VERNON — For the last four months, Brittany Gilbert has worked in a Haitian orphanage with about 22 young children in humble conditions.
Since the devastating earthquake hit the island country earlier this week, the 21-year-old Vernon resident has seen the orphanage’s exterior wall leveled and the facilities so badly damaged, the children and staff cannot go into the buildings.
“To feel the earth literally shaking you and tossing you across a room is the scariest thing I’ve ever felt,” she wrote on her blog from Haiti.
“Our walls have crumbled. The water from the pool was shaken out of it, leaving only a couple feet left in a six-foot deep pool. Pipes have broken, the windows are shattered,” she wrote. “But God covered us with his hand.”
Since many of the walls were crumbling or severely cracked, the Heartline Ministries group, which includes Brittany, must camp outside on the driveway of another missionary in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince.
During a Friday morning meeting with various Heartline members, Diane Sawyer “showed up with her camera crew.”
“Nothing like talking to a TVjournalism legend when you haven’t showered since Monday morning,” Gilbert joked on her blog Friday night.
But for her mother, Karen Gilbert, the important news is she is safe.
“I first heard about the earthquake from Brittany,” said Karen. “She called me right after the first earthquake hit, [her call] was a huge blessing for us.”
The two prayed together on the phone, appealing for a sense of calm and clarity. Brittany has since spent time going through the facilities to bring supplies out for the children, carrying gallons of water, peanut butter and crackers to a separate Heartline ministry in the Haitian capital.
“The kids all just got some oatmeal for breakfast and I’m heading back over to the houses soon to gather more supplies and food. We’re raiding our own houses … it’s crazy,” she wrote Thursday morning. “Its tough to say what the condition of the country will be in once all the shock wears off and people begin to grasp the lack of resources we now have.”
The Gilbert family was already planning a flight to Haiti — Karen has been to the country five times in the past year — for early February, but pushed the trip up to next week, pending commercial flights are permitted in the country, to bring supplies to the orphanage.
“As soon as they let us fly in, we’re going,” said Karen.
While in Haiti, Karen also works with Heartline and another Port-au-Prince orphanage. She said residents interested in donating to assist in the Haiti relief efforts should visit Heartline’s Web site.
“Every little bit that people can donate can help,” she said. “Lots of people need help, and there’s lots of rebuilding to be done.”
Source: Brattleboro Reformer
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