Just wanted to let you all know that our first truck load of supplies will be shipped from Utah on Feb. 26th so the deadline for gathering supplies for this shipment will be Feb. 24th. Please have all supplies to Mandi and Kevin by then. Obviously, we will take donations after that as well and store in a storage unit until we can get another shipment sent.
Thank you all for your amazing support and generous donations.
Remember, if you would like to make a money donation to Ruuska Village you can go to reachouttohaiti.com and there you will find a mailing address for checks and a paypal account. We will also take money to help with the shipping costs.
Thanks again for helping make a difference in so many people's life's!!
Mandi
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A couple of people helped
Friday, January 22, 2010
Supplies needed to send to Haiti in the next 3-4 weeks
Hello everyone,
Just wanted to let you know that the truck with the rebar is being shipped from S. Carolina to Florida today so at least they can start rebuilding.
Now we are working on getting a truckload of supplies ready to send in the next 3-4 weeks. We want to make sure that we have a full truckload before sending it. It will cost approximately $5,000 to send the truckload to Florida then from there it will go to the DR then Haiti.
We are planning on sending the rest of the building supplies and tools on this truck.
Other supplies that are needed are:
-hydration packets (I have ordered Ceralyte packets and talked with the company and they offered to match my order at no charge so I got $400 worth of Ceralyte for only $200).
-Formula
-Peanut butter
-Rice
-Beans
-Oatmeal
-Thrive products for food storage (you can go to shelfreliance.com to order) I took cans of dried bananas, textured vegetable protein, and eggs with me this last time and they loved it. They are in about 5 pound cans and feed a lot of kids.
-Medical supplies (kurlex gauze wrap, ace wraps, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, antibiotic ointment, oral and injectable antibiotics, Tylenol and Motrin for adults and children, medical tape, splints, saline, syringes, needles, injectable lidocaine, antidiarrhea meds, etc.
Any non-perishable food items would be greatly appreciated.
We have a storage unit in Logan, UT. You can send items or money to me at 6910 S. 4000 W. Wellsville, UT 84339.
Thank you all again for your support!!!
Hugs,
Mandi McBride
"And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching."
~ Titus 2:7, NLT
Just wanted to let you know that the truck with the rebar is being shipped from S. Carolina to Florida today so at least they can start rebuilding.
Now we are working on getting a truckload of supplies ready to send in the next 3-4 weeks. We want to make sure that we have a full truckload before sending it. It will cost approximately $5,000 to send the truckload to Florida then from there it will go to the DR then Haiti.
We are planning on sending the rest of the building supplies and tools on this truck.
Other supplies that are needed are:
-hydration packets (I have ordered Ceralyte packets and talked with the company and they offered to match my order at no charge so I got $400 worth of Ceralyte for only $200).
-Formula
-Peanut butter
-Rice
-Beans
-Oatmeal
-Thrive products for food storage (you can go to shelfreliance.com to order) I took cans of dried bananas, textured vegetable protein, and eggs with me this last time and they loved it. They are in about 5 pound cans and feed a lot of kids.
-Medical supplies (kurlex gauze wrap, ace wraps, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, antibiotic ointment, oral and injectable antibiotics, Tylenol and Motrin for adults and children, medical tape, splints, saline, syringes, needles, injectable lidocaine, antidiarrhea meds, etc.
Any non-perishable food items would be greatly appreciated.
We have a storage unit in Logan, UT. You can send items or money to me at 6910 S. 4000 W. Wellsville, UT 84339.
Thank you all again for your support!!!
Hugs,
Mandi McBride
"And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching."
~ Titus 2:7, NLT
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Supplies needed to send to Haiti ASAP
This is a list of what I came up with in about 10 minutes. I am sure there are other items.
Spread this email around.
Maybe the lumber stores will throw in some items if they see a list. I would like to try and ship in 4 weeks or whenever there is a full load including the food & medicals supplies that others are putting together.
Thanks
Kevin McBride
Associated Brigham Contractors, Inc.
75 North 900 West
PO Box 578
Brigham City, UT 84302
Phone - (435) 723-8529
Fax - (435) 723-1182
Mobile - (435) 730-0965
CONSTRUCTION SUPPLIES FOR HAITI
(anybody feel free to add, sure I forgot something)
Air Compressor
Gas Cans (metal) 5 gal
Rebar Cutter
Grabber Screws
8 Common Nails (50 lb)
8 Duplex Nails (50 lb)
16 Common Nails (50 lb)
16 Duplex Nails (50 lb)
Tie Wire
Shop Vac
Skill Saws
Extension Cords Heavy Duty
Flat Shovels
Round Shovels
PicksDust
Masks
Safety Glasses Clear
Safety Glasses Dark
Ear Plugs
Hard Hats
Leather Gloves
Heavy Duty Wheel Barrows
Skill Saw
Blades
Drills
Paddle Bit for Mixing Mortor
Drill Bits
Philliips & Standard Bits for Drills
Hammers
Tape Measures
Sledge Hammers
Tool Bags
Carpenter Pencils
Chalk Boxes
Chalk Stringline
Spread this email around.
Maybe the lumber stores will throw in some items if they see a list. I would like to try and ship in 4 weeks or whenever there is a full load including the food & medicals supplies that others are putting together.
Thanks
Kevin McBride
Associated Brigham Contractors, Inc.
75 North 900 West
PO Box 578
Brigham City, UT 84302
Phone - (435) 723-8529
Fax - (435) 723-1182
Mobile - (435) 730-0965
CONSTRUCTION SUPPLIES FOR HAITI
(anybody feel free to add, sure I forgot something)
Air Compressor
Gas Cans (metal) 5 gal
Rebar Cutter
Grabber Screws
8 Common Nails (50 lb)
8 Duplex Nails (50 lb)
16 Common Nails (50 lb)
16 Duplex Nails (50 lb)
Tie Wire
Shop Vac
Skill Saws
Extension Cords Heavy Duty
Flat Shovels
Round Shovels
PicksDust
Masks
Safety Glasses Clear
Safety Glasses Dark
Ear Plugs
Hard Hats
Leather Gloves
Heavy Duty Wheel Barrows
Skill Saw
Blades
Drills
Paddle Bit for Mixing Mortor
Drill Bits
Philliips & Standard Bits for Drills
Hammers
Tape Measures
Sledge Hammers
Tool Bags
Carpenter Pencils
Chalk Boxes
Chalk Stringline
Rebuilding Ruuska Village!!!!
Hey,
Just wanted you all to know that Kev contacted Nucor and they are going to give us building supplies for 1/2 the cost and will also provide free transportation of supplies to Florida!!!! They are only charging us $5,000 for everything!!!! Once we get the supplies to Florida we have coordinated with Barbara and her team to get it to them. We are going to have the building supplies shipped tomorrow if all goes well. We are so excited about this. Please continue to pray for the people in Haiti.
The other good word we got was that the Foyer kids could be coming home as soon as Friday!!!!!! Wouldn't that be wonderful? My niece will be home soon!!!!!!
I will keep you posted!!!
Hugs,
Mandi
Just wanted you all to know that Kev contacted Nucor and they are going to give us building supplies for 1/2 the cost and will also provide free transportation of supplies to Florida!!!! They are only charging us $5,000 for everything!!!! Once we get the supplies to Florida we have coordinated with Barbara and her team to get it to them. We are going to have the building supplies shipped tomorrow if all goes well. We are so excited about this. Please continue to pray for the people in Haiti.
The other good word we got was that the Foyer kids could be coming home as soon as Friday!!!!!! Wouldn't that be wonderful? My niece will be home soon!!!!!!
