Hope for Haiti

Below is an update from Yvon Selin. (He is the one facing the camera in the picture above, taken in 2007.) Many who have traveled to Haiti have met Yvon, who has headed up things on the ground in Haiti for GVCM for years. Having stayed in Yvon's home in PAP, I have a mental picture of the table he and his wife dove under during the earthquake and the yard he opened up to his neighbors, but I can't even imagine the scene outside his yard. Here's a first-hand account of the earthquake and it's aftermath.

Earthquake Update from Yvon

Dear Co Workers:
Special greetings in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord

From the bottom of our hearts, Claudie and I would like to thank everyone who has made a phone call or sent emails to inquire about us. We just want to thank you for your prayers, your love and your concern for us. We are writing this note with a heavy heart, but we are doing well. The good Lord has girded us with His shield of protection in order to be His voice in the midst of the desolation and devastation of this dark hour. We are just so thankful and appreciative to be alive. We thank Him every day for the give of life that He has given to us; we try hard to live life to its full potential.

January 12, 2010 was a particular date in the history of our country. Claudie and I were at home just finishing supper when all of a sudden the earthquake was felt. The whole house felt like a boat bouncing back and forth. We hurried to position ourselves under the table and fell flat on our face; we were shouting one word, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” like a litany! The whole experience lasted about 30 seconds but it felt like an eternity. When we finally got up, we ran to the veranda and looked south, we saw a white smoke of dust coming from the ground and in shock we uttered these words, “The country has been destroyed.”

Then we went out in our immediate neighborhood to witness the worse nightmare ever which words are not capable to describe. We could hardly believe our eyes, at times it looked like a Hollywood horror movie. We heard the mourning of the survivors, we felt the pain of the wounded and we witnessed the agony of the dying.

We opened our backyard to our neighbors whose houses scrambled and fell to the magnitude of the earthquake. We felt helpless for a while. When we do not know exactly what to do, prayer seems to be the best therapy. We held hands with neighbors and we prayed. Some we believed had prayed maybe for the first time. The night was dark and long and scary.

The following day, the cell phone rang and the voice at the other end of the line was a long time friend and preacher, Luc Louis who calmly told us that his son, Samuel did not make it home yesterday. We hurried to the school where Samuel attended to find only a pile of rubbles. The four stories building have succumbed to the magnitude of the earthquake. We intensified the search to find three days later the body of young Samuel that we could hardly recognize. The inhumation of the body in decomposition had taken place the same day.

Another shocking news was the untimely departure of our beloved sister Yasmine Widler who went to be with the Lord. Yasmine attended the congregation of Delmas #75. Pastor Precois and I were privileged to marry her on December of 2007. She gave birth to twins in 2008 and returned to school in 2009. She attended Caribbean University which also fell flat with most of the students inside. Her body has not been found along with many others.

The Hollywood horror movie continued to display before our very eyes. There are piles of bodies everywhere. The local magistrates were doing whatever they could to bury the dead in common graves. They just shoveled the dead like trash in a way unworthy of the human species. Other bodies are abandoned on the streets of Port-au-Prince. The country is all covered with dust and there is a aroma of death on every corner. About 120,000 dead has been already recorded and buried. An unknown number has been still buried under the rubbles.

As I looked at my beloved country, I am reminded of the complaint of the prophet, “My eyes are exhausted with weeping; my emotions are deeply disturbed; my grief is poured out on the earth for the downfall of the daughter of my people, for swooning of babies and nurslings in the open places of the city.” (Lamentations 2:11 MLV)

In spite of the apparent hopelessness of the situation, there is hope for Haiti, “My soul holds them in remembrance and is bowed down within me. Of this I remind myself, there I still have hope: Because of the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed; His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:20-23 MLV) There is hope for Haiti when we consider the strength of his people, the courage of many young men and women and the resilience of this young nation. I am confident that we will sing and dance and laugh again. There is hope for Haiti when we see the determination of those young men and women who toiled hard all night to get out a little boy from the rubbles after he was buried alive for about eleven days. The little boy finally came out of the pile of the debris with a big smile that inspires confidence in the future. Haiti shall not die we shall live to tell of the glory of the Lord.

Your servants in Christ,
Yvon & Claudie Selin