Working

We are in Haiti again. Brian, Dave, Kim and Karen. We are continuing the health check ups and testing of hemoglobin levels in the approximately 150 children that have been entered in the program. We are almost finished. Tommorrow we will help with the weekly medical clinic in Jubilee. Karen and Kim are involved with a organization called Kids against Hunger and have been distributing some food. Karen and I (Brian) will go to an orphanage today to distibute some more boxes of this prepackaged food. It has been neat to watch the team reconnect with friends they have made on previous visits.

I am working on finishing 8 houses. They are in need of windows and doors. We will finish or be very close by the time we leave. It is encouraging to be coming close to finishing this 50 house project. We would like to begin building showers and toilets in the community. Although maybe not as appealing as building dwellings it is just as vital as it helps prevent the spread of disease and provides dignity and privacy to those who are forced to do thier "business" outside. We are looking for funding for this new project. Please consider giving financially to help us complete this new phase. Thanks for your continuing support.

Brian

Life lessons

I have been back in Haiti for about a week. I belive we will have 16 more houses finished in a couple of days. Leaving 16 not yet finished. Looking back on this project I wonder what I have accomplished. I am asking myself if it was just walls and roofs I set out to complete. I am pretty sure that the houses we have given have helped the families with their need. But it was not a moment of joy or hope that was what I had originally sought. I was looking for the homes to be a catalyst for change in the lives of those that received them. It may still be. I fear that I have done the same thing I warn others about. Thinking somehow "I" can make a difference. That my work can bring immediate change. Sometimes I disgust myself. It is such an arrogant position to think that my presence could somehow erase a lifetime of operating out of poverty. By my actions I have shown myself to be the one in poverty. When given opportunity to deepen relationship with these families I have often chose work above them. When I rely upon myself to be the change agent it overwhelms me as I fail and I dive back into the work so I can feel as if I have accomplished something.


Success is not defined by houses built or things given away. Rather by relationships deepened. My friend Djacki Buy brings me hope as I see him walk his life out before God. He has taken what in the worlds eyes are impossible odds and has begun to be a change agent in my life. He saves every dime he can to buy a few more concrete block continuing the construction on his house so he can move out of his mud hut. He teaches me out of the riches in his heart how I can come up out of poverty. I need to practice what I preach. I thank God that He has placed Djacki Buy in my life so that I might learn.

Brian

Haiti August 2011

I just returned from Haiti about a week ago. I was there for about three weeks with my oldest daughter Kendra. It was great to have her with me. Such a blessing to have a family connection while in Haiti. She helped with kids programs and the feeding everyday. It was encouraging to see her dive into relationship. I continued with the housing project which is getting very close to being finished. I hope to complete it when I return for two weeks on August 20th. This next trip will be a short one comparitively as i will only be staying 2 weeks. It has been wonderful to see the families move into there houses. We continue to deepen relationship with them. Trying to help with thier needs as we are able. Talking with them about what it means to be a good neighbor and working through the occasional conflict resolution. When we finish with the houses we are wanting to begin building toilet and shower facilities for each 8 house complex. Currently there are very few places, other than in the open field to do your "business". In addition to the health and sanitation issue we believe this begins to give a little dignity to those that we serve. We are asking for financial help with these structures. The cost for each will be approximately $2500 each. It is easy to raise funds for housing but the need for proper bathroom facilities is just as great. Please consider helping with this. As always we are looking for those who have a desire to visit Haiti and serve onsite with us. If you would like to go or give please email us at info@omaharapidresponse.org

Thanks for all your love and support,

Brian

ORR Joplin Tornado Relief

I have returned from Joplin with a very different perspective on what is important in life. Everything can be taken away in just a mater of a couple minutes. It's hard to imagine how anyone can recover from such emotional trauma in their lives. The emotional and topographical scars from this tragedy will linger on for many many years to come.

