for your willingness to serve and stay involved.

Roger and Albert have had another couple of days in Haiti trying to secure long-term care and planning for the rebuilding of Heart to Heart.

They met with the major of Grande Goave, the US military and other NGO's to talk about how each organization will work together to feed the community of Grande Goave. They also talked with Samaritan's Purse about getting help with debris clean up. We are now on their list of organizations they will help. If we can get Jose's backhoe/loader and other heavy equipment, the US military has offered to operate the machinery.

A washroom facility with 3 or 4 flush toilets is currently being constructed. We have torn down and buried the old outhouses (to the cheering of all the children at H2H!) More flush toilets will be installed when we begin the repairs of our Children's Home.

The kitchen/dining room which was destroyed in the earthquake is being relocated to a better position closer to our new school. The footprint of that building has been laid out and once sufficient funds have been raised, construction will begin. This is our first priority in our re-building phase.

Albert and Roger, in consultation with our board chairman, have established a new building code with the masons and carpenters we will use in Haiti. The board members are writing up a specifications package to outline how buildings must be constructed from now on. The primary changes will centre around size of re-bar and the way it is tied in, column support and cement mix to make blocks stronger.

The well water has been treated and tested, and is safe once again to drink.

Roger and Albert finalized the coordination of the receiving and delivering of our containers. The first two containers, which are full of oats, should be entering the DR within two weeks. A trucking company will receive the containers and bring them to Lactose Dominicano plant, where they will package the oats into family-sized bags and then deliver the goods to H2H. Lactose has offered to package our oats free of charge and have given us a very good rate for delivery.

It has been one month today since the devastating earthquake occurred, and in honour of the deceased, churches all over Haiti held services. It was a powerful, moving experience to hear singing and praises to God amidst the grieving of lost loved ones.

Roger and Albert head home tomorrow with mixed emotions - tired, needing to get back to their jobs and families, and reluctant to leave H2H and Haiti where there is so much need.

Feb. 9, 2010

Roger, Albert and two trucks full of food and other essentials arrived safely in the H2H compound yesterday evening. Pastor Luc's brother, Hoslais, and two uniformed policemen sat inside the cabs of each of the trucks, making their presence highly visible, and thankfully, there were no problems at all getting from the DR to Heart to Heart.

Uhlrick (the Haitian man who has been helping Roger and Albert in the DR) will be travelling into Haiti with another vehicle full of food tomorrow (escorted by the police again). We will be giving some of these goods to CHO, an orphanage in Carrefour, who phoned earlier in the week asking for help, as they had very little food left to feed their children. These kinds of exchanges are typical of how Haiti has been operating since the arthquake. The world response of compassion and action towards helping Haiti seems to be the same respose within the country. For the most part, it has been neighbours helping neighbours; charities sharing with each other. A "horder" behavioural trend would be understandable in a climate of post-trauma and extreme poverty, but instead, the tone so far ahas been largely sacrificial and generous. H2H is feeding 600 people in our compound, and in addition to that, Pastor Luc is delivering food to six different locations within Grande Goave. We are giving, but we have also received - food and service from the US Military, food from GLA, an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, and fresh water from Doctors Without Borders.

After a long day of last-minute coordination and travel, Roger and Albert got to H2H to a large welcoming committee! Both kids and adults were so excited to see theeir brothers. Many hugs and stories later, as the night wore on and mattresses were pulled out and lined up on the basketball court for yet another night outside, a few of the boys ventured over to the Children's Home, wanting to sleep inside, but still afraid of what might happen. Roger and Albert pulled a mattress into the boys' room, instantly making it safe. Within minutes they were surrounded by peacefully sleeping ittle boys - curled up, content, protected - sleeping soundly for the first time since January 12.

Today was spent cleaning our community well, playing with kids and further assessing the damage to our buildings. (see Rebecca's blog for pictures: www.rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com) We need to be in consultation with engineers, but we are optimistic that our Children's Home may only need to be repaired instead of demolished and rebuilt. Our first floor of the school also appears to be in reasonably good condition. The second floor of the school is completely flattened and it will take major work to remove the rubble and then rebuild. The kitchen/dining room/guest house is completely destroyed and the church apppears to be beyond repair. Our perimeter wall was badly damaged, but work to repair it began several days ago and it is now almost completely restored.

We are still hoping to secure the dump truck and backhoe/loader from the business man (Jose) Roger and Albert met in the DR. The logistics of getting the equipment to Grande Goave, findiing a qualified operator and Jose having to return soon to the US are a few of the hurdles to work out.

Feb. 6, 2010

Good news/bad news....

First the bad news. Roger and Albert got through their "to do" list of essentials to purchase on Friday afternoon, had cleared their purchases with the Haitian embassy to bring the goods into Haiti, and were all set to start packing everything into their new truck and a rental van, when they wre told that the bank in Santo Domingo had not quite finished the paperwork for the truck. No amount of encouragement, pleading, coercing, and "firm" talk could get the bank to move any quicker, and so Roger and Albert were not able to leave for Haiti this morning to deliver the goods to H2H. They have had to reschedule the trip for Monday after the bank re-opens. Needless to say, the board members were very frustrated and discouraged, and saw this as two lost days in a very tight schedule, and lost opportunity to spend time with our "family" at H2H.

