Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

A Cholera outbreak has come to Haiti.  Cholera is a water-borne bacteria and if it goes untreated, can kill its victims in a matter of a few hours to a few days. It moves quickly and the cause of death is dehydration from copious amounts of watery diarrhea and vomiting and/or electrolyte imbalance.

Haiti has not had a problem with Cholera in 50 years. It chose now to come and trample through an already devastated nation. Over 2,600 people have confirmed cases of Cholera and at least 208 people have died as a result of this bacteria.

As many of you know, we (Global Outreach Haiti) have had a team of five here from Pump Springs Baptist Church in Harrogate, TN. They had to leave early due to the unpredictability of this illness. There were talks of - if the illness reached Port-au-Prince(PAP), the country may have to shut down the airport.  We were told that the border to the Dominican has already been shut down. We did not want the team stuck here in Haiti for an unforeseen amount of time, so they left early.

PSBC Team along with the Bruns Family
and Sheryl Brumley

Samaritan's Purse helped organize a flight out of PAP to Cap Haitien, which is on the northern side of the island.  The team then caught another flight, a DC 3 (I think) in to West Palm Beach, Florida. They are overnighting there and will work on returning to Atlanta, GA and then to Harrogate, TN, tomorrow. From what I understand, which isn't much, they have had a long day of traveling and arrived around 9 p.m. tonight.  PTL they arrived safely.

We are taking the necessary precautions to combat Cholera. We are informing those who come to the clinic of the precautions they need to be taking in order to be proactive in this fight. We are praying for this to be contained and eradicated quickly. If at any time we feel like our children are in danger, we will seek to get them out of the country and on to safer ground in the U.S.

Pray with us that we will have the wisdom and discernment to know what to do and when to do it. Our desire is to glorify God in all we do and plant the seed of the Gospel as we minister to those around us.

Also, pray for the people of Haiti and the people in Haiti. I know that Haiti may not be dear to your heart like it is mine, but I ask that you try and remember, make yourself a note, to pray daily for these things. I know that our (and your) prayer lists grow daily, but I also know that the Lord wants to hear our petitions. Please pray for these needs.