On May 22nd, one of the single most destructive tornadoes tore through Joplin Missouri. This massive tornado destroyed everything in its path. Nothing was left untouched. The following picture is just a small snapshot of a path 3/4 of a mile wide and two miles long. After home owners are done with finding anything they want to keep the dozers come in and push everything out to the curb for the trucks to haul away to the landfill. Eventually all that will be left in this zone will be the streets. Many people that have been affected will be taking whatever money they can get from insurance and buying another house. However, the overall attitude of this area is one of hope and positive recovery.

This is the now famous St. John's Mercy Hospital. The destructive power of the tornado blew out the windows of this building and rumor has it that tornado generated enough lift on the building to twist the building four inches off the foundation. The incredible power of this tornado was unbelievable. You can see in the foreground what happened to many cars that were around or near the hospital.

This is a hospital truck that was probably down by the hospital and was rolled up the hill and hurled against this tree with such force that it wrapped the frame around the tree. It looks to be an average 26 foot straight truck with a steel frame.

This is a backside shot of the same truck picture above. That had to be one tough tree to stand strong against a tremendous hit like that.

This is the backside of the first house we helped with carrying appliances, hazardous material, brush, and metal to the curb. The two team members are standing by the front door. The family in this house took shelter from the storm to the left of the front door

in a hallway and watched the whole dining room/kitchen section as well as the entire roof get torn off and blown away. No one in the family was harmed.

Our next project was to help this home owner cut down four trees and saw them into chunks to save him hundreds of dollars. We also hauled some appliances from the kitchen in back of the house to the curb to be hauled away. The dead line for the FEMA help for such things was two days away.

The third place we helped was to unload a moving truck for a lady that was moving into a house. Her house had been destroyed and she needed help to unload a truck into her new place to live. She was an older lady and had heart wrenching stories about all the collectibles she had lost in the tornado.

I returned home very thankful for my humble home and all the simple things that make it a liveable place. Thank you all for any thoughts and prayers that came our way during the weekend. Continue to hold this town in your prayers. Recovery will take years before that section of town will be back to normal.

I hope and pray that your weekend was tornado, fire and flood free.

- David Bentz

Responding to Joplin MO, why wait?

We wanted to thank YOU for your interest, support and sacrifices to help the victims of our City, Region, Nation, and International. Many of You are willing to drop everything to go and help (prayerfully, physically, financially, etc) … some knowingly, put their lives and families in danger by doing so! This is a Great Calling, to those He has chosen to be His Hands, Feet and Heart! THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMITMENT!

This week we have been presented with yet another disaster, close to home: Joplin, Missouri. Many of you have expressed an interest to help … and some are willing to go ‘yesterday’! The need is great … yet, we need to outline a few points for your consideration, as we plan these upcoming Response Teams.

As you read this, please understand that we are involved in ORR and other local church/organizations, because of our desire to help. If you are like me, and want to be at the disaster site; helping victims within the first 5 minutes … you are in the majority with first responders. As a group and Body of Christ in Omaha, we are accountable for our (re)actions and the resources G-d has blessed us with. So, seeking His Will and Timing … and applying due diligence is our first priority.

That being said … here are a few points why we will go to Joplin – but next week will be the earliest.

Joplin officials put out a request for help. In doing so, first responders, medical personnel and other volunteers showed up: over 5,000 (last estimate) from 9 States! That is over 10% of Joplin’s population. The response is impressive, but it creates a myriad of problems.

Logistically, this amount of people (more every day) is a nightmare for Joplin’s residents. They appreciate the help. But then they are greatly concerned about housing, food, water, electricity and other things that most people/teams need. This amount of ‘helpers’ also creates a safety problem, especially those that are not trained and “need to do something.” Most of these people will NOT be let into the disaster site-which they have blocked off. Only approved Chaplains are being let in, working alongside the approved First responders.

We want to go now … but we are hoping you understand why we cannot this week.

[in 2008, ORR was ready to send a Team to China in the aftermath of an earthquake that killed over 130,000. China would give us visas to attend the Olympics that year, but not to help the victims! This was frustrating … until I was in China a few months later and found out: they officially sent SIX MILLION responders … and 20 MILLION showed up!!] What a nightmare! Can you imagine having too much help? This same problem happened in NY after 9-11.

