Email from Mary Nordby regarding her niece, Rebecca Larkin, and the devastation in Haiti...

Hello All,

Many of you are aware that my brother Larry’s daughter, Rebecca is in Haiti working in a school/orphanage.  Now that her picture was in the Province newspaper yesterday, word is spreading to those who were not.  The paper reported that she is still missing but, thankfully, Becca is ok.  She was able to contact family early yesterday morning through email and also directly with her brother, Sean.  I have attached her email that describes the terrible situation they are in.  She and her husband are ok but there is a lot of destruction.  Her own home has minor damage but the school/orphanage suffered major damage.  The concern now is that their food storage area is buried under rubble and they have no clean water supply or medical aid.  My brother and his wife and my mom are all on a cruise so they did not realize the extent of the damage until they were able to call my niece, Teriann, here, Wednesday.  They are feeling cut off and helpless and terribly worried but Teriann was able to get through to them yesterday and let them know the latest and that Becca and Renel, her husband, are ok.  It’s a horrible tragedy to have happen and the next days and weeks will also be terrible coping with medical emergencies and trying to find food and water.  They are also not able to go inside any structures for fear of them falling so are sleeping outside.  I’ve included an email below that we received Wednesday night, before we knew Rebecca was ok, that describes some of the situation.  Becca contacted the UN yesterday and is hoping for help soon.  An Abbotsford church is organizing aid and is raising money through the link at the bottom of this email which is through the organization Becca works with so we hope that help will reach them soon. 

 Please pass this along to anyone I may have missed.  We want people to know that Becca is not missing but does need your prayers.

 The link below  is to a website with photos of Becca’s town.

Please keep her in your prayers and thank you to all of you who have contacted our family.  We appreciate the support!

 Mary

http://picasaweb.google.com/missionofhope/EarthquakeJan122010#

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Note send out from Heart to Heart organization which Rebecca Larkin works for (this was sent prior to the news that Rebecca is safe)...

Dear H2H supporters,

 As more information surfaces, our concern for the people of Haiti, and in particular, the staff and children at H2H has grown.  We have been able to confirm that Pastor Luc, his wife and children are all okay, but we still have not heard any news about the H2H staff, children at the orphanage and Rebecca, the Canadian missionary working for H2H.  There is still no cell phone service and very little internet service in Grande Goave.  Furthermore, we have no idea yet whether or not our Children’s Home and school have sustained structural damage.

 According to one website: http://www.lifeline.org/news/Haiti.htm, which is another Christian mission in the same town as H2H, the earthquake caused major devastation in Grande Goave.  The hospital has collapsed and many people are trapped under rubble throughout the town.  After the initial earthquake and aftershocks, there was apparently another earthquake around midnight that same day, and tremors occurred every 10 minutes throughout the night.  Lifeline Ministry has three nurses on hand and has become the central station for the towns-people to congregate and sleep, as they are afraid to be inside their own homes and are understandably traumatized by the events.  Lifeline is reporting that people are coming in to their property in large numbers with broken limbs and severe wounds.  One set of distraught parents had brought in their 18 month old boy who was missing his arm.  The nurses had only duct tape to try to stop the bleeding. 

As you can imagine, there is an urgent need for water, food, medical supplies, and fuel.  We are partnering with Abbotsford Vineyard Church to send containers of disaster relief supplies to Haiti as soon as possible.  Please check out our website (www.hearttohearthaiti.com) for more information.  If you would like to contribute to this cause, please go to our website, click on “Ways to Give” at the top, then “Be a Donor”.  In the “purpose” line, please type, “Haiti disaster relief fund”. 

 Thank you for your concern and involvement in Haiti.  Your prayers and support are deeply appreciated.

We will continue to update you as we receive further news.

