Poor Children's Assistance Project

Welcome to the Poor Children's Assistance Project
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Update February 8th @ 8:00 PM
The news out of Haiti is still a cry of desperation. Thanks to many friends of this ministry we have been able to send much needed money to help alleviate some of the suffering. If not for your love many would go hungry. I do not know how the distribution we see on TV is being done but I do know it is not reaching the families we know. One call received from a brother who does not know much English was reslly sad, He said "No water, No food, No money". Our Haitian brothers and sisters are staying strong and trusting God to make a way. In some of the churches they are cleaning up the rubble by hand. They feel it is important to clean up the mess so they will have a place to worship. Brian Lloyd will be going to Haiti later this week. We will be able to put more up to date information as we receive it. Some new photos have been added. Keep praying trusting and believing that our Lord Jesus will make a way where there seems to be no way.
JB
Update Sunday 5:30 PM
I spoke with Ricot this morning at 9:30. He told me to tell everyone it is really bad in Haiti, especially in City of God and Savanne Pistache, There is no water, no food, no stores open, no banks open. He did receive the bank transfers that were sent before that banks closed. He said there are many robbers in the street taking anything they can from other people. Like if you did find some food to buy, the robbers would be waiting for you and take it from you.
Keep praying for our brothers and sisters.

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Update Friday Night 11:59 PM
Here is the latest from Brian Lloyd.
Wow the last few days have been really chaotic. Sorry for lack of updates. Tuesday was spent preparing for our team to arrive and procuring more clean water and food, some for the Coq Chante orphans and some of which we took to distribute in the hard hit community of Belloc. Our first team arrived Wednesday and we spent the day recieving them and our team of docs started right away treating the injured.We spent the day yesterday in Leogane working with some great docs from Iowa and Minnesota. We partnered with them and the teams provided amputations, took care of lots of broken bones, dislocated pelvis, major lacerations, etc.
The damage in Leogane is indescribable. I don't know if loss of life was as bad as PaP, but destruction is the worst of any places I've been - PaP, Carrefour, Jacmel, etc. I'd estimate 90% of the buildings are destroyed. It was devastating.
Today I'm leaving and I'm so torn. My heart is here and wants to help but in many ways I feel so inadequate to try and meet the needs. I feel as if I'm trying to put a band-aid on a severed limb. The only thing that makes me feel a peace about leaving is I have the honor and privilege of escorting 6 Haitian children to their parents who are anxiously waiting in Ft. Lauderdale. These 6 children have been in the process of being adopted. Due to the disaster the State Department has sped up the paperwork and is allowing these beautiful kids to come to loving families in Tennessee. None of these 6 angels will ever have to be hungry, they'll never have to cry because their bellies ache from emptiness, they'll never have to carry a 5 gallon bucket of water on their head for 2 miles if they want a drink of water, and they'll never have to see dead bodies that lay piled in heaps on the sidewalk for days.
I pray as I go back to the states, that we'll find generous people who desire to continue helping, long term, the children of Haiti. We can't bring them all the states, but we can help participate in rebuilding a better Haiti, a safer Haiti, a Haiti where every child can get an education, a Haiti where children dying day of starvation and malnutrition isn't common place, a Haiti where a child can get access to a doctor when they're sick, a Haiti where God is exalted in their communities. That's the Haiti I dream for.
Keep praying
Brian
Update Wednesday Night 10:30 pm
Can you believe it, another major after shock this morning. We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and gifts to help our Haitian brothers and sister. To date we know of 7 that have lost their lives. The members of the churches in Haiti are saying "We are going to rebuild", We will rebuild but for now we will continue our life saving efforts providing finances for food, water and medical supplies.
Brian Lloyd is still in Haiti and providing reports as he is able.
Saturday 1/17/2010
Got here about 2 hrs ago. Digicell not working. And my iPhone was out of charge but...u ready fir this? The solar panels still work at Coq Chante. So I could charge my phone!
All girls are good. Odette and her parents actually walked the whole way from City of God (in Port au Prince) to Coq Chante. Left Tuesday night and got home Wednesday afternoon. She is staying with her parents. Jayla and Christianie and Madestine are staying with their parents too, but they came by to visit and looked well. All the rest are being themselves acting silly and playing and giving each other a hard time. They are reading books and singing. Islande is sick with a headache and fever, but not too bad, she is still playing some.