I will keep you posted!!!
Hugs,
Mandi
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Lending a hand in Haiti - hjnews.com
Carol Smith, left, and Mandi McBride sit with a group of children from the Ruuska Village orphanage near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, prior to last week's earthquake. (photo courtesy Carol Smith)
By Matthew K. Jensen
Published: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 2:36 AM CST
For years Carol Smith declined the offer to visit Haiti with a friend who wanted to show her the place where she had been more than a dozen times to adopt two children.
After finally agreeing to a 10-day trip, Smith stepped off an American Airlines jet and onto Haitian soil just 30 hours before the earthquake that shook the small country into the world spotlight.
Smith, 57, was with fellow registered nurse and close friend Mandi McBride, who adopted two Haitian children in 2008. Smith of Nibley and McBride of Mt. Sterling were on a mission to provide medical care in a small orphanage about seven miles from Port-au-Prince.
“She’d begged me to go for four years,” said Smith. “She always wanted me to go and see where her kids came from.”
The two were staying in Ruuska Village, which houses about 30 children who are waiting for visas and final adoption paper work. The orphanage is equipped with a small medical clinic, clean water and generators for electricity.
“They have so many little children there and they just need people to help,” she said. “We were there to help out medically and emotionally in any way we could.”
After managing to board a medevac jet in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, the two flew to the Dominican Republic, Florida and eventually to Salt Lake City, where they arrived Monday morning with a story neither will soon forget.
“We had been giving out new shoes to everybody the day before the earthquake,” said Smith. “We had just finished up with that and we were pretty tired and went back to the little hut we were in, but decided we should go back and feed the babies.”
Smith said she was walking up an outside staircase to reach the children on the orphanage’s second floor when she felt the shaking start.
“I was standing out on the ledge, holding onto a rail as it started. It was an explosion of noise. The movement was incredible, and when I was up that high I saw buildings collapse and heard Mandi scream as she flew into the room where babies were just flying all over. Things started shaking and breaking. I looked over and the next building just went flat to the ground.”
Smith said she remembered thinking at the moment that she was going to die.
“I thought if this doesn’t stop, I’m gone,” she said. “It was the closest I’ve ever been to thinking I wasn’t going to make it.”
The two women grabbed the infants from the room and ran them downstairs to an open area outside. Dozens of smaller tremors followed the initial magnitude 7.0 quake that devastated much of the country’s capital.
“The first three or four hours after the earthquake, it never stopped and the aftershocks weren’t just little,” she said. “Everyone was panicking.”
Smith said she was astonished to watch and listen as the Haitian people sang and chanted into the night — a way of coping with the disaster.
“They chanted and sang and danced all night long,” she said. “And hearing the babies scream all night long was really awful.”
Subsequent shaking toppled parts of the tall walls that surround Ruuska Village. Smith said about 75 percent of the orphanage was damaged, but miraculously none of the children were seriously injured.
“Not a soul was injured there, but in the homes next door, we saw them totally collapse.”
The night hours that followed and the days before the two Cache Valley women returned home were full of service and caring for the sick and injured.
“Word spread really quickly that there were nurses there,” she said. “Every single day someone came in with an illness. We just tried to triage them and stabilize them. One girl stopped by with an open fractured leg and another girl with a face that was just massacred. There wasn’t a lot we could do so we just kept it clean.”
The two had basic medical supplies including antibodies and splints. They stitched up lacerations and used every bit of their years of medical experience to help those in need. On Saturday the two traveled back to Port-au-Prince, where they assisted with more severe medical cases on the grounds of the U.S. embassy.
“We worked real hard,” said Smith. “We got to help with some incredibly severe cases for about four hours. The whole time we were able to use a lot of medical skills. We probably didn’t stay in the realm of what we should do but we did what we could do.”
Smith and McBride were originally scheduled to leave Tuesday but managed to get out earlier after standing in line for eight hours to get off the island on a chartered U.S. military flight to the Dominican Republic. She said the Port-au-Prince airport runway was not in bad condition but that a swarm of airborne aid made logistics at the tiny airport messy.
“All these smaller planes were bringing in product and staying long enough that it didn’t give anyone room to land,” she said. “As we stood in line for all those hours they turned away many, many people. It was sad.”
As the women departed in the aircraft, Smith said she looked out and could see the vast differences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
“I don’t think words can describe the situation that Haiti is in or that it was in prior to this happening,” she said. “I’m grateful and thankful that I could do what I was able to do, but I’m also thankful to be alive and be back here. I hope and pray that this will make me into a better person and maybe make a lot of us think about how lucky we are.”
Smith credited McBride for her determination in planning to go back to Haiti soon.
“She is a tough, tough girl,” said Smith. “She’s probably one of the most incredible people I’ve ever been around.”
Monday, January 18, 2010
Women who survived Haiti earthquake return home to Utah
Video Courtesy of
">January 18th, 2010 @ 9:55pm
By Sandra Yi
SALT LAKE CITY -- Two women who survived the earthquake in Haiti last week were evacuated and returned home to Utah Monday morning. Back with their families again, Carol Smith and Mandi McBride were overcome with emotion.
"Oh, it's wonderful. I didn't know that we would be here, so I'm really glad," Smith said.
The women, both from Logan, caught a military flight to Orlando, and then flew to Salt Lake. They are grateful to be home but are also torn because their hearts are with the people of Haiti.
"I know that they need me there, but I can't be there forever, and I have a lot of responsibilities here," McBride said, fighting back tears.
The friends went to serve a 10-day humanitarian mission at the Ruuska Village orphanage, located 7 miles outside Port-au-Prince. They had been there only 24 hours when the earthquake hit.
"I just slid on the ground, and babies were flying all over the place, and I just grabbed as many as I could and just covered them and tried to protect them; and thank God they made it," McBride said.
The women took pictures of the damage they saw around them. The photos are reminders that they were some of the lucky ones. Still, they say the worst pictures don't capture the devastation they saw firsthand in Haiti.
"I've never seen such horrible things, ever," Smith said.
"It's just indescribable," McBride said. "There's just so many people in survival mode and just desperate to get to the states, and desperate to get help, and desperate to find their loved ones because there are so many people that have not heard anything."
McBride, who has two adopted children from Haiti, has been to the country many times. This was Smith's first trip there, and it won't be her last.
"They need help there, so bad," Smith said.
"Just keep praying for these people. It's the most important thing right now," McBride added.
McBride hopes to return to Haiti in a month.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
More good news for the Nye's
Carol and Mandi officially made it home today. To say the least Mandi looked very tired, but VERY GOOD!!! I can say their families are truly grateful to have them back safe.
Angie posted the following on her facebook tonight. "All kids that have been matched with US families have been granted humanitarian parole! My baby girl is coming home!! Thank God! I am truly blessed!"
Congratulations!
Angie posted the following on her facebook tonight. "All kids that have been matched with US families have been granted humanitarian parole! My baby girl is coming home!! Thank God! I am truly blessed!"
Congratulations!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
They are now in Florida
Mandi and Carol are in Sanford Florida at the Sanford Airforce Base!
They will be flying into Utah Monday morning!
They will be flying into Utah Monday morning!
From Haiti, With Love - HJ news article
From Haiti, with love: Adopted Hyrum girl gets word biological mom, brothers safe
Charbine McBride, left, shows her brother Schnaider pictures of family members in Haiti from a photo album at their home in Mount Sterling Saturday. (Braden Wolfe / Herald Journal)
By Matthew K. Jensen
Published: Sunday, January 17, 2010 2:22 AM CST
After Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti, Charbine McBride, a 17-year-old girl born in the Caribbean country but now living in Cache County, waited anxiously for news that her biological mother and brothers survived.
