New Update.....

Dee Dorce' has "evacuated" their three children and her mother, Reta, from Haiti. They are in the states now and are heading home to Iowa. The Dorce' children will be cared for by Dee's sister and mother ... and no doubt, several area volunteers. It became apparent over this past weekend that it was best to get the children and Grandma back to the states for their safety and well-being. Dee plans to get everyone settled and then return to the work in Haiti as quickly as possible.

Pray that all the arrangements go smoothly. It's hard to be a mom and a missionary!

We will be sending our second container to Florida by the end of the week. Thank you to all of you who gathered items and made the journey to Maryville, MO to load the container. We believe both containers will make good time and will be in the hands of the Dorce's in a few weeks. Thank you for your sacrifice to buy, collect and transport those much-needed supplies.

Also, we are updating Dee's blog, mdmekiki.blogspot.com. Check it out for some pictures and a unique and challenging narrative about Haiti.

I have included a portion of the e-mail update from Chris "Crash" Stevens". It a poignant description of life in Haiti and the work that lies ahead. I apologize if this is duplicated information for some of you. It's too good not to share. Crash entitled it "A Heavy Haiti":

The last few days have been full, as you can imagine. We are entering into a new kind of relationship with our Haitian family now. By "we" I mean Shaina and me. Dee and Wilckly are their family, but we have always been "the help". But entering their country when they knew we didn't have to has made a bit of an impact on them. A new respect and compassion is shared on either side.

We all sleep in the yard under tarps. Our yard is full of people at night who leave in the daytime to try to find work and/or food. But they are only a drop in the bucket compared to what we are dealing with inside Port au Prince.

Our estimation is at about 160 families from our congregations and affected school that need either partial or full assistance. We haven't been able to procure exhaustive family lists yet. The chaos does not allow such thorough organization. But we will get as many ducks in a row as possible before distributing anything en mass.

We took our first tour through Port au Prince yesterday. The first of many terrible sights was that of the mass graves being hollowed and then filled again with bodies of the victims. There are at least 100,000 bodies there now. Never thought I would see anything like that in my life. Thank God, we couldn't smell anything from the road or even catch a glimpse of much detail at all. Just piles of dirt and heavy equipment were visible from where we were. I'm fine with that.

Buildings are down everywhere and the whole vast city is peppered with tent villages. Tent village just means that people have found an open area to plant sticks on which they hang sheets to sleep under at night. We observed one military food handout that was not going well. We also discovered a tent city in a virtually unknown part of the city which has received absolutely no aid whatsoever and is suffering badly. We plan to add them to our list of beneficiaries. More on them later. While there, I asked the huge group of adults that had gathered around me how many parents in that group had lost any children in the quake. Every single hand went up. With every hand were raised fingers to show how many they had lost. I saw one woman holding up 8 frail fingers.

We continue to work to try to get food in large amounts to distribute. It is not easy. With so many people asking, not many groups can spare food any longer. I am working overtime walking around in the UN compound and around the airport in Port au Prince trying to find the right person/people/organization to help us. Made several splendid contacts today. Pray that they come to fruition. (from Crash)



Thank you for your continued support and prayers and concern. We are working on sending out receipts for all Disaster Relief donations. Your patience with this process is admirable. Please don't hesitate to call or e-mail with any questions or comments.

God bless you as you support Dorce' Ministries and pray for revival in Haiti.

Blessing Hearts International
5923 CR 324
Palmyra, MO 63461
memo: Dorce' disaster relief

Chris Brennemann
573-822-0611