Posted by:
"Joshua Entwistle"
Brother and Sister Splane visited Haiti last Wednesday – Sunday February
17-21. The Governing Body had selected him to visit the area. Both Brother
and Sister Splane speak French, have many friends in Haiti and were part of
a congregation in Brooklyn for 8 years where many Haitian friends attended.
At the time the Splane’s left Haiti the number of confirmed dead and missing
among the brothers stood at 200.
Due to irregular flights to Haiti the Splanes flew into the Dominican
Republic and from there traveled 7 hours over land. The Branch Coordinator
Brother Thompson of DR asked Brother Splane to give a talk the evening when
he arrived. Why? These friends were the first responders and needed much
encouragement. Internet service was lost after first two hours following the
quake and thus all communication and aid had to go through the DR. Once a
day the brothers from Haiti branch would drive to the DR border where their
cell phones worked and would report on the situation.
These friends from DR had seen the amputees of arms and legs,
heard the screams of the injured and thus needed to express themselves and
hear something of encouragement. Thus, a meeting was held that evening at
the DR branch with the Bethel family, medical personnel and the Haitian
injured.
Once Brother Splane arrived he toured the DR branch and in the reception
area he saw many of the victims in wheelchairs, crutches. He saw some of the
amputee victims. One victim was 11 year old Ross who had lost his mother and
older brother in the quake. His father had taken Ross to the DR for
treatment as he was hemorrhaging badly. The blood transfusion issue came up
at the hospital as Ross faded in and out of consciousness. He stated to the
doctors that he would rather die than have a blood transfusion. The doctors
said then die. The Branch got involved and contacted the hospital with
information of using erythropoietin and they went ahead and treated Ross. He
is now an amputee, but alive.
Hospitals in Haiti are in chaos with sanitary conditions and organization
absent. Many have been neglected, including our brothers, and many serious
conditions such as gangrene had set in by the time they were transported to
the DR or our Assembly Hall. The Assembly Hall next to the Haitian branch
has been set up as a clinic and mattresses were laid on the floor where the
patients were laid. This Assembly Hall is not what we are used to here but
is one with open sides and benches.
Despite having our medical teams reach the AH, the problem our doctors had
was that there was no anesthesia laboratory. Thus, these brothers had to cut
off the limbs of our brothers without anesthesia as they would die
otherwise. They had to hold each patient down as they cut off the infected
limbs. More haunting then the sight of these victims were the screams of the
brothers as they were being amputated. Jeal (not sure of spelling) a
French-Canadian brother who is a doctor stated that “I cannot bear to think
what I did in that operating room because if I think about it I will have to
cry.” Doctors are trained to lessen the pain and suffering of their patients
so how difficult this must have been for our brothers.
The day following the quake a truck full of supplies were sent from the
Dominican Republic to the Haiti Branch. The Splanes left the DR branch at 3 AM on Thursday morning and reached Haiti
bethel by 1 PM. Then at 2 PM Brother Splane met with the relief committee.
The goals of the relief committee has shifted since the quake. It began with
first, saving lives, getting people to medical help. Second, to provide
beans and rice and if possible cooking utensils to the brothers. Third, is
what they were working on when Brother Splane arrived and that is providing
shelter.
The earthquake destroyed almost everything there. The better quality homes
are made out of cement block but these crumbled easier than the very simple
structures of many of the poorest individuals. Even those homes that were
partially damaged are in danger of collapsing at the next tremor. Even as
brother Splane was visiting the area there was a 4.3 magnitude aftershock.
The brothers are considering building one of two possible structures. They
are more modest than what we normally may picture. They consist of a wooden
frame with tin sheets overlapping to make a roof and tin on the sides. Each
temporary structure is estimated to take between 3½ - 5 hours to build.
These “temporary shelters” are with plans of housing our brothers for a year
or so, but seeing the local situation it will most likely be much longer.
The coordination committee of the Governing Body has approved this plan and
they planned to begin building these structures beginning this past Monday.
Other relief organizations do not even know what to do yet. It is good that
our organization is moving forward before the UN gets in there and begins
paying top dollar to buy up all the building supplies in the country.
