Haiti Report Brother David Splane February 17-21 (2010) Brother and Sister Splane visited Haiti last Wednesday Sunday February 17-21. The Governing Body had selected him to visit the area. Both Brother and Sister Splane speak French, have many friends in Haiti and were part of a congregation in Brooklyn for 8 years where many Haitian friends attended. At the time the Splane s left Haiti the number of confirmed dead and missing among the brothers stood at 200. Due to irregular flights to Haiti the Splanes flew into the Dominican Republic and from there travelled 7 hours over land. The Branch Coordinator Brother Thompson of DR asked Brother Splane to give a talk the evening when he arrived. Why? These friends were the first responders and needed much encouragement. Internet service
was lost after first two hours following the quake and thus all communication and aid had to go through the DR. Once a day the brothers from Haiti branch would drive to the DR border where their cell phones worked and would report on the situation. About 100 witness doctors and many nurses live in DR. Many need have vans and these were used to transport the injured and supplies to and from Haiti. These friends from DR had seen the amputees of arms and legs, heard the screams of the injured and thus needed to express themselves and hear something of encouragement. Thus, a meeting was held that evening at the DR branch with the Bethel family, medical personnel and the Haitian injured. Once Brother Splane arrived he toured the DR branch and in the reception area he saw many of the victims in wheelchairs, crutches. He saw some of the amputee victims. One victim was 11 year old Ross who had lost his mother and older brother in the quake. His father had taken Ross to the DR for treatment as he was haemorrhaging badly. The blood transfusion issue came up at the hospital as Ross faded in and out of consciousness. He stated to the doctors that he would rather die than have a blood transfusion. The doctors said then die. The Branch got involved and contacted the hospital with information of using erythropoietin and they went ahead and treated Ross. He is now an amputee, but alive. Hospitals in Haiti are in chaos with sanitary conditions and organization absent. Many have been neglected, including our brothers, and many serious conditions such as gangrene had set in by the time they were transported to the DR or our Assembly Hall. The Assembly Hall next to the Haitian branch has been set up as a clinic and mattresses were laid on the floor where the patients were laid. This Assembly Hall is not what we are used to here but is one with open sides and benches. Despite having our medical teams reach the AH, the problem our doctors had was that there was no anaesthesia laboratory. Thus, these brothers had to cut off the limbs of our brothers without anaesthesia as they would die otherwise. They had to hold each patient down as they cut off the infected limbs. More haunting then the sight of these victims were the screams of the brothers as they were being amputated. Jeal (not sure of spelling) a French-Canadian brother who is a doctor stated I cannot bear to think what I did in that operating room because if I think about it I will have to cry. Doctors are trained to lessen the pain and suffering of their patients so how difficult this must have been for our brothers. The day following the quake a truck full of supplies was sent from the Dominican Republic to the Haiti Branch. The problem now was how to get food to the Bethel in
Haiti. People in Haiti are hungry and desperate. Just as they would do in other disaster areas, if they see a truck of food they will surround it and take everything. So our brothers came up with an idea. Daily bodies are loaded onto trucks and then the bodies are covered with tarp. Then those that dig the graves sit on top of the bodies as they transport them to mass graves. Brother Splane reminded the family that in 2003 the bus carrying the Bethelites to the Haitian Branch expansion dedication was intercepted and held for several days so this was a real possibility. The brothers loaded up food supplies into a truck and made sure to put plenty of soft fluffy material on top. They then covered it all over with tarp and our brothers then sat on top of that wearing masks. The brothers were able to get through doing so and no problems have been encountered thus far. The Splanes left the DR branch at 3 AM on Thursday morning and reached Haiti bethel by 1 PM. Then at 2 PM Brother Splane met with the relief committee. The goals of the relief committee have shifted since the quake. It began with first, saving lives, getting people to medical help. Second, to provide beans and rice and if possible cooking utensils to the brothers. Third, is what they were working on when Brother Splane arrived and that is providing shelter. The earthquake destroyed almost everything there. The better quality homes are made out of cement block but these crumbled easier than the very simple structures of many of the poorest individuals. Even those homes that were partially damaged are in danger of collapsing at the next tremor. Even as brother Splane was visiting the area there was a 4.3 magnitude aftershock. The brothers are considering building one of two possible structures. They are more modest than what we normally may picture. They consist of a wooden frame with tin sheets overlapping to make a roof and tin on the sides. Each temporary structure is estimated to take between 3½ - 5 hours to build. These temporary shelters are with plans of housing our brothers for a year or so, but seeing the local situation it will most likely be much longer. The coordination committee of the Governing Body has approved this plan and they planned to begin building these structures beginning this past Monday. Other relief organizations do not even know what to do yet. It is good that our organization is moving forward before the UN gets in there and begins paying top dollar to buy up all the building supplies in the country. Brother Splane then took about an hour and a half to speak to the 50+ members of the Haiti bethel family. Immediately after the earthquake the brothers prepared 700 food parcels. They set up the operating theatre in the Assembly Hall right next to the branch home. All the doctors and nurses working in the operating clinic get blood all over their scrubs with each surgery. The brothers in the laundry work to wash and disinfect, bleach all the scrubs throughout the day in order for them to be clean and
ready to be used the next operation. The brothers there are working 16 hours a day to do so. The missionary homes were damaged. With aftershocks being a real concern the missionaries are living in tents outside the missionary homes. The missionary brothers show real courage and love for the brothers. At 6 or 7 PM on the evening of the quake, one missionary brother was visited by the coordinator of his congregation. He was very concerned as his 12 year old son had not returned home from school. His son is very responsible and would never do so without contacting his parents. The missionary and brother went to find the boy. They fanned out and called out his name as they walked down the rubble laden street. Then they were rewarded to hear a faint cry from deep under some rubble of a cyber-café. The boy had stopped by there after school and had gotten trapped when the earthquake struck. The fire and police departments were called. Rescue personnel tried feverously to get to the boy and release him, but the problem was that the building had not all fallen down and could collapse at any moment. Finally the rescue team said that it would be too dangerous to continue and they ordered the missionary and brothers to go home, but this missionary brother could not. After the Fire and Police left, this missionary and another brother continued to look for a way to save the boy. Finally after 12 hours, they were able to get through a crawl space and free the boy. Thankfully the young boy only sustained minor injuries with swelling and bruises. Brother Splane also met with the 6 Circuit Overseers and the one District Overseer in the country. Many of the elders themselves have lost family members, homes and their jobs. The District Overseer s wife lost her sister, brother and their two children and he lost his nephew and other relatives. They spent one day to comfort their families and then they had to move on to help the brothers. The brothers need a great deal of shepherding and encouragement. On Saturday February 21, Brother Splane toured downtown Port au Prince. He described it as total devastation. Many wonder why the government is not doing anything, but it is somewhat understandable as Brother Splane explained how he had the rubble of the Ministry of Justice, Department of the Treasury and even the Presidential palace pointed out to him as they drove down the street. Some are afraid to go to Kingdom Halls if they were made out of cement block. Many have psychosomatic illnesses, having stomach trouble without any real cause. Any loud noise such as a backfire of an automobile startles people.
On Saturday afternoon the Splanes visited two Kingdom Halls. At the first one they met two little girls who had lost their mother. The 4 year old would not smile and when asked why she said, I can t smile. I lost my little sister and I miss her so. At the second Kingdom Hall they arrived in the middle of a meeting and were met by two very well dressed brothers. They had on whiter-than- white, beautiful clean pressed shirts and when asked where they live they replied, here at the Kingdom Hall. Brother Splane was asked to say a few words so in the middle of paragraphs 14 and 15 of the Watchtower study, feeling quite out of place without a tie and wearing only an open collar, short sleeve white shirt he spoke to the friends. He said that was the first time he met directly with the friends there and he will never forget the look on the faces of these brothers, their faces etched in grief. On Sunday he went to the Assembly Hall to give a talk to our Haitian brothers and well over the number of publishers attended. (He gave figures but stressed at the beginning that he had no time to confirm so not to worry about those). Many Haitians and our brothers have not had closure. In Haiti, in order to have a funeral there needs to be a body, but many have never been found. Brother Splane reminded the friends of Job, who lost all his ten children when the house they were in collapsed upon them. He encouraged them not to stop feeling. Many are numb. He said even if it is pain, do not stop feeling. After floods, civil war and now this disaster, the tendency can be to stop feeling, thinking they can t bear it anymore. During Jesus pre-human existence, he saw 4,000 years of human suffering and yet when he came to earth and saw individuals in pain and suffering, he was moved and felt pity for them. The President of Haiti, in a speech to the people said, We are poor, we have nothing and are without hope in this country. Many feel that the earthquake was God s judgment on them as many churches too have been destroyed. However, we know how the great tribulation will be and know that Jehovah will help us and seen even now how he has helped us. All the brothers in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti send their warm love to us.