Part 3

We made the flight, except that it was delayed until 1pm, and good thing, too. We spent the whole morning with 12,000 lbs of supplies. In the end, less than half of it made that flight. The rest came over the next two flights. Chaos reigned at PAP airport, as hundreds off people surged in toward the plane. It was a wild melee, a grabbing spree of organizations both christian and non-Christian alike, nuns, police, search and rescue, but in the end it was mostly alright. We lost many items, however some of it was meant for other groups as well, so we were loading different trucks, while the federal agents just shook their heads. They couldn't understand why we were giving things away off of our trucks. They just didn't get it.
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The staff at the orphanage looked tired. The stress showed all over their faces. Gasoline had soared to as much as $100.00 a gallon (today it was down to ONLY $26.00) Simple tasks like getting water delivered to fill the cisterns was no longer simple. Food was an issue, and so was security. Life was going to be very different for a while. The aftershocks continued.
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We awoke with a start. Our first earthquake! It was 6:00am, of our first full day. There had been a new earthquake , registering 6.1 , only 35 miles away! Earthquakes build to a grand finale, while aftershocks begin with a big shake, but end with a whimper.
You could feel the excitement from all the new recruits, and amazingly no one was scared. We all knew that God had us in His hand, and that there was protection over us. You can go a very long ways with THAT!
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It was Thursday, now. There were still many aftershocks, but it had become a daily occurance, and even though the nannies and the kids still got scared every time, it was routine now to go outside. At least the weather was co-operating!
Today all the American kids would leave, and that included Little F. There was an excitement in the air, but there had been ever since that first big quake.
Volunteers were taking passport photos, picking clothes for the American kids, then duct taping them together, packing containers with diapers, food, and water. There were some organizing flights, media reporters, news paper columnists, and taking calls from other orphanages. It was definately buzzing.
At noon, it was time to load up and go. Michelle said goodbye to Little F, and Garner took him out the gates of the orphanage to a waiting Toyota mini-van. F was amazed at the sights- plants and trees and people everywhere, and vehicles all lined up in a row. F was particularly interested in his friends , though. They were inside the vans! He very eagerly went into the third one in a line of six. Once loaded, it had 15 kids and 11 adults, and one even had a gun!
The convey headed out over HORRIBLE roads, scratching and clawing past rubble , washouts, and parked vehicles. It was fun!
F fell asleep. I was greatful, because I didn't want him to see the destruction and the chaos. I SOOOO desperately wanted to protect him from that. There were three kids on my lap, and it was all I could do to keep them from knocking heads, and I defginately could not hang on very well myself.