Well, that is a problem in Joplin … though it will not be the problem in the coming weeks and months!

After the adrenaline and rescue operations (usually the first week) have dissipated (it then becomes a recovery operation) … most of the first responders will leave, and members of other organizations will head home or to the next disaster. Does that end the massive amount of hard work and suffering to those in Joplin? … of course not. It opens a great opportunity for others (like us) to come alongside the Body in the Joplin area and continue the long process of healing, restoring and bringing Hope. This will be a time when the ‘shock’ of everything will settle deep into their hearts and minds … and depression, rebuilding and revaluating their lives takes place.

We believe this will be the right time to respond to this disaster.

We are in contact with churches and individuals from Joplin and surrounding communities. They are willing for us to come and help them! Every day, we get a clearer picture of the unmet needs; and our Brothers and Sisters in Joplin are formulating plans for long-term help.

So, we are working to coordinate Teams … logistics, individuals and areas of greatest need. We will work to help the local residents clear debris … help with the victims (physical, mental, emotional and Spiritual needs) since many had their lives torn and thrown into the next County … spell some relief for the local medical and first responder members, so that they can begin to rebuild for THEIR families. Whatever G-d directs us to do!

Does this make sense to You? Do you understand why we need to ‘stand down’ this week … though we are working to clear a Path (literally and figuratively) for The Body of Omaha to response in a safe, most efficient and timely manner?

It is very hard to wait while we see the suffering and death … but we need to understand: if a Team went down tomorrow, we would stand around [probably on the outside of the yellow tape] and join 100s of others like us, who might be asked every 10 hours to unload a truck of water. Though having water is important, is it the best use of our time, when someone is already doing that? Or … like many others encountered yesterday and today … they were told “thanks, but no thanks” … and sent on their way, because they were not a member of the local/State mutual aid agreements.

If this disaster was in Lincoln or somewhere within 100 miles, our response time would be completely different! We could get to this area within a few hours and possibly save many lives. Joplin is over 350 miles (6 hours) away and almost all volunteer and paid first responders within 150 miles of Joplin RESPONDED! We are needed, but not at this time. This is a time to coordinate Teams, supplies, finances and partner with others from our community with our precious Family in Joplin. We want to be prepared to go to Joplin as soon as possible … which may happen next week or the following week. We are working out the details so that as soon as G-d opens the door … WE ARE THERE!

Thank You for your patience and understanding. We look forward to working with You for the Glory of the L-rd … in Joplin and all around the World! Please continue with your Faithful prayers and intercession.

Blessings and Love in Y-shua’s Mighty Name,

ken g.

His supply

I've been back in Haiti for almost 2 weeks now. Still working on the home building project. I hope to have all but 16 finished before I leave on June 10th. Things have been going fairly well. The guys seem to need a refresher course on a few things each time I return but they are hard workers and it has been a blessing to see thier progress in technical skill and work ethic.

Our fund for Haiti is pretty low which has allowed me the opportunity to evaluate what I am doing here and has pounted out some areas where I have focused more on completing projects than I have on loving people. It has been difficult to reflect and see my lack of caring but good in that it allows me to correct my course in some areas. This is a long, probably life long, work for me sometimes it seems fruitless and slow but when I do as I should and care for individuals face to face it starts to make more sense. Thanks as always for your unrelenting support and care it is much needed and appreciated.

Brian

We went to Ware?

About a month ago a series of powerful tornadoes tore through a corner of Iowa from Mapelton all the way up to a little town called Ware. (Insert Joke here) Ware Iowa is situated in some of the richest farm land I have ever seen. However with allot of disaster relief efforts going towards larger towns, The residents of ware were left feeling like now one cared. So God sent us.


Ware took a direct hit from an F4 tornado. Nearly all the homes were either destroyed or severely damaged. Besides vast amounts of debris scattered through out the town, there downed tree limbs everywhere. So in miserable wet and cold weather we went with our saws gloves and muscles and began the work of cleaning up the mess the tornadoes had left behind. In two days we sorted through tones of debris cleared acres of land of trash and tree limbs and cut more tree limbs than I can even remember.


