This week end in great fashion as a very dear friend,
Roseline and Anil Kumar came and visit us. They are from India and work under
the Leprosy people down in the South of India. Just love what they are doing
and my heart is there with them.
Now who are they? Roseline was one of our leaders in
our DTS with Ywam way back in 1996. That brings back so many memories. Together
with Angela we are visiting and talk about all these years. We did not see each
other in 23 years. What a reunion.
Tomorrow we will hit the road to Kampong Tom again
and do some needed medical outreaches together with my friends. Looking forward
to being back in the jungle again. Please pray for our safe journey.
Anton came back from the camp with lots of stories. He
is very tired and will not go with us to the jungle and rather stay home and
rest. Pray for him that he can rest out in these 2 days that they have off.
Being a teenager is not for sissies hahaha.
Please pray for Haiti. You do not hear anything in
the news but this is fresh from our friend Sarah that is working there.
Olive Tree
February 11 at 11:03 AM ·
If you follow the news out of Haiti, you
have probably heard that Haiti is in the midst of nationwide protests that have
been happening sporadically since June, but have really doubled down since last
Wednesday.
There are complicated reasons behind the
protesting, but the bottom line is that people are suffering due to government
corruption. Inflation is astronomical. Billions of dollars loaned to the
Haitian government has gone missing. There is a nationwide fuel shortage
because the Haitian government can’t pay to bring in fuel, and so there has
been almost no city power provided. Even those with backup generators are in
the dark because their ability to find diesel is scarce. Many teachers have
stopped coming to school because they have not been getting paid by the
government. Same goes for other government workers.
It’s just a mess and the Haitian people
are demanding accountability from the government. One specific demand is that
the President step down. So far he has declined to do so. Many are speculating
that there will be a coup.
In Jacmel things are generally calmer
than the capital, Port au Prince. Our streets are often eerily quiet. But we
have had our share of protests and roadblocks lately as well, and every area of
our organization has been impacted.
Schools were closed a few days last week
and it’s not looking good so far for this week. We had to shut down the clinic
a couple of days last week as well because the roads were impassible for our
some of our staff, and there was the concern that even if they were able to
make it into work, that they wouldn’t be able to make it home. Conditions seem
to be changing very rapidly and keeping our staff safe is our highest priority
in making decisions about whether or not to open the clinic.
We had to transport a patient to the
hospital on Thursday night. They had to take backroads to get there since the
main roads were blocked. Luckily the hospital was open, but we think that may
have changed as we’ve heard they do not have diesel for the generators and we
know many hospital workers aren’t getting paid. Today Judith is finding out
what the situation is at the public hospital. If they are indeed shut down, she
is going to try to set up a back-up plan with a private doctor and hospital in
case we have an emergency.
We were fortunate to receive a grant for
a generator for the bottle depot and so recently we purchased it. However,
because of blocked roads, we’ve been unable to get it from Port Au Prince. With
roads blocked and no city power, the bottle depot hasn't been working.
Keep Haiti in your prayers. Keep OTP in
your prayers. Right now, things are looking pretty grim.
Love you all
Rossouw-clan
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