Now the good news. With a little extra time on their hands and a need to commiserate, Roger and Albert were telling their story to a business man who was staying at the same guesthouse in the Dominican. This man happened to own a heavy-equipment construction company. He had been hired to do some construction work in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake happened. That job disappeared in an instant, but some of his equipment - a dump truck and a backhoe/loader was still in Port-au-Prince. When he heard about H2H, he called his mother, the matriarch of the company, and she said, "Give them what they need."!!! Roger and Albert are now working out the details of how to get this equipment and an operator into Grande Goave to begin knocking down cracked and un-repairable buildings and removing rubble. Is God great or what?!! In addition to this connection, the board members have now had the time to meet with various trucking companies and are close to securing a reliable source to receive and transport our containers once they arrive in Santo Domingo at the end of the month. Side note....Roger and Albert have delayed their return home by 3 days, so they will still be able to spend 5 days in Haiti and return to Canada on Feb. 13.

It has now been over 3 weeks since the earthquake. The Feb. 12 deadline for government matching funds is fast approaching, and H2H is in the final stages of writing a proposal to CIDA (Canadian Internation Development Agency) to receive matching funds. $100,000 of the funds we have raised so far has been designated for food not only for the children at H2H, but all of Grande Goave. The ten containers we are sending will be equitably distributed by H2H and partnering churches, to smaller villages not reached by larger charitable organizations. We anticipate that the need for food from places other than Port-au-Prince will continue for well over a year, and with CIDA's help, we would love to be a part of that work. We do desire, at the same time, to rebuild our compound and help our students and staff get back to a productive, meaningful life. Therefore, effective immediately, all donations received can be designated for either "food relief" or "rebuilding fund".

On that note, we wanted to express our sincere thanks to each and every one of you. It is always a bit of a risk to name people and organizations who have raised money or brought in food, because we know we are leaving out a hundred other people and businesses who have either given money, time, or goods, or made the effort to contact their network of friends and colleagues to tell them about H2H. We know you are doing this behind the scenes because we are receiving donations and emails from complete strangers all over the country - in fact all over the world. We have been blessed by a few gifts from large corporations and equally blessed by donations from single mothers, seniors on limited income, hardworking families, and children and teenagers - all giving what they can. It all matters. What you're dong matters; so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Feb. 4, 2010

H2H board members, Roger Medley and Albert Wiens had another eventful day in the Dominican Republic. They bought chemicals, hoses and other accessories to treat the well water at H2H. They plan to clean and treat the water for two days and then take a sample back to the DR for testing. If this system works for removing Ecoli and other toxic substances, we may not have to purchase an expensive filtering system.

They were also able to secure at wholesale prices, thirty- 125 lb. bags of both rice and beans. We have been going through one bag of rice a day, feeding 600 families. Uhlrick, the Haitian man living in the DR who has been helping Roger and Albert these past couple of days, was able to locate a relatively inexpensive 4-burner industrial stove (no oven, just a stove). Elna and the other cooks at H2H will be relieved to upgrade from cooking in a big pot over charcoal. Albert and Roger also purchased a generator for Rebecca. When she and Renel are able to move back into their home, they will now have power to run at least a refrigerator.

Tomorrow, Albert and Roger plan to finish up the purchases and load up the new Diahatsu truck as well as another rental 22' cube van with all the supplies. They will then make their way towards the Haitian/Dominican border early Saturday morning where they will be met by Luc's brother Hoslais (a high ranking police officer) and 3 other uniformed policemen and escorted to Grande Goave.

Here at home, we have some very exciting news from the city of Surrey and Pacific Community Church. The city has partnered with the Surrey fire department, Pacific Community Church and H2H to collect food and suppplies on an ongoing basis. The city has also offered technical expertise for rebuilding and reconstruction of the devastated Caribbean nation. Please see the link below for more information.

http://www2.canada.com/surreynow/news/story.html?id=663fa33a-9371-47a0-8c57-0209d1fc2a26

Feb. 3, 2010

H2H board members Roger Medley and Albert Wiens arrived in the Domincan Republic yesterday and have had a busy day purchasing essential supplies that will not be arriving on the containers.

The first item on their "to do" list was a major purchase. A group of anonymous donors helped H2H purchase a large Diahatsu pckup which we will be using to transport food. Once at H2H, the truck will be used for transporting supplies and people as well as removing rubble from our compound. During the negotiation process, Roger and Albert told the dealership owner about our work, and he jumped on board to help, offering H2H his warehouse to store supplies, and then sent out a couple of his employees with a cube van to help with transportation!

With Elna's list in hand (Luc's wife), Roger and Albert found a DR version of Costco and got most of their supplies there. They've picked up alcohol for infections, cutlery, juice jugs, personal hygiene items, laundry soap, bleach, underwear, canned meat and vegetables, juice, sugar, salt, ground corn and other food items. They then purchased shovels, sledge hammers, hand saws, blades for electrical saws, tarps, electrical cords, hammers and nails. They intend on picking up barrels of diesel and lumber tomorrow. The lumber will be used to support the existing temporary shelters and to create new ones.

Our well water, unfortunately, tested positive for ecoli a couple of days ago, so we've also purchased chlorine to treat the water until we can get a proper filtration system.

Here at home the food collection is still in full swing:

• The Abbotsford Police and Fire Departments have a little competition going on to see who can bring in the most rice. So far we have received 250 bags - suffice to say, the Fire Dept. needs to step it up a little if they hope to win!
• Raft River Elementary school from Clearwater, B.C. donated 200 lbs. of rice and $840 through a bake sale and twoonie drive.
• Lotus Light Charity Society from Vancouver has given us 20,000 lbs. of rice.
• The tri-cities are coming together on February 20 and 21 at the Coquitlam Centre mall to fill a 40 foot shipping container with basic baby supplies. With the support of local businesses and residents, local Mom's Julie Rogers and Jacqueline Goring are on a mission to fill a container with diapers, powdered formula, children's vitamins, children's Tylenol and other baby supplies to be shipped directly to the H2H Children's Home for distribution to orphanages.