For me this was a specially memorable trip, not just for the way that God used us and relationships forged but also because my Dad came with me for the first time along with my two older boys Isaac and Caleb. It blessed my heart to see them working their hears out to help people they did not even know the day before.


Our whole team performed phenomenally, I can't tell you what a honor it was to work with them all. They worked hard and worked will together and had good attitudes in spite of miserable weather conditions.


I can say with confidence, I don't think the residents or Ware feel forgotten anymore.

- Aaron

Me, my Dad, and my sons Isaac and Caleb

Things are moving along fairly well with the housing project. We have 20 foundations poured with walls on 15 of them roofs on 8 of those. We hope to have families moved in before I leave on Thursday. It has seemed at times to be very slow going but the last couple of weeks the guys have really bought into what we are trying to do and things have gone a lot smoother and quicker. We are now able to set the forms and pour the concrete walls on one house each day. It has been challenging at times with the guys working for us, but it has also been encouraging to see the progress we have made in relationship. While we were sitting the other day waiting for supplies to show up we started talking about church and God. I had opportunity to share my thoughts and testimony and one of the guys asked how he could know the Lord. It was encouraging to be available when someone had questions and be able to share with him what I have found in the Lord. I continue to pray for him in his journey towards Jesus. This is the reason we are in this community and why we are building these houses. So the Kingdom might spread. I believe as we begin to move families in and as we deepen relationships we will continue to see His Kingdom come.

Thanks for your support,

Brian

Trying

I have only posted a blog one other time during this trip. I have sat down many times with the intent to write one. It is becoming more difficult for me to articulate my experiences here in Haiti. I have been working here for about 11 years. I am trying build friendships and be used in some way to bring a measure of hope to those without it. It seems to be an uphill battle. I work with a dozen or so guys everyday doing this housing project and feel as if many of them have become friends so it is difficult when they steal tools and supplies. I wonder how much I am the cause of this. What I mean is why is it so difficult for them to see me as a friend? Why can't they get past my having money? It is not as if I don't know them well, I eat, joke and work with them. I live in thier community when I'm here. I have been asking myself these questions as they hurt me by treating me as nothing more than a way to get money or things. But I need to look at my own response to thier need and change the way that I respond. This is not to say that stealing is anything but wrong. Both I and they know it is wrong but how could my actions make them feel as if they can justify a wrong behavior. I am hurt when they treat me as only someone who can give them something, but I am guilty of the same thing when I respond rudely to someone who is sharing thier needs with me. I justify my behavior by saying that I can't help everyone or I'm tired because I've had fifty requests already today. Those things may be true but it doesn't make unkindness acceptable. In the same way that it is not acceptable for those in need to say "you have and I don't so it's ok" which I hear a lot. Until I am invited or grow deep enough in relationship with others it is futile to tell them they are doing wrong I can only try to change myself and try to become more welcoming. As Jesus is. Thanks for listening (reading), Brian

ORR Pakistan Fruit Tree Program

We have continued to give fruit trees. We have also given fruit trees for another orchard of one acre. The total number of fruit trees we have distributed are 750. The types of fruit tress we have distributed are Peach, Apple, Almond, Cherry, Pear, Apricot, Plumb.

We got these fruit trees from Government Agriculture Department free of any cost. We transported these trees from Mansehra to Jabber Gali area and hired six worker for planting. We will also get fruit trees for one more orchard in next week.

We developed this link between the Government Agriculture Department and People of Jabber Gali. It was not possible for the people of Jabber Gali to get these fruit trees without our help. This is the story of our connection and care for the deserving and needy community.

- Waheed Alam

It's saturday the day before elections in Haiti. Tomorrow I will be picking up three americans to add to the five I picked up today. We then will head back to Goniaves where they will do various things unknown to me and I will go back to building houses. I mainly came to Port au Prince so i could pick up supplies that I can't find or are too expensive in Gonaives. Then we had two flat tires and I couldn't buy a spare and I was unwilling to take heavy supplies, baggage and Americans with all the materials on a 100 mile road trip the day of an election (which sometimes can mean riots). So I guess I will be back later in the week provided schedule and political upheaval don't get in the way. Please pray for me and my family as we are separated. It has been very difficult. I will write again later this week.

