Bernie, along with Doug Jarvie and Vince Buys, arrived in Tricotte yesterday. They encountered a lot of water along the way due to the heavy rains that occurred as hurricane Tomas passed by a few days ago. But with a few detours they were able to navigate past the flooding and arrived safely.
The river near Tricotte is still high, and it rained again last night, so Doug and Vince weren’t able to begin their well-drilling yet this morning. But they are optimistic that the river will drop today and they may be able to get started later this afternoon.
Cholera continues to be a major concern in Haiti, and it has hit our ministry. Two more children from the orphanage – Anne and Elmath – are being treated at the clinic in Gros Morne. They are out of danger now. Edner, the Orphanage Director, is very proactive. At the first sign of the disease, he makes sure to get the children to the clinic quickly so they can get the antibiotics and fluids they need.
A few of the villages where we have schools have been hit pretty hard. Four children enrolled in the school in Corail have died from the disease and three more in David. Remoussin, Drigeon, and Biscaille are also being affected, although there haven’t been any deaths reported from those schools.
Norius, our School Director, is working hard to communicate with all 37 Starfish Ministries schools, both to keep us informed of the latest conditions and, more importantly, to make certain our schools are doing everything possible to prevent the spread of cholera and help educate the communities how to deal with this disease.
Please pray for all of these needs: for the health of the students, their families, and the teachers in our schools and orphanage; for protection for Bernie, Doug, and Vince; and that God would use Doug and Vince’s efforts to provide clean water to one more village – which will help to prevent cholera there.
Serving the Lord together,
Bernie, Sheryl & Philip Bovenkamp
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