Kapotyer & Savanne du Bois: Hurricane Matthew Relief

On Friday, October 21, RoRo transported our team from Missouri & Kansas across the swollen river to distribute food to the residents of Kapotyer. It was a great blessing that the roads and river finally allowed us to visit the community.

Ro has been working with the community leaders in Savanne du Bois to meet and identify needs, so then we moved on to this community, near Peredo, to pass out more food kits. This is the same community where HCO is building a home for Davima & Simone and rebuilding a home for another local resident, Thyotte, who is disabled. The mission is also purchasing some tin to repair several homes with roof damage, including one for the home of a widowed mother. Her tin was seriously damaged, and the roof was leaking.

In addition to the generosity of many churches and individuals, the Glen Taylor Jr. Memorial Foundation (St. Louis, MO) and the Overland Park Kansas Fraternal Order of Police donated Hurricane Relief funds to help with these projects.

No one can ignore the beauty in Haiti as shown in the photographs of the waterfall and the young school children carrying their food home to precious families in need. Hurricane Matthew dared to wipe out HOPE, but God has prevailed.

It was such an honor and privilege to serve so many wonderful Haitian people. Our return trip to Peredo was ended by rushing to the hospital to assist a woman who had been electrocuted. She was driven in an unconscious state on a motorcycle by two young men after having unwittingly stepped on a live electrical wire in the wet mud.

Ro & Eline quickly opened the hospital after summoning both Dr. Jackie and Nurse Elvinia. We helped lift her into a wheelchair and then on to a gurney. Thankfully she was revived! She was released the same evening to her relatives. This positive outcome most likely would not have occurred without this hospital in this remote area.

To summarize, this was an extraordinary day filled with HOPE for the future. Our team and HCO thanks all the donors from the St. Louis, Missouri, and Johnson County, Kansas, areas who dedicated time, money, medical supplies, soccer equipment, and prayers to our trip.

There is still much to be done in Haiti to recover from Hurricane Matthew. I highly encourage everyone to consider furthering HCO’s efforts to do something for Haiti which will last!

Photos & blog contribution by Barbara Walk