Brother Splane then took about an hour and a half to speak to the 50+
members of the Haiti bethel family. Immediately after the earthquake the
brothers prepared 700 food parcels. They set up the operating theater in the
Assembly Hall right next to the branch home. All the doctors and nurses
working in the operating clinic get blood all over their scrubs with each
surgery. The brothers in the laundry work to wash and disinfect, bleach all
the scrubs throughout the day in order for them to be clean and ready to be
used the next operation. The brothers there are working 16 hours a day to do
so.
The missionary homes were damaged. With aftershocks being a real concern the
missionaries are living in tents outside the missionary homes. The
missionary brothers show real courage and love for the brothers. At 6 or 7
PM on the evening of the quake, one missionary brother was visited by the
coordinator of his congregation. He was very concerned as his 12 year old
son had not returned home from school. His son is very responsible and would
never do so without contacting his parents. The missionary and brother went
to find the boy. They fanned out and called out his name as they walked down
the rubble laden street. Then they were rewarded to hear a faint cry from
deep under some rubble of a cyber-café. The boy had stopped by there after
school and had gotten trapped when the earthquake struck. The fire and
police departments were called. Rescue personnel tried feverously to get to
the boy and release him, but the problem was that the building had not all
fallen down and could collapse at any moment. Finally the rescue team said
that it would be too dangerous to continue and they ordered the missionary
and brothers to go home, but this missionary brother could not. After the
Fire and Police left, this missionary and another brother continued to look
for a way to save the boy. Finally after 12 hours, they were able to get
through a crawl space and free the boy. Thankfully the young boy only
sustained minor injuries with swelling and bruises.
Brother Splane also met with the 6 Circuit Overseers and the one District
Overseer in the country. Many of the elders themselves have lost family
members, homes and their jobs. The District Overseer’s wife lost her sister,
brother and their two children and he lost his nephew and other relatives.
They spent one day to comfort their families and then they had to move on to
help the brothers. The brothers need a great deal of shepherding and
encouragement.
On Saturday February 21, Brother Splane toured downtown Port au Prince. He
described it as total devastation. Many wonder why the government is not
doing anything, but it is somewhat understandable as Brother Splane
explained how he had the rubble of the Ministry of Justice, Department of
the Treasury and even the Presidential palace pointed out to him as they
drove down the street.
Some are afraid to go to Kingdom Halls if they were made out of cement
block. Many have psychosomatic illnesses, having stomach trouble without any
real cause. Any loud noise such as a backfire of an automobile startles
people.
On Saturday afternoon the Splanes visited two Kingdom Halls. At the first
one they met two little girls who had lost their mother. The 4 year old
would not smile and when asked why she said, “I can’t smile. I lost my
little sister and I miss her so.”
At the second Kingdom Hall they arrived in the middle of a meeting and were
met by two very well dressed brothers. They had on whiter-than-white,
beautiful clean pressed shirts and when asked where they live they replied,
“here at the Kingdom Hall ”. Brother Splane was asked to say a few words so
in the middle of paragraphs 14 and 15 of the Watchtower study, feeling quite
out of place without a tie and wearing only an open collar, short sleeve
white shirt he spoke to the friends. He said that was the first time he met
directly with the friends there and he will never forget the look on the
faces of these brothers, their faces etched in grief.
On Sunday he went to the Assembly Hall to give a talk to our Haitian
brothers and well over the number of publishers attended. (He gave figures
but stressed at the beginning that he had no time to confirm so not to worry
about those). Many Haitians and our brothers have not had closure. In Haiti,
in order to have a funeral there needs to be a body, but many have never
been found. Brother Splane reminded the friends of Job, who lost all his ten
children when the house they were in collapsed upon them. He encouraged them
not to stop feeling. Many are numb. He said even if it is pain, do not stop
feeling. After floods, civil war and now this disaster, the tendency can be
to stop feeling, thinking they can’t bear it anymore. During Jesus’
pre-human existence, he saw 4,000 years of human suffering and yet when he
came to earth and saw individuals in pain and suffering, he was moved and
felt pity for them.
The President of Haiti, in a speech to the people said, “We are poor, we
have nothing and are without hope in this country.” Many feel that the
earthquake was God’s judgment on them as many churches too have been
destroyed. However, we know how the great tribulation will be and know that
Jehovah will help us and seen even now how he has helped us.
All the brothers in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti send their warm love
to us.
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