On Saturday afternoon the girl received a call placed from a satellite telephone from Haiti with word that her family members were safe after they reached a small village where McBride’s adoptive mother, Mandi, is helping to provide medical care.
Kevin and Mandi McBride of Mt. Sterling adopted Charbine and a 4-year-old Haitian boy named Schnaider in 2008 after a years-long adoption process. Mandi arrived in Haiti on Sunday, two days before the quake, along with friend and fellow nurse Carol Smith of Nibley. The two had plane tickets to return home on Tuesday, but the cancellation of most commercial flights from the island nation could mean a later departure.
Kevin McBride spoke with The Herald Journal on Saturday, saying his wife suffered some minor injuries in the quake when a bookshelf fell on her, but that neither she nor Smith were seriously injured.
“She seems to be doing all right,” he said. “I talked with her about an hour ago. She didn’t say much because she was letting our daughter talk to her biological mom.”
McBride says his daughter’s Haitian family was staying in Carrefour, near Port-au-Prince, when the earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon.
“They lost everything,” he added. “Charbine and her mother stay in contact quite a bit. She actually raised about a hundred bucks to give to my wife to take down to give to her mom.”
McBride says he and his wife gave Charbine’s mother an additional $100 and that he hoped the money would help the Haitian woman and her sons.
Mandi and Carol Smith continue to provide medical care at the Ruuska Village orphanage where they’re staying. The main structure at the orphanage sustained some damage when at least two walls toppled, but McBride says the children are safe and still living in the building.
“They’ve stitched up a few people and anything they can do to help,” added McBride. “They’re kind of doing things out of their scope of work.”
McBride says the earthquake won’t keep his family away from Haiti for too long. After all the couple have been through, Haiti and its people are a big part of their lives.
“We’re planning on going to Haiti as soon as things settle down,” he added. “(Mandi’s) been down two or three times since the children have been home and we’ve been down there ten times before the adoption process.”
He added that his family is coping well with the tragedy, especially after hearing such great news about Charbine’s Haitian family.
“We keep doing the same daily activities to keep our minds off it,” he said. “You can’t sit around and think too much about it.”
Charbine attends Mt. Crest High School and Schnaider goes to preschool three days a week.
By Matthew K. Jensen
Published: Sunday, January 17, 2010 2:22 AM CST
After Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti, Charbine McBride, a 17-year-old girl born in the Caribbean country but now living in Cache County, waited anxiously for news that her biological mother and brothers survived.
On Saturday afternoon the girl received a call placed from a satellite telephone from Haiti with word that her family members were safe after they reached a small village where McBride’s adoptive mother, Mandi, is helping to provide medical care.
Kevin and Mandi McBride of Mt. Sterling adopted Charbine and a 4-year-old Haitian boy named Schnaider in 2008 after a years-long adoption process. Mandi arrived in Haiti on Sunday, two days before the quake, along with friend and fellow nurse Carol Smith of Nibley. The two had plane tickets to return home on Tuesday, but the cancellation of most commercial flights from the island nation could mean a later departure.
Kevin McBride spoke with The Herald Journal on Saturday, saying his wife suffered some minor injuries in the quake when a bookshelf fell on her, but that neither she nor Smith were seriously injured.
“She seems to be doing all right,” he said. “I talked with her about an hour ago. She didn’t say much because she was letting our daughter talk to her biological mom.”
McBride says his daughter’s Haitian family was staying in Carrefour, near Port-au-Prince, when the earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon.
“They lost everything,” he added. “Charbine and her mother stay in contact quite a bit. She actually raised about a hundred bucks to give to my wife to take down to give to her mom.”
McBride says he and his wife gave Charbine’s mother an additional $100 and that he hoped the money would help the Haitian woman and her sons.
Mandi and Carol Smith continue to provide medical care at the Ruuska Village orphanage where they’re staying. The main structure at the orphanage sustained some damage when at least two walls toppled, but McBride says the children are safe and still living in the building.
“They’ve stitched up a few people and anything they can do to help,” added McBride. “They’re kind of doing things out of their scope of work.”
McBride says the earthquake won’t keep his family away from Haiti for too long. After all the couple have been through, Haiti and its people are a big part of their lives.
“We’re planning on going to Haiti as soon as things settle down,” he added. “(Mandi’s) been down two or three times since the children have been home and we’ve been down there ten times before the adoption process.”
He added that his family is coping well with the tragedy, especially after hearing such great news about Charbine’s Haitian family.
“We keep doing the same daily activities to keep our minds off it,” he said. “You can’t sit around and think too much about it.”
Charbine attends Mt. Crest High School and Schnaider goes to preschool three days a week.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
E-mail from Mandi to Kevin
Hey babe,
Just wanted to let you know that Barbara has been at the Embassy all day and just came back to the village with 14 Visas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! They are going to try and get all of these kids home tomorrow on a Army flight.
If they have room Carol and I might try to go with them. I don't want to send her on her own but if there is only room for her I will stay. I will keep you updated.
Love ya tons!!!!!!!!!!
Just wanted to let you know that Barbara has been at the Embassy all day and just came back to the village with 14 Visas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! They are going to try and get all of these kids home tomorrow on a Army flight.
If they have room Carol and I might try to go with them. I don't want to send her on her own but if there is only room for her I will stay. I will keep you updated.
Love ya tons!!!!!!!!!!
Logan Utah Residents - help needed
Clean out all of your plastic reusable water bottles and bring them to the Center Street Grill (corner of Center & Main) Mon. before 2pm. They will be delivered to Haiti Tues. or Wed. night and will be used for storing filtered well and rain water and distributing it to the kids.
Other needed items, granola bars, nuts, beans, powdered milk and other non parishable food items.
Paste this to your facebook status to spread the word.
Other needed items, granola bars, nuts, beans, powdered milk and other non parishable food items.
Paste this to your facebook status to spread the word.
Jan 16th update from Barbara's site
reachouttohaiti.com
1/16/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATESBarbara and Joe hit the streets all day again today working on visas and the usual search for available gasoline---visa work is looking good but no gas for today.
Joe Hurston will be staying for a bit longer to work with Barbara, the others from Joes team left today with a child that had been out previously--good that she is out but she is presently detained at immigration in miami--pray that she will be released soon.
Airlines are slowly starting to get into PAP and we have several scheduled to go in to carry in food and medical supplies for the village-- myself and Cherie Shropshire included--we can only hope that the violence stays low and the airlines keep flying.
Pray also for Barbara and Joe... the days are long and dangerous and they are exhausted. They remain determined and hopeful and they ARE making progress
1/16/10 EARTHQUAKE UPDATESBarbara and Joe hit the streets all day again today working on visas and the usual search for available gasoline---visa work is looking good but no gas for today.
Joe Hurston will be staying for a bit longer to work with Barbara, the others from Joes team left today with a child that had been out previously--good that she is out but she is presently detained at immigration in miami--pray that she will be released soon.
Airlines are slowly starting to get into PAP and we have several scheduled to go in to carry in food and medical supplies for the village-- myself and Cherie Shropshire included--we can only hope that the violence stays low and the airlines keep flying.
Pray also for Barbara and Joe... the days are long and dangerous and they are exhausted. They remain determined and hopeful and they ARE making progress
Saving children becomes serious issue - Floridatoday.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Barbara Walker and Joe Hurston formed a circle with their team of missionaries on Friday, and they prayed.
Then they walked through a crowd of hundreds of frustrated Haitians and Americans who were desperate to leave Haiti and were clamoring to get into the American Embassy for their exit papers.