I e-mailed the earlier photos Coq Chante because I just can't explain the damage. The majority of Coq Chante is still standing but it will have to come all the way down and start all over because not safe. The kitchen is okay but that's it. No one would go inside so they had nothing except what they were wearing. Me and Jean Luc went in and quickly got a few of the hospital mattresses a bunch of sheets and blankets and a couple armfuls of clothes. The store building next door seems okay and they'll go in it during day but won't sleep in it because they are scared. Even the people living in shacks are sleeping outside because they are afraid and there are STILL aftershocks, even just a few minutes ago. It feels like your on a cruise ship. I can't fathom what the real thing was like.
Agathe is holding up well. She is a strong woman. If she wasn't here I think we would have lost many more than Atanie. She said she got everyone out fast but Marie Michille, Saintemon (we know her as Ya-Ya), Merline, and Christianie were still in the kitchen standing at the doorway at the top of stairs screaming. Agathe said "the whole house was jumping up and down and knocking them down". She said she screamed "please God make it stop" and it immediately did, she got them down the stairs, then it started again for about another 20 seconds. That is the time when the front of the building collapsed. Agathe was screaming for them all to get away and she started counting and couldn't find Atanie and all the others immediately started looking and they found her right where the front door would be. Agathe saw her come down so she says she must have gotten confused or thinks she went back for something maybe. They buried her the next day... and now she is with Jesus.
If we can't get the girls out somewhere else, then first order is to get a huge tent, like a revival tent. And we need more hospital mattresses. And lots of tarps. I'm still praying the building at Camatin isn't as bad as they say. We'll see.
We brought enough water for a day or 2 when we walked into Coq Chante. They have been drinking lots of strait shaddock juice so they are all happy about that (kind of like when you are out of milk so you let the kids drink coke). The cisterns are all empty. Tomorrow after church well go to Camatin and Jacmel and survey things there.
The road from Leogande is a nightmare. Forget coming in that way by truck for at least 3 months. Major, major rock and dirt slides. It was bad. Lots of people buried in it. The only way in will probably be Jacmel. I'll let you know tomorrow afternoon what the road is like once I've traveled it and surveyed Jacmel.
.....Okay, sorry had to take an hour break as I was typing it started pouring rain. Original plan was for the kids to sleep in the back of the truck and adults around the outside of the truck. When it started raining I tried to get them all in the building next door and they ALL looked at me like I was crazy. With what they experienced, it's understandable they don't want to sleep in a building made of concrete. I asked if the lady next door was home and they said she Port au Prince so I said "good, we'll sleep there. They're not afraid of shacks; only scared of concrete buildings, walls, and mausoleums. So now all the girls and Gaspards are sleep in that shack. They are happy and laughing. They act like it's a slumber party. Me, Lozama, Hippolite, Jean Luc, and Alfred are in the back of the truck; it is cozy and we all stink and it is raining. Agathe is in front of the truck. Edwing is sleeping at at some old ladies house nearby.
I'm spent so I'm going to sleep now. It's only 7:30 but I feel like it's midnight. Not much sleep last few nights. Plus, I have to wake early to prepare to preach. I asked Pastor Gaspard what time church started and he looked at me like I was crazy and said "you want to have church?" And I told him "Yeah, I want to have church."
You can view this on Youtube Just type in Coq Chante Church.
Sunday night 1/18/2010
Wow...Where to begin...last couple of days have been filled with heartache, death, and sadness but also scattered with pockets of joy and hope.
Yesterday (Saturday)...checked on a couple more places in pap and saw more horror. Had to drive through the political district where the White House, courts, and govt buildings are and much of this area is flattened. Filled with thousands of refugees living in tent cities (not real tents; just sheets and table cloths stretched over a couple sticks). Unbelievable how many bodies still on the street and sidewalk in this area. Piles of bodies stacked five feet high. Some of them naked where people had stolen the clothes off the corpses. Unimaginable horrors.
We were low on gas and all the stations are closed, destroyed, out of gas, or a 3-4 hr wait. We had to buy some from guys along the side of the road and it cost me almost $200 to fill up our forerunner.
Driving through Carrefour more of the same destruction. Many, many buildings collapsed. Corpses laying in the median of the road. A lot more tent cities and refugees no longer with homes.
Stopped at Merje to see our church and school there... a complete loss too. The pastor explained that they had a special service planned to start just before the quake hit, but at the last minute they had to cancel. Praise the Lord because if he had not canceled it there would have been over 125 people in the building when the quake hit.
