My uncle and several other men, including Jacques, were in Haiti for several days to deliver money and assess the needs of the children at the orphanage. They hoped to move the children to a better location but couldn't. They hoped to purchase a vehicle for Jacques' brother but couldn't. According to my uncle it was a couple of days of learning, making connections and planning the next step. I suspect that one of the biggest accomplishments though was to let the Haitian people know, at least some of them, that people are out here and trying to help.
They also encourage and convince the adults to let the children sleep inside Jacques' house (which is several hours from Port au Prince and unaffected by the earthquake). The entire country is sleeping out doors with great fear about going back into buildings again. They are sleeping anywhere they can find space, on the sidewalk and in the 8 ft. median strip of the highway.
Descriptions of the quake from people who were in Port au Prince were that it sounded like a helicopter close to the ground. "Whump, whump, whump", like the blades rotating - but the sound was actually buildings collapsing. My active imagination is struck by that description. You can begin to understand the fear that tightly grips the people now. In the city the stench of sewage and decomposition is constant and my uncle found it horrible that after a couple days he actually started to get used to it.
Jacques does have an up and running website - Source of Life Ministries. Donations can only be accepted through snail mail at this point.