Walker, who runs the Ruuska Village orphanage and arranges adoptions for children left there, was praying for the miracle. She wanted to get three emergency visas to evacuate some of her injured children.
Hurston and his crew from Airmobile Ministries, who arrived in Haiti on Wednesday with much-needed water purifying equipment, were poised to fly the children to safety this weekend.
“I think we have a real shot at getting these kids out of here on a pure humanitarian basis,” said Hurston.In Melbourne, Dr. Stephen Badolato is preparing for the children Walker is trying to get out.
“It is going to be hard, but we are excited to be able to help these children,” he said, noting that he has stocked up on food and antibiotics. “We already have their basic medical history and description of the injuries.”
Several families in Brevard have agreed to help care of the children, he said.
Concerned about kids
Walker started Ruuska Village 20 years ago with a $20,000 donation. Over the years, the 65-year-old former school bus driver has built 15 buildings to care for battered women and orphans. She named it Ruuska Village after the family that made the initial donation.
About 75 percent of the village’s buildings were damaged by the Tuesday quake., and most of the residents now sleep outdoors for fear of another tremor.
“I almost feel selfish trying to get my kids out of here while there are so many Haitians suffering and in need,” said Walker. “But one more earthquake and I could lose all my kids.”
Since the quake struck, at least five mothers have dropped or off merely abandoned babies at Ruuska Village — including a one-month-old and another who was burned in a fire. The village is busting now with 50 children and 20 to 30 adults.
With food, water and fuel getting more scarce, Walker is anxious to get as many away to safety as possible.
One child was well enough to walk, barely. Charley Schumacher, 11, who has already been adopted by a Michigan family, is in pain and walks very slowly. A wall fell on him during the earthquake, landing on his hip and belly.
American nurse Carol Smith, a volunteer at Ruuska Village, has barely left his side. American military doctors examined Charley and found no immediate danger signs. They are concerned, however, he may have a perforated colon and could be hemorrhaging slowly.
Payoff for long wait
At the crowded embassy, Walker turned in documents on the three injured children, as well as another 13 children who have been adopted but whose visas may be lost forever since just about every Haitian government building has been destroyed.
The team waited and waited. They were ushered into a foyer, then to a courtyard where they waited some more.
Dozens of injured people were carried past them by medical personnel. Helicopters were evacuating some of the injured from the embassy to waiting planes at the nearby airport.
Five hours passed while Walker and Hurston waited for their answer.
But in the end, it was worth it.
The embassy issued 12 visas to get children out of the country — including one for Charley Schumacher — and they promised to grant an additional 12 next week.
“This is so much more than I hoped for,” said an elated Walker, tears in her eyes. “Many of these kids would not survive if they stayed.”
Hurston, too, shed tears of joy.
“This is nothing short of a miracle,” he said, going from tears to laughter. “Twelve visas in one day? You’ve got to be kidding.”
Unfortunately, one child in desperate need of evacuation – Moses Ruch – did not get a visa because he has no passport. He may get one next week.
His caregiver, Sue Witt, argued that he has broken legs and she will soon be out of his seizure medication.
“He is adopted, but they won’t issue a passport because he was abandoned in a sugar cane field and there is no birth certificate,” she said. “I was sure we would be able to take him out. We’ll just have to keep trying.”
Utah nurses helped Orphans in Haiti quake - Deseret News
Utah nurses helped orphans in Haiti quake
Published: Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 11:17 p.m. MST
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Mandi McBride and Carol Smith were going up the stairs of an orphanage seven miles from the city center when the shaking started Tuesday.
These Logan women were carrying loads of toys to the eight babies a floor above them when they heard a loud boom that sounded like a bomb, and everything began to rock violently.
McBride said all she could think about was saving the screaming babies that began flying across the room and rolling back and forth just a couple of steps in front of her.
"I needed to get in there and get as many kids as I could," McBride said. It was all she could think about when the earthquake hit.
She dived on the ground trying to dodge the shelves that were falling down around her and was able to grab about four terrified babies in her arms and move to the side of the room.
"I sat near the wall until it stopped," McBride recalled. "It only lasted about four minutes, but it seemed like it lasted for hours. It was like everything was happening in slow motion. I just knew we were all gone. I was praying as hard as I could. I've never been so close to death in my life."
Just steps behind, clinging to the side of the stairwell, Smith waited out the first tremble, with about 40 more to come over the next couple of days.
McBride said she could hear a woman downstairs, who has been in Haiti for about five months, screaming "help me, help me" as dishes were crashing and walls were caving in.
As soon as the shaking stopped, Smith ran into the upstairs room and helped McBride quickly carry the eight babies, uninjured, to the front of the building.
Looking around the Ruuska Village orphanage, located in Bon Repos a few miles outside of Port-au-Prince, McBride saw that each of the 12 buildings had at least a few walls down, but everyone in the village had survived. "There were lots of cracks and lots of damage," she said.
They were the lucky ones, though: all the homes next to the village collapsed, McBride said.
McBride and Smith are both emergency room nurses who landed in Haiti Monday for a mission trip that was supposed to last about a week, but their purpose there changed the minute the shaking started.
McBride has been going to Haiti every three months or so since she started the adoption process of her two children, Schnaider, 4, and Charbine, 17, who have now been living in Utah with her and her husband Kevin for nearly two years.
McBride and Smith said many Haitian families know about Ruuska Village and have come seeking medical attention. The women have been treating broken arms and legs and stitching up lacerations faster than they ever did before.
Friday, they went to the United States consulate and were helping army medical teams treat patients.
"I feel like I am where I need to be right now," McBride said. "And we are doing everything we can to help out everyone we can."
Barbara Ann Walker, originally from New York, runs the Ruuska Village and has lived in Haiti since she was asked to come help out there 23 years ago.
Walker said she couldn't be operating the orphanage as she is without Smith and McBride.
"Mandi and Carol have been absolute saviors to our program here," Walker said. "I don't know what I would have done without them here right now. They have been an unbelievable blessing to me."
Walker has seen a lot of tragedy living in Haiti and traveling around the world. This 65-year-old woman was one of the first people in Burma after cyclone Nargis hit in May 2008. She also went to Thailand after a tsunami devastated coastal areas in December 2004.
She's been in earthquakes before, but she thought a bomb went off when the shaking happened and smoke filled the air around her Tuesday afternoon.
"I said it could never get worse here, but I stopped saying that five years ago," Walker said.
She said Haitian children often die from diarrhea, fevers or drinking bad water. Any time it rains, most of the orphans get sick. Seventy-five percent of Haitians don't have jobs, she said, and that number is now around 90 percent due to the quake.
The exchange rate has also plummeted since the earthquake, and many of the supplies being sent to Haiti are being sold on the street, instead of going to victims.
Right now her village is one of the only ones with some supplies, little as they may be. They have been running off of generators since the earthquake but haven't been able to find more fuel, and they will also run out of food soon if they don't find any more. She said she has 45 babies at her orphanage who all are in need of baby food.
Walker went with a couple others into the city Friday afternoon to try and search for or buy more supplies, but they weren't able to find any.
"The city is completely destroyed," she said. "The department of justice, the palace … the post office are all gone. The parks are filled with dead bodies. Everyone is wearing a mask because the smell is so bad."
She said no one can afford to bury the bodies, so they are just getting them out of the rubble and dumping them on the side of the road. People will then come along and peel clothes from the dead bodies because they have nothing.
She said most people are afraid to go in their houses even if they are standing because of the aftershocks, so those who survived are sleeping outside in the mosquito-filled air.
"Haiti has already been a disaster for the last 35 years," Walker said. "They just haven't had a break. I can't see them recovering from this, I can't. Haitians survive, that's all they do, one day at a time."