Brian

Zanmi Mwen (my friend)

This is my good friend Addison. He is my right hand man in all the work we do here in Haiti. We have become very close as we have worked together the last couple of years. It has been very hard to build relationships here as most people can only see me as a means of provision. It is very different with Addison and I. We talk for hours sometimes about life, God and our families. It is good to have a real friend here. Most of my days I don't speak much english and it sometimes can make me feel more distant from home, but many times over, Addison has been my confidant when things get tough. I eat at his house everyday, play with his four kids and talk with his wife, it makes it a bit easier when I start missing home. I am sure many of you read the blog I wrote after the little boy had died. That was a rough day and Addison saw what I was going through. Even though culturally we don't deal with stuff like this in the same way he was sensitive enough to know I wasn't doing that good. The following day he called me and asked me to go to a soccer match with him because he knew I needed sometime away from what I was dealing with. It may seem like a small thing, but it was huge to me and spoke volumes about his care for me. We continue as friends, sometimes we get mad at each other or have misunderstandings, but thats friendship. I thank God for bringing us together in relationship and I know that we will continue to care for and challenge one another.

Thanks for all you do,

Brian

Noel

We built this house for Noel, a widow that has her grandson living with her. Previously she had lived in a mud hut that had a a tin roof full of holes so she couldn't stay there when it rained. I used to see her every morning as she sold corn and spicy corn broth every morning on the bridge where I sit and talk to friends. She was always very friendly but not very talkative. One day I purchased some breakfast from her and from then we began to talk a bit more. I suppose when she saw that I would eat her cooking she warmed up to me a bit. Only after a few weeks of being better acquainted did she feel the freedom to share her situation and ask for help. This is very refreshing as normally people ask me for money before they even greet me.

I recently had an opportunity to share with Covenant Family Church in Omaha. They blessed us with a financial gift and we were able to use this money to build a dry safe and secure dwelling for Noel. As Noel and I continue as friends I learn from her quiet dignity and hope that I can treat her with the the same respect she has treated me. Thanks to all for your love and support. Please continue to give and pray as we work together to spread His love.

Brian

Still working

The housing project continues to move along. We now have 15 foundations in walls up on 3 houses and the roof started on one. I return to the states on Feb. 4th and hope to have finished 12 houses by then. While here I have continued to do Rapid Response work. We have built a house for an elderly widow, helped a man start a motorcycle taxi business, and helped many with daily needs. I will get some pictures up and share some stories later this week. Thanks for staying connected. Sorry the blogs haven't been very frequent. I'll try to make up for it this week.

Brian

Progress

I have been back in Haiti for about a week we are building 50 houses with a grant from Cross International. Things are going well construction wise. We are moving along fairly quickly. We got 5 foundations put in this week. We will begin pouring the floors on Monday and hopefully have the walls poured on a couple houses by the end of the week.

The houses are 10ft. x 20ft. with 2 doors and 2 windows. They will have poured concrete walls with metal roofs. We are building them in 8 house complexes. All the houses face the center of what will eventually be a gathering area for the neighborhood. If we have enough money in the budget we hope to provide water and some electrical power to each house grouping.

We also distributed food to about 50 elderly in the neighborhood. Addison my good friend and coworker who some of you have met on your trips here has a passion to help the elderly so for the last 2 1/2 months he has been giving them about a 15 day supply of unprepared food. He had begun helping a few older people on his own before he even asked me to help financially. Needless to say he doesn't have a lot himself and he is trying to provide for his wife four children and an orphan he recently took in. I am excited to be joining him in the passion the Lord has given him. The orphan is the girl whose brother I wrote about in the last blog.

It has been an encouraging week seeing a lot of work being done and seeing God's hope beginning to settle in here in Jubilee.

As always thanks for your continued prayer and financial support.

Happy New Year,

Brian