Next stopped in downtown Leogande to check on an acquaintance working out of St Croix hospital. The hospital was still standing and appeared to have no damage. But downtown Leogande was completely leveled. The 2 or 3 blocks surrounding St Croix is rubble. Talked to some people there and they said they were expecting American medical teams soon but the entire place was empty when I was there. (Jonathan I checked on Kara with the nutritional program but they said she was in the states).
After Leogande, we began our climb up the mountain road. This is the only road to get to Belloc, Coq Chante, and Camatin where we have churches, schools, and an orphanage. We could only make it about 15 minutes before we encountered the first rock slide that covered the road, making it impossible to pass by car or truck. Me and Hippolite loaded as much bottled water as we could carry and climbed on a motorcycle taxi (yes all 3 of us on one motorcycle). The road was blocked in at least 5 places where rock slides or retaining wall collapses exist. I expect it will be months before cars can pass on this road again. Several places we had to get off and walk and let the moto driver go by himself because driving over the rock/dirt slides was so treacherous. Several of the rock slides had "Haitian toll booths" - where the path to pass was only a few feet wide, guys standing there with machetes and had a tree branch blocking the path and they don't remove it unless you pay their toll. As you can imagine the toll for the white guy is much more expensive.
We finally made it to Belloc. As we had been told, both the orphanage building (no kids were in there) and the church/school building are a complete loss. The small home between the buildings where one of the deacons of the church lives, was crushed and their 7 yr old daughter was killed. It took them 3 days with many men in the community digging through rubble to find her tiny body. They were digging the hole to bury her when I arrived. Pastor Beauillere and his family escaped unhurt.
Get ready for this...immediately after the quake Pastor Beaulliere went to the field across from the church and started preaching. People just started showing up to listen and 21 people accepted Christ!!! When I arrived yesterday he was carrying buckets of water to fill up a neighbor's cistern so they could baptize all 21 of them.

Next made our way to Coq Chante to the orphanage. What a horror to see the building in pieces. Basically the front part of the building was sheared off from the back part of the building which is still standing but major cracks everywhere and appears very unstable. You can see directly into 2 of the girls bedrooms...scattered baby dolls, school uniforms, and beds all strewn about and visible from the ground outside.
After several minutes of hugs and kisses and crying, they took me and showed me where our precious Atanie had been struck and killed. They wept as they explained to me that she had actually made it out of the building safely but in the confusion they think she went back towards the front door to look for someone or something, and that is when the entire front of the building sheared off and came down. She was immediately with Jesus.
The girls were totally out of water because the cisterns broke and all the water ran out. They'd been drinking shadack (like a grapefruit) juice for 3 days. They were sleeping on the back of our flatbed truck with the caretakers sleeping on the ground around the truck. We planned to do the same again but at about 6:00 as it was getting dark it started pouring the rain. There was an empty "house" near the orphanage (a 10' x 12' shack with wooden slats for walls and a rusty tin roof speckled with holes). I don't know whose house it is but I made an executive decision and moved the girls and one caretaker into this shack and they slept on the floor. Not great but somewhat dry. Their resiliency amazes me - they were still full of joy and sang songs and giggled and braided each others hair for several hours before they went to sleep. It's as if they thought it was just a fun slumber party. They find joy even in the most desperate situations - I have so much to learn from them.
This morning (Sunday) we got up and had church. Lots of singing hymns and praise songs, reading several psalms, and we talked about what scripture says the church is - people; not a building. This hits home when your building is in pieces 10' behind where you are standing.
After that we drove to Jacmel because we had received word a plane was coming in with some supplies for us. Driving through Jacmel is pretty bad, several big buildings down, most stores closed, some streets blocked, but in my opinion not as hard hit as pap (at least not the part of Jacmel we drove through). We were almost out of gas in the truck, but we couldn't get the truck anywhere near the station because of the approx 150 people already in line. We left Hippolite with a small gas can and a couple of 5 gallon buckets and he risked life and limb to battle the chaos of getting us enough gas for a couple days. Next we went to the airport (it's just a runway with a small building next to it). The UN had a few troops there but were not overseeing the coming and going of planes. There were a couple of guys there who have orphanages and feeding programs in Jacmel and the mayor of Jacmel had put them in charge. Was a little like herding cats, but ultimately we received our shipment marked for us which was 3 backpacks, 1 with rice and 2 filled with bottles of water.