Looting has already started, Walker said, and she fears for her village because it has supplies right now.
She does have some hope for her orphans, though, as 12 of them who have already been adopted obtained visas on Friday, and 12 more should be getting visas next week.
She said if she could send one message out to America it would be: "Follow your heart if you wish to donate, but follow your mind and donate intelligently. There are too many fraudulent groups, and supplies often end up being sold on the street instead of being given to the right people."
Walker has three daughters and two of them are trying to get down to Haiti as soon as they can.
McBride and Smith are hoping to get on a flight to Florida Tuesday and then on one back to Utah Wednesday.
McBride is looking forward to seeing her family and taking a nice, warm, clean shower.
She'll be back to help rebuild the village soon, but Smith isn't sure if she'll ever go back.
Walker, though, is in Haiti for the long haul.
"Some day I want to sit in front of my television, sit and just relax, drink a Coca-Cola, eat chips and watch CSI," Walker said. "Almost every time I escape to the U.S., that's what I do. But realistically, I know I'll die down here. There is no way of getting out. There's always another starving baby, another person who needs your help. How can you just walk away? I would like to be selfish and do that, but I can't."
Published: Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 11:17 p.m. MST
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Mandi McBride and Carol Smith were going up the stairs of an orphanage seven miles from the city center when the shaking started Tuesday.
These Logan women were carrying loads of toys to the eight babies a floor above them when they heard a loud boom that sounded like a bomb, and everything began to rock violently.
McBride said all she could think about was saving the screaming babies that began flying across the room and rolling back and forth just a couple of steps in front of her.
"I needed to get in there and get as many kids as I could," McBride said. It was all she could think about when the earthquake hit.
She dived on the ground trying to dodge the shelves that were falling down around her and was able to grab about four terrified babies in her arms and move to the side of the room.
"I sat near the wall until it stopped," McBride recalled. "It only lasted about four minutes, but it seemed like it lasted for hours. It was like everything was happening in slow motion. I just knew we were all gone. I was praying as hard as I could. I've never been so close to death in my life."
Just steps behind, clinging to the side of the stairwell, Smith waited out the first tremble, with about 40 more to come over the next couple of days.
McBride said she could hear a woman downstairs, who has been in Haiti for about five months, screaming "help me, help me" as dishes were crashing and walls were caving in.
As soon as the shaking stopped, Smith ran into the upstairs room and helped McBride quickly carry the eight babies, uninjured, to the front of the building.
Looking around the Ruuska Village orphanage, located in Bon Repos a few miles outside of Port-au-Prince, McBride saw that each of the 12 buildings had at least a few walls down, but everyone in the village had survived. "There were lots of cracks and lots of damage," she said.
They were the lucky ones, though: all the homes next to the village collapsed, McBride said.
McBride and Smith are both emergency room nurses who landed in Haiti Monday for a mission trip that was supposed to last about a week, but their purpose there changed the minute the shaking started.
McBride has been going to Haiti every three months or so since she started the adoption process of her two children, Schnaider, 4, and Charbine, 17, who have now been living in Utah with her and her husband Kevin for nearly two years.
McBride and Smith said many Haitian families know about Ruuska Village and have come seeking medical attention. The women have been treating broken arms and legs and stitching up lacerations faster than they ever did before.
Friday, they went to the United States consulate and were helping army medical teams treat patients.
"I feel like I am where I need to be right now," McBride said. "And we are doing everything we can to help out everyone we can."
Barbara Ann Walker, originally from New York, runs the Ruuska Village and has lived in Haiti since she was asked to come help out there 23 years ago.
Walker said she couldn't be operating the orphanage as she is without Smith and McBride.
"Mandi and Carol have been absolute saviors to our program here," Walker said. "I don't know what I would have done without them here right now. They have been an unbelievable blessing to me."
Walker has seen a lot of tragedy living in Haiti and traveling around the world. This 65-year-old woman was one of the first people in Burma after cyclone Nargis hit in May 2008. She also went to Thailand after a tsunami devastated coastal areas in December 2004.
She's been in earthquakes before, but she thought a bomb went off when the shaking happened and smoke filled the air around her Tuesday afternoon.
"I said it could never get worse here, but I stopped saying that five years ago," Walker said.
She said Haitian children often die from diarrhea, fevers or drinking bad water. Any time it rains, most of the orphans get sick. Seventy-five percent of Haitians don't have jobs, she said, and that number is now around 90 percent due to the quake.
The exchange rate has also plummeted since the earthquake, and many of the supplies being sent to Haiti are being sold on the street, instead of going to victims.
Right now her village is one of the only ones with some supplies, little as they may be. They have been running off of generators since the earthquake but haven't been able to find more fuel, and they will also run out of food soon if they don't find any more. She said she has 45 babies at her orphanage who all are in need of baby food.
Walker went with a couple others into the city Friday afternoon to try and search for or buy more supplies, but they weren't able to find any.
"The city is completely destroyed," she said. "The department of justice, the palace … the post office are all gone. The parks are filled with dead bodies. Everyone is wearing a mask because the smell is so bad."
She said no one can afford to bury the bodies, so they are just getting them out of the rubble and dumping them on the side of the road. People will then come along and peel clothes from the dead bodies because they have nothing.
She said most people are afraid to go in their houses even if they are standing because of the aftershocks, so those who survived are sleeping outside in the mosquito-filled air.
"Haiti has already been a disaster for the last 35 years," Walker said. "They just haven't had a break. I can't see them recovering from this, I can't. Haitians survive, that's all they do, one day at a time."
Looting has already started, Walker said, and she fears for her village because it has supplies right now.
She does have some hope for her orphans, though, as 12 of them who have already been adopted obtained visas on Friday, and 12 more should be getting visas next week.
She said if she could send one message out to America it would be: "Follow your heart if you wish to donate, but follow your mind and donate intelligently. There are too many fraudulent groups, and supplies often end up being sold on the street instead of being given to the right people."
Walker has three daughters and two of them are trying to get down to Haiti as soon as they can.
McBride and Smith are hoping to get on a flight to Florida Tuesday and then on one back to Utah Wednesday.
McBride is looking forward to seeing her family and taking a nice, warm, clean shower.
She'll be back to help rebuild the village soon, but Smith isn't sure if she'll ever go back.
Walker, though, is in Haiti for the long haul.
"Some day I want to sit in front of my television, sit and just relax, drink a Coca-Cola, eat chips and watch CSI," Walker said. "Almost every time I escape to the U.S., that's what I do. But realistically, I know I'll die down here. There is no way of getting out. There's always another starving baby, another person who needs your help. How can you just walk away? I would like to be selfish and do that, but I can't."
Charbine's Family
Just got a text from Kevin that Charbine talked to her sister and her family is OK!!! YEA!
If anyone has more detailed infromation please post!
Thanks,
Angie O.
If anyone has more detailed infromation please post!
Thanks,
Angie O.
Sat Morning update from Mandi's regular blog
Update from Haiti!!!
Hello to all of you.
Just looked up the encouraging word of the day from KLOVE and it said, "The Lord gives people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace." Psalm 29:11 That is so true!!!!!! God is amazing.
We thank you all for the ongoing prayers and love you all so much.
Yesterday we went to the U.S. Embassy to try and get Visas for children and 2 are going home today. Yeah!!!! The Embassy is supposed to be issuing 12 more and we will hopefully get them home very soon. Carol and I were able to help the U.S. Army medical team while we were at the Embassy with injured U.S. citizens that were being sent out by helicopters. Quite an experience to say the least!!! Pretty sure I will never forget this whole adventure but I would sure like to.
