HAITI INFORMATION AND BACKGROUND

Emergency Medical Response Team
• HCJB Global Hands sent a seven-member emergency medical response team from Ecuador to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, arriving the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 15, to provide medical help to survivors. The team, which worked in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, left Haiti on Jan. 25 and returned to Ecuador the following day. The team, led by International Healthcare Director Sheila Leech, was based at a 100-bed hospital in Port-au-Prince operated by Baptist Haiti Mission. The hospital, 20 miles from the quake’s epicenter, only suffered minor damage and has electricity from back-up generators.
• Team members:
o Sheila Leech, British nurse
o Dr. Leonardo Febres, Ecuadorian surgeon
o Dr. Eckehart Wolff, German surgeon
o Dr Paul Barton, U.S. anesthesiologist
o Dr. Steve Nelson, U.S. family physician
o Dr. Mark Nelson, U.S. family physician
o Martin Harrison, British water engineer
• While the primary goal was to bring medical aid and clean water to the injured, the team also addressed people’s spiritual needs. Support of HCJB Global’s efforts included medical supplies and basic necessities such as sleeping bags, flashlights, tents and emergency water filters.
• Samaritan’s Purse chartered a DC-3 cargo plane from Missionary Flights International (MFI) to transport supplies such as water and water filters, food, shelter materials, medical supplies and other emergency needs to Port-au-Prince.
• The first two to three days were largely in the hands of search and rescue personnel, finding and freeing those trapped and injured, and they in turn are flooding the available medical facilities.
• Team members were out of their element with the languages in Haiti being French and Creole.
• A second team will depart for Haiti on March 13 and stay for about two weeks with the possibility of rotating in more teams in the future. Some 15 Ecuadorian physicians have expressed an interest in helping on future teams.
• The most recent news can be found at www.twitter.com/hcjbglobal.

Haiti
• Poorest country in the Western Hemisphere
• 95% of Haitians are Christian (75% Catholic, 22% evangelical, 3% other); 75% of Catholics are actively involved in voodoo, a development of West African spiritism and witchcraft. (Source: Operation World)
• 80% of the population cannot meet their basic daily life needs.

Radio Partners

Radio Lumière
• Website:(http://www.radiolumiere.org/
• The largest Protestant radio network in Haiti. It maintains both AM and FM stations across the nation. The main station was temporarily knocked off the air by the quake, but suffered only minimal damage. It went back the air on Sunday, Jan. 17.
• Operated by local churches affiliated with Mission Evangelique Baptiste du Sud d’Haiti (Evangelical Baptist Mission of South Haiti)
• Established in 1959.
• Broadcasts are within hearing range of 90% of the people of Haiti.
• In many rural areas, it is the only radio broadcasting available to the local people in either of the two local languages, Creole and French
• Has a network of 9 radio stations and one television station (as of 2007)
• Reaches out to nearly 3 million people (entire network)
• Can be heard throughout Haiti and into Dominican Republic
• HCJB Global has had a cooperative ministry relationship with Radio Lumière for many years.
• In the past two years, the mission has sent technical teams to Haiti to assist this partner with renovation of a medium wave network affiliate station and to perform studio upgrades at the network hub in Port-Au-Prince.
• In the spring of 2009, SonSet® Radios were distributed through Radio Lumière (in cooperation with Faith Comes by Hearing founder Stanley Stankovich)
• In November 2007 staff from the HCJB Global Technology Center and other ministries helped replace old, failing equipment at Radio Lumière’s station in LaJeune and converted it to digital. Engineers also held training so the staff could conduct their own repairs in the future. This classical music station aims to reach the upper class of Haiti with the good news of Jesus Christ and inspire them to have compassion on Haiti’s poor people. The station programming also includes teaching and information about when specialized doctors will be at a local clinic, making it possible for people to be informed about getting medical care.
• In years past, technical missionaries David Sawatzky and Warren Griffin from Radio Lumière went on to serve at Radio HCJB in Quito.
• An HCJB Global missionary engineer traveled to Haiti last week to help with the computer-based radio automation needs and training of station staff and was in Port-au-Prince at the time of the earthquake.
• The quake struck while an HCJB Global engineer Alan Good was in Port-au-Prince to repair an automation system for partner radio station Radio Lumière. The engineer and three other technical workers, including a professor and student from Taylor University, escaped injury.

Radio 4VEH
• Website: http://radio4veh.org/
• Operated by cooperating ministry One Mission Society (formerly OMS International) in Cap-Haitian in the northern part of the country. The station was not damaged in the quake.
• In 2003 HCJB Global installed a satellite-based radio distribution system for them, and have provided significant amounts of broadcast equipment, technical consulting, and training.
• As recently as Jan. 3, 2010, the station experienced difficulties with its satellite feed and Internet streaming. This was restored early Tuesday, Jan 12, shortly before the quake hit.