Haiti

HAITI

LOCATION: Caribbean, western one-third of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic

CLIMATE: tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds

TERRAIN:  mostly rough and mountainous

NATURAL RESOURCES:  mostly rough and mountainous

NATURAL HAZARDS:  lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and subject to severe storms from June to October; occasional flooding and earthquakes; periodic droughts

EVIRONMENT ISSUES:  extensive deforestation (much of the remaining forested land is being cleared for agriculture and used as fuel); soil erosion; inadequate supplies of potable water

GEOGRAPHY:  shares island of Hispaniola with Dominican Republic (western one-third is Haiti, eastern two-thirds is the Dominican Republic)

POPULATION:  8,924,553
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2008 est.)  

ETHNIC GROUPS:  black 95%, mulatto and white 5%

RELIGIONS:  Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3%
note: roughly half of the population practices voodoo

Passe Catabois

Rob & Anne-Marie Hulshuizen,

Passe Catabois – Haiti.

September 19, 2008 (after the storms)

"We all live in a broken world.

Today we had such joy in our hearts because the water is connected again and have water at the hospital.

At the same time, the shadow of death interferes with our joy: we lost 3 young babies within 36 hours.  The emotional and physcial pain make it difficult to continue.

From early morning until late at night (nurse Ryna and three friends) are trying to help people get food, shelter, etc.  We are all so tired.

Since Monday, so many Haitians come to us sick and with malnurished children.  We do not know where to put them.  People are lying in between beds and on the floor in the hallways.

Food is extremely expensive and very scarce.  We are trying to get food into this are by plane, helicopter or donkey.

We started a new program for pregnant women.  We are attempting to reduce the number of deaths during child birth.  If the phone is working and they are able to get to a telephone, we can not receive emergency calls.  A woman already has called and we were able to help deliver a baby and stop the bleeding.

We started a church school again last Sunday and noticed that the children were not really participating.  We found that 8% of the kids had some kind of breakfast and the other 92% had nothing at all.  this coming Sunday we will serve peanut butter and juice before we begin."

Tropical Storm Hannah

"It all started last Monday.  We hadn't a clue that tropical storm Hanna would return like this.

People were already suffering.  The food prices are going up 300%.  They are hungry and we are seeing more and more cases of malnutrition at the clinic.  We are admitting them, give them food, but we are helpless trying to change the situation.

Because of heavy winds and rain fall, we have no Internet connection and the local phone company went down.  People all over the country are suffering floods.  Whole towns are being abandoned.  Many are leaving their houses.   Buildings are gone, no electricity, no drinking water.  It is a hunge disaster.

Just a week agao Anne-Marie tried to go the the Netherlands for 3 weddings.  Somehow, the Lord didn't let her leave the country.  Every thing went wrong and there was nothing she could do but to return to Passe Catabois.  Now we know why!

We are in an area where the roads have been cut off since Monday.  Patients can not go the hospital in Port de Paix because there no longer any roads.  The chance of people getting sick is extremely high."