Just had another after shock and hoping they will stop because naturally we panic every time they occur.
Love you all and I will try and keep in touch!!
Mandi
http://mcbridefamilyof4.blogspot.com/
Hello to all of you.
Just looked up the encouraging word of the day from KLOVE and it said, "The Lord gives people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace." Psalm 29:11 That is so true!!!!!! God is amazing.
We thank you all for the ongoing prayers and love you all so much.
Yesterday we went to the U.S. Embassy to try and get Visas for children and 2 are going home today. Yeah!!!! The Embassy is supposed to be issuing 12 more and we will hopefully get them home very soon. Carol and I were able to help the U.S. Army medical team while we were at the Embassy with injured U.S. citizens that were being sent out by helicopters. Quite an experience to say the least!!! Pretty sure I will never forget this whole adventure but I would sure like to.
Just had another after shock and hoping they will stop because naturally we panic every time they occur.
Love you all and I will try and keep in touch!!
Mandi
http://mcbridefamilyof4.blogspot.com/
Jan 15th update from Barbara's site
Reachouttohaiti.com
1/15/10 Earthquake updatesToday was another busy day--Joe and Barbara left the village in the morning to continue the search for available fuel and food, eventually managing to purchase both so we have another day or so of fuel available to ensure generator power for running the medical clinic (still treating a steady flow of injuries), and maintaining computer and phone communication.
Barbara's mission for the day also included petitioning for humanitarian visas for some of her children that are in the final stages of the adoption process--please pray that her efforts do not go unrewarded--we should hear some news toward the middle of next week. Please keep this in special prayer that these children can escape the devestation and increasing violence that surrounds them.
On a brighter note they were finally able to break into the food depot at the village--one of the most seriously damaged structures. The contents are intact and relatively undamaged. Considering the number of mouths they have to feed and the lack of availability of...welll...EVERYTHING...this was quite a relief.
Also last night the village gained a new "orphan" while I was on the phone with Barbara a kitten wandered into her house and has chosen to stay. Now this may seem like a kind of cute and bright spot amid the disaster but unfortunately it ultimately means that yet another family has lost their home--possibly their lives. Cats are very rare in Haiti and are ALWAYS kept indoors or leashed or caged, they are never allowed to run free the fact that this kitten is loose is just a sad reminder of the destruction and death that surrounds the village. Just one more little orphan looking to survive.
Finally I would like to thank all of the people that have been trying to organize food and clothing drives, bakes sales, and have been soliciting donations from their local churches, schools, and businesses to send to Haiti the need is greater than I can possibly explain and all donated items will be collected and carried in as soon as the airports re-open. We have many volunteers that have trips planned and we appreciate all of your efforts and prayers. We will never be able to do as much as we want for as many as we want, but we will do all that we can for as many as we can.
Donation to Reach out to Haiti
I'm watching on the news and listening to the radio about all these different "organizations" that are taking donations for The Haiti relief effort. Barbara has never asked for a dime from anyone and never will. She has 100% faith that God will provide for the needs of the children that have been trusted to her in Haiti. .Barbara herself is extremly low maintaintance.This earthquake has devestated the village that she has put together piece buy piece dream by dream. I can assure you with God as my witness every dime that is donated to the Ruuska village fund will go to the rebuilding of Ruuska village and the care of the people God leads to the village.We have nothing to offer you except a humble thank you for whatever you can spare and a God bless.
1/15/10 Earthquake updatesToday was another busy day--Joe and Barbara left the village in the morning to continue the search for available fuel and food, eventually managing to purchase both so we have another day or so of fuel available to ensure generator power for running the medical clinic (still treating a steady flow of injuries), and maintaining computer and phone communication.
Barbara's mission for the day also included petitioning for humanitarian visas for some of her children that are in the final stages of the adoption process--please pray that her efforts do not go unrewarded--we should hear some news toward the middle of next week. Please keep this in special prayer that these children can escape the devestation and increasing violence that surrounds them.
On a brighter note they were finally able to break into the food depot at the village--one of the most seriously damaged structures. The contents are intact and relatively undamaged. Considering the number of mouths they have to feed and the lack of availability of...welll...EVERYTHING...this was quite a relief.
Also last night the village gained a new "orphan" while I was on the phone with Barbara a kitten wandered into her house and has chosen to stay. Now this may seem like a kind of cute and bright spot amid the disaster but unfortunately it ultimately means that yet another family has lost their home--possibly their lives. Cats are very rare in Haiti and are ALWAYS kept indoors or leashed or caged, they are never allowed to run free the fact that this kitten is loose is just a sad reminder of the destruction and death that surrounds the village. Just one more little orphan looking to survive.
Finally I would like to thank all of the people that have been trying to organize food and clothing drives, bakes sales, and have been soliciting donations from their local churches, schools, and businesses to send to Haiti the need is greater than I can possibly explain and all donated items will be collected and carried in as soon as the airports re-open. We have many volunteers that have trips planned and we appreciate all of your efforts and prayers. We will never be able to do as much as we want for as many as we want, but we will do all that we can for as many as we can.
Donation to Reach out to Haiti
I'm watching on the news and listening to the radio about all these different "organizations" that are taking donations for The Haiti relief effort. Barbara has never asked for a dime from anyone and never will. She has 100% faith that God will provide for the needs of the children that have been trusted to her in Haiti. .Barbara herself is extremly low maintaintance.This earthquake has devestated the village that she has put together piece buy piece dream by dream. I can assure you with God as my witness every dime that is donated to the Ruuska village fund will go to the rebuilding of Ruuska village and the care of the people God leads to the village.We have nothing to offer you except a humble thank you for whatever you can spare and a God bless.
Donations can be sent to Reach Out To Haiti @ PO Box3 Schaghticoke, NY 12154 or 168 Gutbrodt Road Melrose,NY 12121
or to Joseph Hurston @ airmobile.org 8850 Grissom Parkway Titusville, FL 32780 earmark for Haiti earthquake.
Friday, January 15, 2010
A few of Mandi's posts on Facebook - Friday
Hello everyone. This is Mandi and I thought I would let you all know that this has been quite an experience, to say the least. We went to the US Consulate today and Carol and I helped the US Army med team get ppl stabilized and shipped out on helicopters. You would not believe the injuries and stories of these ppl. ...... Thank you all so much for your prayers and please keep them coming. These ppl really need them.See More
This is Mandi again and I just got off the phone with Junior and all of the Foyer kids are at the LDS church in PetionVille. He told me they have enough food for about 2 more days but have no clean water. I am going to talk with Air Mobile Ministries that is here at the Village about getting them a purifier. Hopeful......ly we can get these kiddos out of here and that would resolve a lot of this worry. Love you all!!!!See More
This is Mandi again and I just got off the phone with Junior and all of the Foyer kids are at the LDS church in PetionVille. He told me they have enough food for about 2 more days but have no clean water. I am going to talk with Air Mobile Ministries that is here at the Village about getting them a purifier. Hopeful......ly we can get these kiddos out of here and that would resolve a lot of this worry. Love you all!!!!See More
ksl.com - Adoptive parents in Utah waiting to hear if children in Haiti are alive
ksl.com - Adoptive parents in Utah waiting to hear if children in Haiti are alive
Video Courtesy of KSL.com
Adoptive parents in Utah waiting to hear if children in Haiti are alive
January 14th, 2010 @ 6:18pm
NEAR LOGAN -- The past two days have been an emotional roller coaster for two Utah women who are adopting children in Haiti.
The women, who live near Logan, have been to Haiti to meet the children many times.