We were ready to leave but a UN truck had us blocked so I started talking to some guy and it turned out to be Mark Stuart, the lead singer of the Christian band Audio Adrenaline. They have a orphanage in Jacmel called The Hands and Feet Project. Mark shared with me how the quake had not damaged their facility but people had still sent them several loads of supplies so he offered me some of their extra. We drove to their place a few minutes from the airport and loaded up 8 boxes of bottled water, a couple boxes of fortified rice, and several boxes of formula! God is so good and I'm so unbelievably appreciative of kingdom minded people like this.
After that we spent some more time driving through Jacmel looking for tarps so we could make tents if it rains again but no luck. Most stores are closed or sold out of everything. Bought a few vegetables at the public market and the prices were already triple the normal price. This will just get worse in coming days/weeks because everything in Jacmel has to come via trucks from pap and the (only) road in is covered by all the rock/dirt slides.
Next went to Camatin to assess damage. The building is all still standing except the back cisterns (3 stories high) have partially collapsed and are leaning against the building. The rest of the building has a few cracks in the walls but appears okay. I just don't know how to make the decision if it is safe to inhabit or not so for now we are keeping everyone out. If anyone knows a structural engineer that wants to come to Haiti and check it out for safety and give their opinion/recommendations then email swarwick@tds.net.
Spent some time talking, praying, and crying with Pastor Moises the pastor at Camatin. His brother died in the quake when his small concrete home collapsed on him. They buried him Thursday. It was about 6:00 pm when we went by so Pastor Moises was doing what he always does on Sunday evenings - he was having a church service. They were worshiping outside.
Returned back to Coq Chante and boy were the orphans happy to see the water. I think they were getting tired of only drinking grapefruit juice. I think we have enough water now to last us about about 4 days.
Sleeping arrangements are same as last night but no tarp is needed. Thank you Lord for no rain.
For tomorrow...praying phone/email signal works better so I can have good conversations with all the awesome people working so hard to get supplies and teams mobilized. Will probably go to the airport again and pray some blankets and tarps come in that no other ministries have claimed. Also want to talk with a guy who has an empty building (used to be a store to sell rice, beans, cooking oil, etc but it sits empty now) that is near the orphanage and appears to have no damage from the outside, but I haven't seen the inside.
Please keep praying,
Brian
Update Saturday Night 01/16
We were able to contact a member of the Savanne Pistache Church today. They are still having aftershocks. He took his family and some church members and went up on the mountain away from the concrete structures. They are trusting God and believing everything will work out. He asked me what my plan was to rebuild the church.
This is Brian Lloyd's update.
Brian, Hippolite, and Lozama were able to make it in to the community of Belloc and confirm that the church, school, and orphanage facility are all completely destroyed. Pastor Buellier and his family did survive. Wousami Bates, adoptive son of our friends, and his family are also okay. Most of the homes in the Belloc Community were lost.
Brian and the guys then made the long trek(usually a 20 or more minute drive on a good day) to the Village of Coq Chante. They were able see the surviving 17 girls who resided in the orphanage and make sure they are okay. And, yes, they are okay, as well as, our friends, their caretakers. Confirmed was the significant damage to the church, school, and orphanage. There are before earthquake pictures and after earthquake pictures are in the gallery.
We also know that Brian, Jean-Luc, Lozama, and Alfred (some of our friends that help us out in Haiti) were able to use the "big truck" we use for transporting food and for mission teams. The road to Jacmel was passable which is a major blessing. This will make it easier to get supplies to these communities that are closed off from any possible aide coming into Port au Prince.
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Thursday Night 01/12/2010
We made contact with Ricot Louis Juste on Wednesday Morning. Ricot, Mona his mother and family are alive and unharmed. They are sleeping on the driveway in front of their home. The house is heavily damaged and cannot be entered. The after shocks are still coming about every 45 minutes. He has confirmed that Pastor Ronigue Guerrier and his wife were both killed in the earthquake. His two children are alive, they were outside of the home at the time of the earthquake. Also Ricot confirmed that Pastor Menes' oldest daughter Beremy was killed in the earthquake while at school. One orphan girl was caught under the falling walls of Coq Chante and died.
The destroyed churches and schools are City of God, Savanne Pistache, Coq Chante, Merger' and Belloc'.
There are photos of the damage on the photo page.
We will continue attempting to make contact with our friends. Occasionally the cell phones work. WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS.