Canadian Feed the Children Update
An update from Lisa Doucette at Canadian Feed the Children:
As you can imagine, we are run off our feet trying to do everything we can. We are still anxiously trying to contact our many colleagues and friends in the field, but have not had a lot of luck to date. We are extremely relieved to have received unconfirmed reports indicating that our Country Rep, Madsen Gachette, and his wife and two children are alive and have contacted a family member in Northern Haiti. We have also heard that there has been damage to our office, but we do not know the extent of it yet.
The House of Hope orphanage has been one of our community partners for many years with our supporters providing children with food, shelter, clothing, education and more. It is located in Gressier, where earthquake damage was rated 9 out of 10 on the intensity scale. In spite of this, we just heard that all 200 children and staff in the orphanage are safe and the building remains standing among the rubble of its community. House of Hope Director Alice Barthole reports that the village was “flattened and there many people dead and injured on the streets with very little help”. Some are calling it a miracle - many of the children had left school just moments before the buildings collapsed in the earthquake. Amazingly, when the dust settled, the orphanage was one of the few buildings left standing. Alice says that at this point she has water, power and food but many people are coming to the orphanage for help, so it is difficult to know how long it will last.
Also good news, another partner, Grace Children’s Hospital, is still standing though there is some structural damage. All the children are safe except for one child who was tragically killed due to falling debris. The children are currently being kept outside the building for safety.
We still are awaiting status reports from our other partners, our Field Office and other staff. Please keep checking our website for updates as we receive them. Thanks to everyone for your generous donations and well wishes.