The kids live in the Foyer de Sian orphanage, which has shelters in Port-au-Prince and two nearby towns.
The owners of the orphanage are alive, but they couldn't keep phone contact long enough to say if the children are safe.
"We don't know if either of our children are alive right now," said Smithfield resident Kate Woodward. But all she can do is wait to find out if 14-year-old Rolando and 6-year-old Gislene survived the devastating quake.
Less than an hour before their interview with KSL-TV on Thursday, Woodward got word that Rolando and the other children were evacuated from their home before it collapsed.
It's in a town called Petionville, 5 miles outside Port-au-Prince.
"But we have no idea if that's correct or, if it is, where the children are," Woodward said.
Her daughter's situation is more tenuous because her home, which mostly shelters younger children, was in Carrefour, the quake's epicenter.
"How would it make any parent feel to wonder if their children are alive?" she said.
Angie Rasmussen of Hyrum is in the same situation.
Her 10-year-old daughter, Abigaelle, who is also in Petionville, may have been evacuated, but there's no confirmation.
"[These have] been the hardest two days of my life. The longest and most emotional two days of my life," Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen often travels to Haiti to do humanitarian work.
Her sister Mandi McBride, who adopted two Haitian orphans, is currently in the country. Knowing her sister is safe, Rasmussen's thoughts are now with her daughter.
"I wish so bad I could be there and hold her. You think of their fear and how scared she's got to be and she's there without her mom," she said.
If the kids are OK, there are still other questions, like how the quake will impact the adoption. If the paperwork was lost or destroyed that could delay the process, which has already taken a couple of years.
Both Rasmussen and Woodward hoped to bring their children to Utah this year.
"How are we going to bring them home if they are alive? We don't even know at this point how we're going to be able to bring them home now," Woodward said.
Woodward has adopted three other children from Haiti. Both she and Rasmussen plan to go there when it's safe to travel.
Newly adoptive parents grateful for their children's safe arrival
Karen Jorgensen of St. George just recently adopted two children from Haiti. She is also anxious to hear about the children she just left at the orphanage.
Two 2-year-olds from Haiti arrived in Utah on Christmas day -- a gift for the Jorgensen family who spent three years and made seven trips to Haiti to get them. Now, Jorgensen says she is heartsick over the children she left behind.
"A lot of them are already severely malnourished, and so to have this happen on top of that, they don't have anything to spare," said Jorgensen.
She got word all the orphanage buildings are intact, but workers there are desperate for supplies. She is in contact with other adoptive parents who have been working for years to get Haitian kids who are hopeful they will still be able to get them out.
------
Story compiled with contributions from Sheryl Worsleyand Sandra Yi.
Desert News Story
Logan nurses' aid trip to Haiti more than bargained for
By Sara Lenz
and Lois M. Collins
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 11:40 p.m. MST
LOGAN — It started as a routine mission trip to help orphans in Haiti, but the day after Mandi McBride and Carol Smith, two emergency room nurses from Logan, arrived, they were faced with heaps of dead and wounded and a town in chaos and they are just happy to be alive.
In the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake, the two find themselves stitching wounds and dealing with a continuous stream of head injuries, broken bones and lacerations. Notes the Web site reachouttohaiti.com, dedicated to the Ruuska Village orphanage located in Bon Repos a few miles from Port-au-Prince, the Utah nurses "sure got a whole lot more helping out than they planned on."
Mandi McBride was in the heart of the capital city Thursday and described the scene in an e-mail to her sister, Angie Rasmussen, also from Logan.
"It is a mess to say the least," Mandi McBride wrote. "Dead bodies everywhere that are being hauled off by the truck loads. Indescribable."
Rasmussen found out Thursday morning that her 10-year-old daughter, Abigaelle, who she has been trying to adopt for four years, is alive. Abigaelle, along with another 225 orphans from Foyer De Sion, made it out alive. This news made her cry for 10 minutes straight, Rasmussen said.
She and her sister, who has two adopted Haitian children at home in Utah, go to Haiti every three months to help out with the medical needs at an orphanage there, but Rasmussen had decided not go on this latest trip.
Mandi McBride's husband, Kevin, was at work for Associated Brigham Contractors when he learned of the earthquake from a friend who called to ask how Mandi was. He said he rushed home and pored over the Internet and watched the news and waited. "My heart just sunk," he said. He and Mandi traveled to Haiti 10 times during the process of adopting their two children, Schnaider, 4, and Charbine, 17, from an orphanage in Petionville, just east of the capital.
He prayed that the phone would ring and waited two very long hours before it did. Unlike most caught in the quake's chaos, Mandi McBride was able to borrow a satellite phone and get through fairly quickly to tell him she survived, albeit with some injuries. She has a possibly broken ankle and cuts that have her worried about infection.
Now the family's worried about Charbine's friends and family in Haiti, with whom they've stayed in close contact since the adoption. No word about her birth mom or brothers, Kevin McBride said, although they did hear most people in the orphanage where the children grew up are safe.
"Mandi said she has seen a lot of bad wounds and she learned how to do stitches and things she would never have imagined," he told the Deseret News.
As he looks at seemingly endless pictures of rubble and destruction on the news, he said he longs to take some of his company's construction equipment and start digging. But he's helpless right now.
The good news to him, he said, is that the Ruuska Village orphanage has well water and generators. He's praying they don't run out of fuel.
And the immediate plan for the nurses to come home for now centers on using the return ticket they had for a flight out next Tuesday. Whether that will be possible is up in the air, he said.
Eagle Mountain resident Sam Betteridge, on the other hand, is looking for a way into Haiti. His wife, Stephanie, is from Port-au-Prince and they plan on leaving with their three small children on Tuesday to help in any way they can and reunite with her parents, Wilmine and Pierre Jonassaint, whose house was one of the few in the area that is still standing.
The Betteridges were actually some of the first to hear about the earthquake when they happened to call the Jonassaints 20 minutes after the earthquake happened.
"It was crazy," said Sam Betteridge of hearing there had been an earthquake and that his in-laws were literally on the edge of the destruction. Their call only lasted 45 seconds, but they felt blessed to hear so quickly that their family was safe.
Since then, they have planned a trip and sent an e-mail out asking all friends and family to help them help those in Haiti by donating money or supplies or even by going there. Anyone interested can contact the Betteridges at sambetteridge@gmail.com or 801-995-4794.
By Sara Lenz
and Lois M. Collins
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 11:40 p.m. MST
LOGAN — It started as a routine mission trip to help orphans in Haiti, but the day after Mandi McBride and Carol Smith, two emergency room nurses from Logan, arrived, they were faced with heaps of dead and wounded and a town in chaos and they are just happy to be alive.
In the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake, the two find themselves stitching wounds and dealing with a continuous stream of head injuries, broken bones and lacerations. Notes the Web site reachouttohaiti.com, dedicated to the Ruuska Village orphanage located in Bon Repos a few miles from Port-au-Prince, the Utah nurses "sure got a whole lot more helping out than they planned on."
Mandi McBride was in the heart of the capital city Thursday and described the scene in an e-mail to her sister, Angie Rasmussen, also from Logan.
"It is a mess to say the least," Mandi McBride wrote. "Dead bodies everywhere that are being hauled off by the truck loads. Indescribable."
Rasmussen found out Thursday morning that her 10-year-old daughter, Abigaelle, who she has been trying to adopt for four years, is alive. Abigaelle, along with another 225 orphans from Foyer De Sion, made it out alive. This news made her cry for 10 minutes straight, Rasmussen said.
She and her sister, who has two adopted Haitian children at home in Utah, go to Haiti every three months to help out with the medical needs at an orphanage there, but Rasmussen had decided not go on this latest trip.
Mandi McBride's husband, Kevin, was at work for Associated Brigham Contractors when he learned of the earthquake from a friend who called to ask how Mandi was. He said he rushed home and pored over the Internet and watched the news and waited. "My heart just sunk," he said. He and Mandi traveled to Haiti 10 times during the process of adopting their two children, Schnaider, 4, and Charbine, 17, from an orphanage in Petionville, just east of the capital.
He prayed that the phone would ring and waited two very long hours before it did. Unlike most caught in the quake's chaos, Mandi McBride was able to borrow a satellite phone and get through fairly quickly to tell him she survived, albeit with some injuries. She has a possibly broken ankle and cuts that have her worried about infection.
Now the family's worried about Charbine's friends and family in Haiti, with whom they've stayed in close contact since the adoption. No word about her birth mom or brothers, Kevin McBride said, although they did hear most people in the orphanage where the children grew up are safe.
"Mandi said she has seen a lot of bad wounds and she learned how to do stitches and things she would never have imagined," he told the Deseret News.
As he looks at seemingly endless pictures of rubble and destruction on the news, he said he longs to take some of his company's construction equipment and start digging. But he's helpless right now.
The good news to him, he said, is that the Ruuska Village orphanage has well water and generators. He's praying they don't run out of fuel.
And the immediate plan for the nurses to come home for now centers on using the return ticket they had for a flight out next Tuesday. Whether that will be possible is up in the air, he said.
Eagle Mountain resident Sam Betteridge, on the other hand, is looking for a way into Haiti. His wife, Stephanie, is from Port-au-Prince and they plan on leaving with their three small children on Tuesday to help in any way they can and reunite with her parents, Wilmine and Pierre Jonassaint, whose house was one of the few in the area that is still standing.
The Betteridges were actually some of the first to hear about the earthquake when they happened to call the Jonassaints 20 minutes after the earthquake happened.
"It was crazy," said Sam Betteridge of hearing there had been an earthquake and that his in-laws were literally on the edge of the destruction. Their call only lasted 45 seconds, but they felt blessed to hear so quickly that their family was safe.
Since then, they have planned a trip and sent an e-mail out asking all friends and family to help them help those in Haiti by donating money or supplies or even by going there. Anyone interested can contact the Betteridges at sambetteridge@gmail.com or 801-995-4794.
ksl.com - Utah woman survives earthquake in Haiti
ksl.com - Utah woman survives earthquake in Haiti
Video Courtesy of KSL.com
Utah woman survives earthquake in Haiti
January 13th, 2010 @ 9:01pm
SALT LAKE CITY -- A woman from Logan was in Haiti when the earthquake hit Tuesday, and she survived. She had just arrived in the country for a 10-day humanitarian mission when it happened.
Carol Smith is in the city of Bon Repos, near Port-au-Prince, working at an orphanage. After hearing the initial news of the massive quake, her daughter, Ashley Crum, was preparing herself to hear that her mother was dead.
"They said on the news that not hearing from them was a bad sign," Crum said.
After a few hours, Smith was able to call her daughter on a satellite phone.
Related: Tens of thousands feared dead after Haiti quake Dazed survivors wandered past dead bodies in rubble-strewn streets Wednesday, crying for loved ones, and rescuers searched collapsed buildings as officials feared the death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake could reach into the tens of thousands.
"I only got to talk to her for a few seconds, but mainly she just wanted me to let everyone know she was OK," Crum said.
Satellite phone is also the way Smith was able to talk to KSL News Wednesday.
"Just, please, tell everybody to pray for us, and we can use anything," Smith said.
The earthquake hit, one day after Smith landed in Haiti. She and her friend Mandi McBride, who are both nurses from Logan, went to help at Ruuska Village, an orphanage 7 miles outside Port au Prince.
"There were babies that were on the second floor rolling all over the place, and glass breaking," Smith said.
The orphanage is still standing, but Smith said the earthquake destroyed the two neighboring villages. Some people in the building next to them were killed.
"I was feeling so blessed to be alive because we -- it was very hard, and you know, walls were falling, and you just didn't know," Smith said. "I think all of us kind of felt that we weren't going to make it."
Now Smith has found herself on a humanitarian mission beyond what she ever expected.
"We did not lose anyone here, but we have had people come in all day with injuries we've had to take care of," she said.
Smith has treated people with cuts and broken bones.
She said the orphanage has some clean water. There is a depot for food and clothes, but they can't get to it. To make matters worse, the looting has already begun and there's nothing they can do about it.
"Diesel jugs were stolen and rocks have broken … and it's already, the vandalism-type stuff is taking over," Smith said.
She said she hopes help will come soon. All the orphans at Ruuska Village are adopted and just waiting to get to safer places.
"We have seen nothing, absolutely nothing. We've never seen anyone, any law officer, anybody from the UN, any food, any water, anything yet," Smith said.
Smith was scheduled to come back to Utah on Jan. 19. There are no flights leaving Haiti, so she doesn't know how long she'll be there.
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Story compiled with contributions from Sandra Yi and Paul Nelson.
Cache Valley Daily
Cache Valley residents alive, assisting in Haiti (w/ Photo Gallery)
By Jennie Christensen
Story Created: Jan 14, 2010 at 12:34 PM MST
Story Updated: Jan 14, 2010 at 5:24 PM MST
Two local registered nurses, Mandi McBride of Mt. Sterling and Carol Smith of Nibley, left Sunday on a humanitarian mission to an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Two days later they were caught up in the devastating earthquake that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
McBride's sister, Sandra Todd, says it was a great relief to hear that they are alive. "Mandi, my sister, had some stuff fall on her as she was trying to get some of the children out of one of the buildings and hurt her leg," Todd said Thursday.
"Of course she doesn't want us to worry. She's not giving us too much information."
Todd says that both McBride and Smith are actively involved in recovery and relief efforts. "They're actually there. There's a makeshift clinic there and they're putting their skills to work. There have been a lot of people come in that they've been able to help."
Although it's Smith's first trip outside the U.S., Todd says Mandi, herself and others in the family have been to Haiti and several other countries numerous times on humanitarian projects. Todd says the people in Haiti are wonderful but living conditions are worse than you could ever imagine, even before the earthquake.
NOTE: Below are some images of the devastation caused by the earthquake, courtesy of the Associated Press. WARNING: Some images are graphic.
Click for photo gallery
By Jennie Christensen
Story Created: Jan 14, 2010 at 12:34 PM MST
Story Updated: Jan 14, 2010 at 5:24 PM MST
Two local registered nurses, Mandi McBride of Mt. Sterling and Carol Smith of Nibley, left Sunday on a humanitarian mission to an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Two days later they were caught up in the devastating earthquake that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
McBride's sister, Sandra Todd, says it was a great relief to hear that they are alive. "Mandi, my sister, had some stuff fall on her as she was trying to get some of the children out of one of the buildings and hurt her leg," Todd said Thursday.
"Of course she doesn't want us to worry. She's not giving us too much information."
Todd says that both McBride and Smith are actively involved in recovery and relief efforts. "They're actually there. There's a makeshift clinic there and they're putting their skills to work. There have been a lot of people come in that they've been able to help."
Although it's Smith's first trip outside the U.S., Todd says Mandi, herself and others in the family have been to Haiti and several other countries numerous times on humanitarian projects. Todd says the people in Haiti are wonderful but living conditions are worse than you could ever imagine, even before the earthquake.
NOTE: Below are some images of the devastation caused by the earthquake, courtesy of the Associated Press. WARNING: Some images are graphic.
Click for photo gallery
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