Sincerely,

Board of Directors

Heart to Heart

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Thursday, Jan.14, 2010...first email from Rebecca Larkin to her family

I am at another mission using their internet.  Grand Goave was hit hard & our compound was severely damaged.  The quakes continue to hit us but they are less severe but strong enough that buildings continue to fall.  By nothing less than the grace of God the children living at H2H are alive & not badly hurt.  We had 4 kids in PauP and we have only found 2.  We are still looking desperately for Kaka (Renel's brother) & Emilio (Jay Michel's brother). Most of the external walls of the compound have collapsed.  The kitchen/dining room/guest house/depo has collapsed completely and the church is beyond repair.  We had 7 kids cleaning the guest house & they fell but we got them removed & they are only minorly scratched.  The ground is shaking as I write and I really shouldn't stay here long.  I hear the phone service should be up by next week but I don't know that for sure.  I will make a huge effort to come to this mission daily to connect with you.  Please pray for us.  Pray for strength.  We can't go into any buildings so we are all sleeping on the open area in the compound. People are starting to travel between towns and since last night news is coming to us about the deaths & the devastation of our family & friends.  Amos' wife was killed when the building she was in collapsed.  Lookens' mom as well. Pastor Luc & his family are fine.  Many others  have died or are badly injured. We are still very much in survival mode.  Our food depo is completely buried, along with all our cooking pots, etc.  We have borrowed & scrambling to buy food locally.  I connected with the UN this morning & they have promised to return this afternoon with their Commander.  We need your prayers more than I can tell you, we are struggling.  We know we have been covered by the grace of God as it could have been so much worse for us.  We are all praising God for his mercy and we know he will continue to care for us.

Please tell my family that I am ok.  I am worried about my parents as they were on a cruise in this area.  Please let me know if you hear anything about them.

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Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010...update email from Rebecca Larkin

There is substantial damage to the school, especially the 2nd floor.  Some of it has fallen flat & the rest is in rough shape.  The children's home is still standing tall but has some large cracks in a few walls and the stairs.  I have pictures of everything but the place I'm connecting by internet won't let me send pictures because of the weak connection & the limited access.  The after shocks continue to hit us and some are strong enough that houses are still falling.  The church is still standing but most windows have fallen and there are large parts of the walls missing.  It continues to crumble with the after shocks too.  We have punctured a hole where the depot was and have removed some food - it was a dangerous decision as a large after shock hit just after we were safetly out.  The UN have come by twice to assess the need but they have no plan yet... at least nothing they are willing to share with us.  Our house is still standing & is in better shape then most.  Our exterior yard wall fell and we have some cracks in the walls but nothing serious.  I have entered it several times to grab supplies... but usually have to run out as it shakes again.  It is difficult to buy any supplies.  People are either unwilling to sell or it's very expensive.  We are incredibly thankful we are alive and doing as well as we are & we know God will provide for our needs.  We (H2H kids, church members, community members) has set up camp in the front end of the yard and we only leave when it's necessary.  We put out sheets at night and sleep... although there's not much sleep happening.  The after shocks are too frequent and strong for us to relax.  Most of our time is filled with singing and praying.  The devastating news continues to come in.  So many have been killed or are injured.  We have found 3 of the kids that were in PauP but can only assume that Kaka (Renel's little brother) was in the building when it fell.  Enorck and a team have been to PauP twice to try to find him & sort through what is left of the house but it was a 4 story building and had a basement and it's completely colapsed.  We are all taking the news of Kaka hard but Renel is taking it the worst.  They were very close.  Mission teams from the US & Canada are being evacuated so I'm sure aid will come soon.  A helicopter passed yesterday to spray something to help with the smell of decomposing bodies.  I don't notice it in Grande Goave but it's unbareable in PauP - so I've been told.  The mourg in GG is overflowing and the bodies within are rotting.  We have several people there (Lookens mom, Amos' wife & several others you don't know) and we've been told to bury them today as they are already soiled.  I hope this information I am giving you don't seem heartless, I feel like I'm just in a survival mode & I want to let you know as much as I can.  I wish I could send you pictures but they have said a definite no.  I asked Pastor Luc what he wanted me to tell you, he said to let you know about the damage to the compound but that we are doing ok and are grateful for God's mercy.  There is no way for him to get money from PauP at this moment so there's no point in sending him anything.  He said it will be very important to get containers of food as soon as possible.  I told him that containers from H2H Canada will likely take months and our best options is to connect with as many organizations within Haiti as possible - he agrees.  I have connected with the UN as best I can and have visited all of the other missions in town.  They were all hit hard as well but don't have as much structural damage as we do.  As for our immediate needs - please pray for our strength and for calmness - we need to mentally get out of survival stage and start thinking more long term to keep our good health.  

Thank you for all your prayers.  I am not able to go through all my emails but please let everyone know how much I appreciate their concern.