Cholera Outbreak

When we were first told on Wednesday morning that we were not going to the tent cities due to a sickness outbreak, none of us fully expected what it would turn into. What started as a few people dead and dozens sick has escalted into a full blown epidemic, in just 4 days.

It has been confirmed that cholera is the culprit for killing over 200 and sickening over 2,000 people in the bush of Haiti, many of them children. Cholera is spread through human fluid contact and ingesting infected water. There is a river that runs through central Haiti that the tent cities use as their only water source, and it is by that water that Cholera is spreading. Cholera is a bacterial infection that causes excessive diarrhea and vomiting, resulting in dehydration that shuts down the body, within 48 hours of contracting the disease.

The YWAM base we are staying in is about an hour away from the tent cities that are hit the hardest with this disease. The Haitian government has been using this base to drop off water. We have unloaded by hand 3 semi trailers full of water bottles, and have reloaded trucks to distribute water to the tent cities, which is dangerous work. When your children are dying becuase they don't have the means to get clean water, you will not stop at anything to get it to them.

The hospital that many of the sick are going to is about 1 mile from base. It is overrun with sick people. Every bed is occupied, and hundreds more are on the ground on dirty sheets. They have even turned people away becuase of lack of space. We have been doing hospital runs by transporting the sick from the tent cities to the hospital. One woman died in the back of the pickup that Terry, the base leader, was driving to the hospital. When Terry asked some of the boys to disenfect the truck, my mind could not wrap around the fact that a soul left this earth on the back of a truck, 5 feet in front of me, just becuase of dehydration. It is such a curable disease, but because of poverty, they have no means to this cure. The cure is just clean water and a simple antibiotic.

John 10:10 has never seemed more real to me than right now. "The enemy comes like a thief to steal, kill and destroy." First the earth quake, and now this disease. He is stealing the innocense of children, killing of the youth, and destroying families all form this one disease. There must be something about these Haitians. There must be something good in them that satan fears. Why else would he want them dead?

With such a devistating event that is going on around us, there is still hope. Volunteer nurses are staying on base with us and runnign shifts at the hospital. Thousands of water bottles has come in to be distributed. We, as a team, are here to help in anyway we can. There is not a doubt in my mind that we are here for a reason. God knew 4 weeks ago when we first arrived that this would happen, it was no surprise to Him.

Please be praying for Haiti. Pray for the families that have lost loved ones. Pray for those who are sick. Pray for those who have no water. Pray that this ends soon.